The Holocaust (1933-45) refers to Nazi Germany’s deliberate, progressive persecution and systematic murder of the Jews of Europe. Nazi anti-Semitism superseded traditional Judeo-Christian religious conflict by uniting a racial ideology with social Darwinism: the Jew is seen as subhuman, a disease threatening the body politic, and the cause of Germany’s problems—its economic woes, its defeat in World War I, its cultural degeneracy—and thus must be eradicated. As soon as Hitler came to power in 1933, the Nazis commenced the organized persecution of the Jews. Jewish books were burned and businesses boycotted. Jews were excluded from professions, public life, and from the arts. The Nuremberg laws of 1935 identified and defined a Jew based on immutable racial characteristics and lineage, less so his religion. Jews were stripped of their civil rights as German citizens. More than 120 decrees and ordinances were enacted subsequent to the Nuremberg laws. In 1938, Kristallnacht occurred, the planned pogrom that led to the destruction of synagogues, mass arrests, and the looting of Jewish businesses. Jews were murdered, and many more were interned in concentration camps that had been established for political prisoners. Jewish property was registered, confiscated, and ultimately arianized. Life in Nazi Germany was sufficiently intolerable that more than to 200,000 Jews emigrated. Hitler’s goal of making Germany “Judenrein” was proving successful.
With the Nazi’s ascension to power, other groups were imperiled as well, vulnerable to discriminatory treatment, persecution and death; for example, the Roma and Sinti, the developmentally and physically disabled, homosexuals, and political and social "undesirables". Slavic people were considered Untermenschen, fit only for servitude in the new and expanded Reich. During this period of time, in direct contravention of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was also secretly building its military and preparing for an eventual war. Yet it was the Nazi’s growing confidence and skill in pruning the Aryan tree of its undesirables that allowed it to perfect the technical apparatus for carrying out mass murder on an industrial scale, with its ultimate goal the “final solution to the Jewish question”.
This collection features numerous examples of identification documents for Jews used during the Third Reich; a selection of mail covers and Francotyp cards which record the mail history of Jewish-owned companies or corporate entities both before and subsequent to arianization during the era of the Third Reich; Julius Streicher anti-Semitic literature, posters from der Sturmer; and a general selection of anti-Semitic literature and postcards--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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Photograph of "Gypsies"
2019.2.204
Black and white photograph of bearded man in hat. [Related item: 2019.2.203]
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Partial Envelopes Showing the Aryanization of Kaufhaus des Westens/Hertie Company: a Postal History
2019.2.214a-p
Partial envelopes
a: Small part of white envelope with light blue crosshatched lines, “Kaufhaus des Westens” in black print above small square image of ship.
b: Plain white partial envelope, “Deutsches Reich *003” stamped in red ink in top right corner, addressed to “J.H. Frau K. Köhler.”
c: Part of white envelope with light blue crosshatched lines, “Deutsches Reich *012” stamped in red ink in top right corner, “Firma” printed in blue at bottom.
d: White partial envelope with light blue crosshatched lines, “Deutsches Reich *008” stamped in red ink in top right corner, addressed to “Frau Krüger” written in blue.
e: White partial envelope with light blue crosshatched lines, “Deutsches Reich *008” and “Ka De We in Weiss” stamped in red ink in top right corner, addressed to “Herrn Rasmussen.”
f: White partial envelope with light blue crosshatched lines, “Deutsches Reich *008” and “ALLES FÜR DAS KIND im Ka De We” stamped in red ink in top right corner, addressed to “Anton Keller & Co.”
g: White partial envelope with light blue crosshatched lines, “Deutsches Reich *008” and “Grosser Oster-Verkauf” stamped in red ink in top right corner, addressed to “Firma Handstickerei Werke.”
h: Green partial envelope, “Deutsches Reich *008” and “ALLES FÜR DIE REISE im Ka De We” stamped in red ink in top right corner, “Titl. Berufsgenossenschaft der Molkerei-Brennerei- und Stärke-Jndustrie” in black print in center.
