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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Jews Fleeing Memel
2014.1.82
Front: An image of a man and woman each holding the hand of a child with Nazi forces behind them in Memel, Germany. Back: Typewritten information about the photo.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Acme News pictures wire photo of Jews leaving Memel: Press release verso reads: "Memel, Germany. A picture which clearly illustrates the "other side" of the story in Memel. A Jewish refugee family walks through the cobbled streets of the town as uniformed Nazis in the background laugh and jeer at their misery. While Memel citizens were celebrating the return of the territory to the Reich, thousands of Jews fled in terror to Lithuania."
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Postcard Reveals Attempts of Family to Escape Nazi Germany
2014.1.81
Front: Tan postcard with handwritten letter.Back: Black printed postcard lines with continuation of message and address in black ink. Includes a red postage stamp on upper right, as well as several black hand stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Like many others, the Wernick family tried to send the younger generation to Palestine. German postcard dated 1.5.39, handwritten in German, addressed from one sister to another in Tel-Aviv; "... at this time we cannot come (to Palestine). We have no certificates, do not know when it will arrive, hoping it will not take a long tim. Our Ethel will soon be in Tel-Aviv, she is on her way. We have sent her your address and she will be visiting you... Your sister and brother-in law."
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Postcard to Miss Salome Goldstein, London from Regent Palace Hotel, London (German Family Escapes the Holocaust)
2015.2.206
Front: White postcard with German writing in blue cursive ink written horizontally across the page.Back: Includes information printed in black in English, an address written in blue ink, a red stamp, and two black hand stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Group of items pertaining to the timely escape of a Jewish family from persecution in Hitler's Germany. Includes: (2015.2.202) a legalized copy of a letter from Chase National Bank to the American Consul in Vienna, Nov. 19, 1938, stating that the American Louis Cohen wishes to be responsible for the entrance of Salome Goldstein to the U.S., and further states that he maintains accounts at the bank and has been etended credit; (2015.2.201) a British National Identity card issued to Goldstein and signed by her on May 23, 1940; (2015.2.203) a Jan. 25, 1939 notice that the German Jewish Aid Committee in London has retained Goldstein's passport which presumably will remain in their possession until her future status is determined; (2015.2.204ab) a May 5, 1939 letter from a Jewish dressmaker in London stating that business conditions do not permit her to hire Goldstein; (2015.2.205a-c) a letter from a Mrs. Hoffman in London to Goldstein's parents in the U.S. who had just made the crossing, with Mrs. Hoffman relieved that they had arrived alive; (2015.2.206) a May 3, 1939 postcard from a Jewish friend or relative mentioning Budapest; (2015.2.207) an envelope to Goldstein from Victoria Woolen Co. in New York.
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Envelope with Cancel for "The Eternal Jew" Anti-Semitic Exhibition, Magdeburg, 1939
2012.1.488
Teal envelope addressed to Heinrich Weiß, Mühlhausen Th., Wagenstedter-Brücke. Includes three circular black hand stamps for "Der ewige Jude."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The anti-semitic "The Eternal Jew" exhibit moved from Bremen to Magdeburg for its final presentation from May 13 - June 12, 1939. With war looming in the near future, the show was dismantled after this appearance.
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Letter from the Reichvertretung der Juden (Dr. Israel Otto Hirsch and Dr. Alfred Lilienthal) in Deutschland to Dr. Alfred Leschnitzer, Cambridge, England
2014.1.442abc
Typewritten letter in German with heading, "Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A letter to Dr. Alfred Leschnitzer, a noted scholar, historian and teacher who had emigrated to the United States after 1939. Signed by Dr. Israel Otto Hirsch and by Dr. Alfred Lilienthal. Lilienthal was an historian and journalist. Originally named Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden, it had united all Jewish organizations and religious bodies under one national umbrella organization. Rabbi Leo Baeck was elected president and Otto Hirsch was chairman. However, after the Nuremburg laws were passed in 1935, the name was changed to reflect the Nazi need to distinguish Jews and Germans. Hirsch was arrested in 1941 and sent to Mauthausen concentration camp where he was tortured to death.
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Young Judea Region Card
2015.2.208
White card in the shape of the Star of David. Includes blue printed text in English, and a circular emblem showing a Star of David with a lion inside. Information written in on the middle in blue cursive ink.
