During this period emigration of Jews from Germany and Austria was closed down even as anti-Semitism became more extreme. With the advent of World War II on September 1, 1939, Jews fell increasingly under Nazi control as more European territory was conquered. Jews were placed in ghettos under brutal and appalling living conditions: slave labor, starvation and disease were rife, and many Jews perished, or were eventually sent to killing centers. Major ghettos included Warsaw, Lodz, and Lublin, but there were as many as 1000 ghettos in all. The Gestapo and the SS became organs of terror. Opponents of the Nazis were sent to concentration camps, and many never emerged. The Nazis utilized the Einsatzgruppen, mobile killing units following the Wehrmacht into the Soviet Union, murdering Jews and other groups targeted for elimination. The Einsatzgruppen, along with their local minions, ultimately murdered 1,500,000 Jews.
--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
This collection features: correspondence and representative covers from many ghettos—including smaller ones-- established under the Nazis; a rare stamp from the ghetto of Czestochowa (Tschenstochau) in Poland; ghetto scrip; a selection of undercover mail covers; and the passport of a woman who had been a passenger on the St.Louis in 1939.
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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Mauritius Jewish Internment Camp Cover from Adolph Meir Felmann to New York Physician
Blue Mauritius postage stamp in upper right corner, “Written in English” in black print in upper left corner, underlined with dashes, “PASSED BY CENSOR MAURITIUS” in triangle shaped stamp in purple ink. Back labelled “OPENED BY CENSOR” in large red print, and includes “Exp.: Adolf Meir Feldmenn” in black print near top.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Britain’s refusal to permit desperate Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe to emigrate to Palestine meant establishing internment camps within the Empire. In December 1940 they opened up an internment camp in a dismal Napoleonic era prison on the island of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean off the coast of South Africa. Ultimately 1,500 refugees, “illegal immigrants” were denied entry to Palestine, were deported here.
Cover shows a purple triangular Mauritius censor as well as a Union of South Africa censor. All camp mail went through Postbox 1000, which was also the return address. It is believed that Mr. Feldmann eventually was allowed to become a citizen of Israel.