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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Document Relating to Jurgen Stroop and Rudolf Brandt
Green paper, wear along edges, three underlined lines in center, "43" stamped in blue ink in top right corner.
[Related item: 2019.2.21]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Document from September 16, 1942 announcing Stroop’s promotion to the rank of the SS-Brigadefuhrer and Major-General of Police, the rank which he held at the time of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, signed by an unknown Hauptsturmfuhrer. Stroop was the SS Police Leader of Warsaw who was responsible for the savage crushing of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 about which he wrote a book – intended as a souvenir for Himmler originally entitled “The Warsaw Ghetto is no more.” It took Stroop and his army a month of overwhelmingly firepower to subdue the Ghetto fighters who had little in the way of food or ordinance. Indeed, Stroop grudgingly acknowledged surprise at the fighting spirit of the Ghetto inhabitants. Brought to trial as a war criminal, he was found guilty and executed-appropriately- in Warsaw.
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Censored Postcard Sent From Borgo Val Di Taro (Borgotaro) by David Levy to Delasem Leader Septimus Sorani in Rome
Tan postcard, “VINCEREMO” printed across left side, titled “CARTOLINA POSTALE” in brown print at top, brown postage stamp on right side above “CENSURA 3” stamped in blue. Sorani was a Jewish delegate of the Rome office of DELASEM (DELEGAZIONE PER L’ASSISTENZA EMIGRANTI EBREI) the Jewish resistance organization in Italy aiding Jews- both Italian and foreign- who fell beneath the Axis boot. DELASEM provided money, housing, and if necessary, false documents to assist refugees interned in Italian camps. Support for DELASEM came from international organizations such as AJDC and HIAS, as well as elements of the Catholic Church and the Swiss.
David Levy may have been related to Giuseppe Levi of the Rome office. He is clearly appreciative of funds sent his way. He could be part of the network of internees who worked for DELASEM, especially given the proximity of Borgotaro to Parma, a hotbed of partisan resistance to the Nazis and the Italian puppet state, which would not be liberated from German occupation until the end of April 1945.
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Litzmannstadt Ghetto 5 Mark Coin
Dark grey, aluminum coin. One side with “5 mark”, the other with a Star of David and "Ghetto 1943"
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:One of four denominations of coinage struck in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto out of aluminum, legal currency only in the ghetto used to purchase food or medicine.
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Rene Lambrechts Wearing Camp Garments
Photo of man with glasses wearing striped concentration camp hat and shirt labelled with "82221." Back of photo signed "René Lambrechts" near bottom.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Lambrechts’ temporary ID pass for foreigners with photos, as well as a photograph of Lambrechts wearing his camp garments. On reverse is text written to his friend and fellow prisoner, Jos Veerman, an inmate from Kl Dora-Mittelbau and political prisoner from Gross Strehlitz.
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Rare Letter with Cover from KL (Concentration Camp) Bad Tolz, Subcamp of Dachau
a: Brown envelope with red postal stamp in top right corner with 65 written in pencil to its left.b: two column form letter. Front right column printed on left side is, “Konzentrationslager Dachau 3 K” and to the right of that is handwritten, “An Frau [Kuzmieokiewiez?] Natalia”
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Bad Tolz was known as a Junkerschule or officer candidate school for training future Waffen-SS (Schutzstaffel). The cover contains the prisoner’s name, his birthdate, and prisoner number and address of Bad Tolz near Munich.
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German Soldier Feldpost Letter Written to his Family in Munich Accompanied by Photo of Arrested Jews
a: Green envelope addressed to "Paul Gruber," gray, torn postage stamp of Hitler in upper right corner. b: Two- sided, typed letter, front includes "Reichshof/Krakau 18.June 1943" in upper right side. Back includes "II" in the center at the top of the page. c: Black and white photo of a soldier standing in front of a large group of people standing in three lines with their arms up.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The soldier, Sergeant Oskar Gruber, writes that he has just arrived in Krakow, and that he is currently being accommodated at a reserve hospital in a protected area, and that the zone is happily “free of Jews” ( Judenfrei ). Referring to a photo accompanying the letter he reports that the last “pest” has been expelled. He hopes for his family’s sake that the British and Americans will leave them (his family) alone. He references his experience in Russia seeing many thousands dying there and that he is happy just to have survived. He goes on to say that what the Fuhrer (Hitler) has described about Jews is “far too harmless,” and that as far as he and his comrades are concerned, “the Jew is the most miserable (race) on this earth…when everything is over, and when we emerge victorious from this war, then the world will understand everything about this uncultivated race.” On the reverse of the photo is a note “Jews 17.6, please keep safe, Oskar.”