i: Green partial envelope, “5490” printed next to “Deutsches Reich *008” and “HERBSTMODEN im Ka De We” stamped in red ink in top right corner, “Reichsunfallversicherung Berufsgenossenschaft der Molkerei- Brennerei- und Stärke- Industrie” in black print in center.
j: Green partial envelope, “8033” printed next to “Deutsches Reich *008” and “HERBSTMODEN im Ka De We” stamped in red ink in top right corner, “Reichsunfallversicherung Berufsgenossenschaft der Molkerei- Brennerei- und Stärke- Industrie” in black print in center.
k: Green partial envelope, “Deutsches Reich *008” stamped in red ink in top right corner, large, transparent, yellow area in center.
l: Green partial envelope, “Deutsches Reich *008” and “WEIHNACHTSGESCHENKE aus dem Ka De We” stamped in red ink in top right corner.
m: Green partial envelope, “Deutsches Reich *008” and “Ka De We hat alles” stamped in red ink in top right corner.
n: Green partial envelope, “008 Deutsche Reichspost” stamped in red ink in top right corner, addressed to “Deutsche Fleischer-Zeitung.”
o: Small part of light green envelope, “012 Deutsche Reichspost” stamped in red ink in top right corner, “hertie” printed in red in center.
p: Green partial envelope, “HERTIE” stamped in red ink at top, large, transparent area in center.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A large department store founded in 1907 by Adolf Jandorf, it was taken over in 1927 by the Jewish-owned Hertie Company. With the Nazi rise to power in the 1930s, the race laws prohibited Jewish ownership and the department store was aryanized between 1935 and 1938. However, the name of the store remained the same.
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Hans Schweitzer, "Mjolnir" Antisemitic Broadside
2019.2.217
Broadside with four squares of illustrations, titles “Grippe” in upper right corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Schweitzer, used the pen name “Mjolnir,” or Thor’s hammer. He was recruited by Joseph Goebbels to produce Nazi propaganda caricaturing Jews and other Nazi opponents. He was also a member of the S.S. He became the “Reich Commissioner for Artistic Design.”
The captions read:
“The Jews Hilferding, master of inflation. The world Jew does not want the German Mark.”
“Hunger.”
“We build homes in France. But Germans must live like this.”
“On February 11, 1922 the French have occupied the Ruhr because too few telegraph poles has been delivered.”
This work, signed by Schweitzer with his alias “Mjolnir,” was apparently discarded by the Munich city library.
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French Anti-Semitic Cartoon Leaflet
2019.2.230
Front includes three anti-Semitic illustrations with caption in black ink near each, “QUI” in bold in upper left corner. Front includes two anti-Semitic illustrations with caption in black ink near each, “Francais!” and “Vous” in bold, signed in lower left corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: WWII French leaflet with insulting Cartoons of Jews, blaming them for black market profiteering while others have to endure long lines and unavailability of food. It ends with the exhortation to avoid Jews and their Schemes.
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Et derrière: Le Juif' [And in the back: The Jew] by Bruno Hanich
2019.2.355
Poster with illustration of a man wearing a Star of David necklace peering through a U.S. flag, a U.S.S.R. flag, and a British flag, “Et derrière: Le Jui” printed in yellow banner in lower left corner.
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Cast Metal Plaque, Rescued from Berlin's Fasanenstrasse Synagogue During Kristallnacht
2019.2.356
Metal plaque with scene of men seated at table
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:The Fasanenstrasse Synagogue was Berlin’s liberal Synagogue and the largest Synagogue in Berlin. It was opened in 1912, and during its years of operation had been for a time the spiritual home to Rabbi Leo Baeck. During the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 9 and 10, 1938, along with many other Synagogues in Germany and Austria, the Fasanenstrasse Synagogue had been set on fire-under Joseph Goebbels orders-and destroyed by SA thugs. This plaque, depicting a Seder scene with a group of Rabbis- probably influenced by a painting by the 19th century artist Moritz Oppenheim- had been damaged in the ensuing destruction of the synagogue. However, someone, perhaps a congregant, had been able to rescue the bullet- damaged plaque and carry it out of Germany to Jerusalem.