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"Israel" Invoice
2012.1.304
Tan paper with printed information in blue titled, "Gerichstasaffe Ludwigshafen a Rb." Includes an address on the opposite side.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A law enacted August 17, 1938 required Jews with non-Jewish forenames to assume the name "Sara" if a woman and "Israel" if a man. This law became effective January 1, 1939. These names were to be used on all correspondence -- private or official -- including return addresses on mail. This is a folded invoice from the Court of Justice at Ludwigshafen to an "Israel" Weingart at Manheim.
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Israel Postcard from New York to Berlin Currency Exchange On Eve of World War II
2012.1.288
Tan postcard with handwritten address to the "Berliner Handelsgesell-schaft" (Currency Exchange Office in Berlin) with handwritten message in black ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A law enacted August 17, 1938 required Jews with non-Jewish forenames to assume the name "Sara" if a woman and "Israel" if a man. This law became effective January 1, 1939. These names were to be used on all correspondence -- private or official -- including return addresses on mail. This "Israel" card came from the U.S. to the Berlin Currency Exchange. Note that upon receipt the card were numbered and dated.
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Nazi Telegram Wedding Announcement
2014.1.452
Front: An illustration of Hitler giving the Nazi salute during a parade.Interior: Typewritten text in German.Back: An illustration of the Nazi eagle and swastika with red text reading, "Deutsche Reichspost."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Telegram of a wedding greeting issued in Kassel, Germany, just two weeks before the advent of World War II. The painting shows Hitler saluting the parade of soldiers at a Nurnberg rally. On the back there's a Nazi eagle with the swastika, along with the text "Deutsche Reichspost", or German postal service.
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Copy of Letter from Adolf Hitler to Reichsleiter Bouhler and Dr. Med. Brandt (copy from USHMM)
2015.2.26
Front: Copy on printed paper of letter. Nazi insignia in upper left corner of the letter with Hitler's name printed. Date in upper righthand corner. Message typewritten with Hitler's signature beneath it. Writing below in black ink. The letter states that "Reichsleiter Bougler [sic] and Dr. med. Brandt are charged with the responsibility to broaden the authority of certain doctors to the extend that (persons) suffering from illnesses judged to be incurable may, after a humane, most careful assessment of their condition to be granted a mercy death. Adolf Hitler."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The letter states that "Reichsleiter Bougler [sic] and Dr. med. Brandt are charged with the responsibility to braoden the authority of certain doctors to the extend that (persons) suffering from illnesses judged to be incurable may, after a humane, most careful assessment of their condition to be granted a mercy death. Adolf Hitler. Philipp Bouhler (1899-1945), SS-Obergruppenfuehrer who served as chief of HItler's chancellery and head of the T-4 Euthanasia program. Bouhler, along with Karl Brandt, was tatsked by Hitler to develop the T-4 Euthanasia program. Karl Brandt (1904-1948), SS-Gruppenfuehrer, personal physician of Adolf HItler, co-director of the T-4 Euthanasia program and REich Commissioner for Health and Sanitation. After the war, Brandt was placed on trial as one of the main defendants at the Doctors' Trial in Nuremberg. In addition to his membership in the SS, he was charged with special responsibility for the numerous medical experiments to which thousands of concentration camp inmates were subjected, as well as with the planning and execution of the Euthanasia program. Brandt was sentenced to death and hanged in 1948.
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"Angaben über die Wohnung" (An Apartment is Entjudet) Referring to Jewish Removal from Apartment
2012.1.55
Brown half-sheet filled with printed charts and typewritten and handwritten information titled, "Angaben über die Wohnung."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Document attesting to fact that a Jewish family had been cleared from an apartment, it is "entjudet, referring to the fact that an apartment has been cleared of Jews and their belongings. Apartments were confiscated, the Jews deported to camps, and the apartment was given to a German family."The concept entjudet went through a semantic evolution, the term becoming increasingly more sinister under the Nazi regime. It referred to removal of Jews from professional and economic institutions, removing Jewish influence, taking over Jewish firms and property, and finally deportation and murder. It no longer appears in modern German usage.
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Tarnow, Poland Postcard FeldPost to Lindau, Germany
2014.1.265
Front: 'Tarnow. UI. Krakowska' black and white photograph of a street scene. Includes a trolley, several buildings and people.Back: White postcard with black printed postcard lines. Includes writing in pencil and a black FeldPost hand stamp.