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Lettercard from Concentration Camp Gross Rosen to Radom
Front includes red postage stamp of Hitler in top right corner, swastika stamped in black ink in bottom left corner. Back includes "Konzentrationslager Gross-Rosen" in red print in top left corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Gross-Rosen was initially a satellite of Sachsenhausen, but eventually became its own system with almost 10 sub-camps located in Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. Many German companies benefited from the slave labor employed here, including Krupp, I.G. Farben, and Daimler-Benz.
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Lettersheet from Auschwitz-Buna to Danzig with Scarce Censor
Letter with red postage stamp of Hitler in top right corner, titled "Konzentrationslager Auschwitz" in black ink in top left, two squares on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of the three main camps of the Auschwitz system to be distinguished from Auschwitz I, the main camp; and Auschwitz II, the extermination center; Buna, (referred to variously as Auschwitz III, Buna or Monowitz-Buna), supplied slave labor for the I.G.Farben synthetic rubber complex, as well as other German industrial giants, including those owned by Krupp and Siemens. Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz details his experience here.
Double ring cancel Auschwitz-Oberschlesien 8-30-43, with camp censor marking: Gepruft 2 A.L. Buna
A.L. is a reference to Buna’s origin as an Arbeitslager, or work camp before it metastasized into its own system with more than 40 sub-camps.
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Buchenwald Concentration Camp Formular Letter from Prisoner Adolf Sildberger
Two columned paper, front and back with blue handwriting on printed, dotted, red lines. On the front to the top left side of the right column is printed in red "Konzentrationslager Weimar-Buchenwald" to the right of this is handwritten in blue "5/IX.1943' on a printed, dotted, red line.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Sildberger correspondence from Buchenwald has been included in Lordahl’s work on concentration camp mail. It appears that Mr. Sildberger, born in 1904, was a Czechoslovakian citizen from Pribyslavice who was rescued from Buchenwald at war’s end.
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11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland Feldpost Letter Sent to Family Member (Mother)
a: Blue Envelope with two circular ink stamps, one black, one purple with handwriting on front: "Frau Elise Müller". b: Brown letter handwritten in black with drawing of a man in uniform holding a bouquet of flowers.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:The author of this letter is a member of a Norwegian Voluntary Unit in the German army during WWII: 15 kompanie SS-Panzer Grenadier Rgt. “NORGE”. a Waffen-SS division of Scandinavian volunteers which fought on the Eastern front during WWII.
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Ferramonti Concentration Camp Cover from Jewish Inmate Richard Mayer, Air Mail, Prisoner of War Post via Sofia-Istanbul to Carlo Weiskopf in Jerusalem
Envelope addressed to "Carlo Weiskopf". Front features a blue Italian postal stamp covered in a rectangular, purple ink stamp with diagonal lines in it. On the front there is another rectangular, purple ink stamp and another circular purple ink stamp. The back has brown censor tape and a circular, black ink stamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Ferramonti, near Tarsia in Southern Italy, was the largest Italian concentration camp. Opened in June, 1940, Ferramonti held almost 4000 Jewish prisoners, most of whom were refugees from Germany. It was neither a slave labor camp nor an extermination center along the lines of German and Polish camps. Indeed, inmates were treated well, organized cultural activities, a library, and a synagogue with an Italian rabbi officiating. After Mussolini’s downfall in 1943, many internees at Ferramonti either joined the Allied war effort, or were transferred to Camp Oswego in New York. Italian and British Censor cachets, Ferramonti censor cachet. With censor tape on left and verso. Stamp annulled since it as not required.
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Litzmannstadt Ghetto Stamps; Full Set of Three
Stamps featuring Mordechai Rumkowski's profile, a gear, a drafting compass, and a Star of David in three different colors: Blue, Green, and Red. They each have a number, 5, 10 and 20 respectively.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Soon after the German occupation of the Polish city of Lodz in 1939, the name of the city was changed to Litzmannstadt. Jews were forced into a ghetto, and Mordechai Rumkowski was chosen Judenalteste, or Elder of the Jews. Rumkowski was an enormously controversial figure who believed that converting the Ghetto into an industrial center would ensure the survival of the beleaguered Jewish population. He established a postal service within the Ghetto, and the design of these stamps was chosen for correspondence exclusively within the Ghetto. They were issued on March 9, 1944, but were soon discontinued by the Germans. In these stamps Rumkowski’s profile is prominently displayed, along with industrial imagery, mirroring Rumkowski’s fantasied salvation from the ineluctable Nazi extermination of the Jews. He was ultimately deported on the last transport to Auschwitz where he and his family were murdered. Of the more than 200,000 Jews imprisoned in the Ghetto, less than 900 survived.