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NSDAP Identification Card with Himmler Hand Stamp
2012.1.1
Yellow card with sepia photograph, titled "Schutzftaffel der N.S.D.A.P." with Himmler handstamp on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: SS-Schutzstaffel of the NSDAP ID with ink-stamped Reichsfuhrer SS Himmler Printed Signature. 1939.” E. should read “ 1939 SS ID or ausweis to SS Mann Johann Walter. He was born in 1897. Ink stamped Himmler signature. Yellow stamp at bottom indicating dues were paid for July/September 1939.His picture is on opposite side and stamped. His number of the SS Ausweis is 235210.
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Reichsparteitag (National Party Convention) Postcard
2016.1.33
Front: Red background with ‘REICHSPARTEI-TAG, NURNBERG, 2-11.SEPTEMBER’ below circular image of woman with child, 1939 at left; Back: blank postcard lines, printed stamp of Hitler at top right corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Also known as the Nuremberg Rally, the annual rally of the Nazi Party in Germany, immortalized by Leni Riefenstahl in several films, including Triumph of the Will, filmed at the 1934 event. The theme of the 1939 rally, given the name, “Rally of Peace”, was cancelled due to Germany’s assault on Poland, September 1, 1939, which began World War II. This rally was to occur on September 2. Thus the 1938 was the last annual rally
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Refugees on Decks of S.S. Atratto
2014.1.368
Front: Many men on deck of the Atratto. Back: Associated Press release attached.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Associated Press release attached to wire photo verso: "From London. 200 ton steamer arrested off Palestine with 400 refugees aboard after a month at sea. With 401 Men, women and children huddled on the upper deck with cattle and poultry, the Greek-manned Panama steamer Atratto was arrested inside territorial waters off Jaffa, Palestine, on July 17, by the Minesweeper H.M.S. Sutton. She was escorted into Haiffa where the captain and cr[ew] are awaiting trial for attempting to smuggle refugees into Palestine. Though crow[d]ed in misery on the open deck 25 pounds was the cost of the passage into Palestine, the fee not including bedding or food. Associated Press photo shows: the crowded decks of the S.S. Atratto, showing that even the lifeboat (Ventre) was displaced with the great crowd on the steamers' decks. These 'berths' cost 25 pounds a head."
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Postcard from A Jewish Refugee in Germany Trapped in France en Route to England
2015.2.63
Front: Tan postcard with neat blue ink cursive script vertically across the page. Some water damage on the lower left side. Back: Printed red postcard lines. Continuation of message in blue cursive ink on left side. The right side includes the address written in blue and black ink on the printed lines. Printed red stamp of a woman in classical garments holding a torch in the upper righthand corner. Black stamps across the top of the page.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Postcard sent to Dr. Martin Nathan in Tel Aviv, Palestine. Alice describes her situation calmly, with a sense of humor, but eminently realistically. She is understandably fearful, worries about the immediate future. She reports having received her Visa to England on September 1, on the outbreak of war, and left Germany on September 2nd. But she is stuck and cannot continue on her journey to England, in all probability because in wartime with a German Visa she would not be permitted to enter England as an alien of an enemy country. She reports that her stay in France is not so pleasant but that she cannot complain because the times are so serious. She is being taken care of by the local Jewish committee and has been provided with shelter. All of her belongings are in England, she thinks. Nevertheless, there is no place where she is staying to put her things. She states that no one knows what will be. She thinks that her mother was not able to escape. News from Italy arrived from when Alice left. She states that an enormous sum of money is required to bring her to Alice, and the Committee is not able to help. She asks how Dr. Nathan is, and whether they will ever see one another again. She is afraid that this will not happen. Write me, she says, stating that she is so alone, completely dependent on the good will of strangers. One meets people who help but "there are many unpleasant matters." She concludes, "Well, we must go on. Regards to you all. Yours, Alice."
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Postcard from Soviet Occupied Lvov to Basel, Switzerland
2014.1.55
Front: Black printed postcard lines with typewritten address. Includes a blue postal stamp, black hand stamp and pencil writing.Back: Typewritten message with handwritten signature.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The city of Lvov in southeastern Poland was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1939, under the terms of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact of August 1939. There were over 200,000 Jews in Lvov in September 1939, many of whom were refugees from German-occupied Poland. The Germans subsequently occupied Lvov after the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.
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German-Jewish Refugees in Enlgand
2016.1.37
Front: Children sitting at tables with teacher is at chalkboard; Back: Adhered sheet,”12026, Associated Press Photo from New York, Caution: Use Credit. (EDS; This is one of a series of six photos of Jewish refugee camp in England for ROTO release to AM’s of January 29) This release date must be observed. Begin Life Anew; Young Jewish refugee children in camp at Dovercourt Bay, England, pay close attention to the blackboard as they receive a lesson in English. This have cares for 200 German Jewish Children. Associated Press Photo for ROTO release to AM’s of January 29. This release date must be observed; WA List BM NA Nacion NR SUPS AB CS MX TROTO MEX DUL JBAPES 12-28-38APGB
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Associated Press wire photo verso:"Young Jewish refugee children in camp at Dovercourt Bay, England, pay close attention to the blackboard as they receive a lesson in English. This haven cares for 200 German- Jewish Children." 12-28-38.
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Hitler and Mussolini Meeting in Munich in June, 1940
2015.2.23
Front: Black and white photograph of Hitler and Mussolini standing in the backseat of a black Mercedez Benz, with a crowd of soldiers in the street behind them. Back: Blank postcard lines. Upper righthand corner has a red a French stamp for the Legion Tricolore, which shows a man on the left in profile, and a group of soldiers. On top of that is a black circular handstamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Real photo postcard of Hitler and Mussolini in the former's Mercedes Benz in June, 1940 with French Legion Tricolore stamp which were formed by the collaborationist Vichy government and considered independent of German control. Opposition from Germany forced the Legion to disband after six months.
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Letter from Berlin-Plotzensee Prison, 1940
2014.1.78
Front: Printed lines and text with handwritten message in black ink.Interior & Back : Continuation of message.Information Provided Michael D. Bulmash: Under the Nazi regime, Plotzensee housed both criminals and those deemed enemies of the state. One of eleven execution sites, criminals were beheaded by guillotine (after 1937), or, by hanging (after 1942). Among those executed in Plotzensee were members of resistance organizations including the Red Orchestra, the Stauffenberg co-conspirators, and Marianne Baum of the Baum Group. Approximately 300 women were executed at Plotzensee, including the anti-Nazi German nurse Gertrud Seele.
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Postcard from Hungarian Camp
2014.1.129
Front: Tan postcard with green printed postcard lines, pencil writing, and a black hand stamp.Back: Handwritten message in pencil with a purple stamp.
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Romanian Iron Guard Legion Stamps
2014.1.253
Three stamps mounted on blue paper. The left stamp is brown and shows a young man. The middle stamp has a green and black geometric design on a white background. The right stamp shows the young man again.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Two stamps with pictures of Codrenau, the founder of the Iron Guard, and a stamp bearing the symbol of the Iron Guard. The Iron Guard was the right wing movement and political party in Romania beginning in 1927 and lasting until World War II. It was ultra-nationalistic, fascistic, anti-communist and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith. It was virulently anti-Semitic,even demanding a policy of state-wide anti-Semitism. When Ion Antonescu came to power in September 1940 he brought the Iron Guard into the government, at which point it launched extremely violent and murderous attacks on Jews. In 1941, Anttonescu suppressed the Iron Guard revolt. The Iron Guard's commander Horia Sima and other leaders escaped to Germany.
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Envelope with Hungarian Arrow Cross Party Label
2014.1.276
Front: White envelope with purple writing.Back: Four purple postage stamps and one rectangular Green Arrow Cross party label, with four black rectangular and one circular hand stamp.
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Josef Tiso Postcard
2012.1.373
Postcard with black and white photograph of Josef Tito, an older man wearing black. Includes blank postcard lines on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Josef Tiso (1887-1947) was a Slovak politician and priest, head of the Nazi satellite Slovak state and involved in the deportation and massacre of Jews. He was convicted and hung at war's end.
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Fragebogen, or Questionnaire Asking for Ancestry and Profession for Jew, Stamped with “Jude”
2012.1.502
Tan document with title, "Fragebogen zur erstmaligen Meldung der Heilberufe." Includes a black and white photograph of a balding man in a suit, a purple "JUDE" stamp, as well as three pages of printed and typewritten text.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The Fragebogen stamped “Jude” in purple was required documentation by the Nazis in advance of other actions to be taken upon Jews individually or collectively.