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German Occupied Bohemia Moravia Postcard from Nelli Mueller of Hagibor Forced Labor Camp, to Mother-in-Law Lida Mueller in Zebrak
Postcard marked "POSTKARTE DOPISNICE" with a purple postage stamp of Hitler in the top right corner and a border of purple leaves, "HAGIBOR" stamped in red on left side, writing in pencil on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Nelli Mueller was a Jew who married a Czech ethnic German, Bohomil Mueller. For “violation” of the Nuremberg racial laws, she would be interned in Hagibor, a “mixed race” slave labor camp (Sonderlager) for spouses of mixed marriages. She was subsequently deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1945, a few months before that camp was liberated. Her husband had been consigned to a series of labor camps, the last of which was an Organization Todt subcamp of Mittelbau-Dora, working in the mines producing the V1/V2 bombs. Nelli’s address on the postcard, Prag XI Schweringasse 1201, is a Gestapo office used to address mail for Hagibor inmates. Postcard uncancelled, hand stamped “Hagibor” in red by censor.
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French Anti-Semitic Illustrations: “The Cancer That Has Eaten France”
A series of anti-semitic illustrations printed by the Institut D'Etudes Des Questions Juives [Institute of the Study of Jewish Questions].
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Sign "Jewish Settlement Area. Loitering Forbidden!"
A porcelain sign that reads "JEWISH SETTLEMENT AREA. LOITERING FORBIDDEN!" that hung in a Ghetto.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Porcelain sign bearing the printed message: "JEWISH SETTLEMENT AREA. LOITERING FORBIDDEN!" Just as Jews were shunned if not banished from many towns and cities in Nazi-controlled areas, gentiles were not allowed in ghettos.
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Daimler-Benz Truck with Four German Soldiers
Front: Sepia colored photograph with scalloped edges. Shows four soldiers in heavy coats and hats standing and sitting around a black truck with Mercedes Benz decoration on front. Technical information about the truck is printed on its door.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Technical data about truck painted on door.
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Jewish Terror in Warsaw
Front: A black and white photograph of Jewish men in heavy jackets being escorted by the military.Back: Several hand stamps and various writing. Includes source as International New Photo
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: News wire photo of Jews in Warsaw Ghetto. Verso: "Jewish terror in Warsaw" and "Jews in Warsaw" with a date stamp of November 7, 1941. The Warsaw Ghetto had been the largest ghetto in occupied Poland in the General Government with more than 400,000 residents. While there is no further information on this photo, these men are possibly being marched to a work camp. Deportations to Treblinka began in November of the following year.
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Ukrainian Document Acknowleging Laws That State Who Must Be Considered Jewish
Front: Light brown paper with columns of printed text in German, Ukrainian and Polish.Back: Continuation of text.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Document issued in Ukrainian, Polish and German languages. One side states the infamous laws that state who must be considered Jewish. The second part is to be signed and states that the signer is acquainted with the laws and is not Jewish. Either the paper had to be signed to join the Ukrainian SS Division "Galichina" or that all Ukrainians working for the Germans had to sign it.
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Telegram from Auschwitz
Telegram: 'Deutsche Post Osten' printed at top center. Envelope: 'Telegramm' printed above gold rectangle with black outline. Back: 'Inliegend Telegramm!' at top center.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Telegram from commandant reporting death of inmate.
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Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism Postage Stamp
Purple stamp of a soldier looking through binoculars.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A stamp commemorating the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism (Légion des Volontaires Français contre le Bolchévisme). The Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism was a collaborationist French militia founded July 8, 1941.It was officially known to the Germans as Infantry Regiment (Infanteriereregiment) 638. It had no formal link with the Vichy regime, even though it was recognized as an "association of public usefullness" by Pierre Laval's government in February 1943. Philippe Pétain, head of state of Vichy France, personally disapproved of Frenchmen wearing German uniforms. The Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism volunteered to fight against the USSR on the Eastern Front.
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Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism
Black stamp of a soldier and a tank.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A stamp commemorating the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism (Légion des Volontaires Français contre le Bolchévisme). The Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism was a collaborationist French militia founded July 8, 1941.It was officially known to the Germans as Infantry Regiment (Infanteriereregiment) 638. It had no formal link with the Vichy regime, even though it was recognized as an "association of public usefullness" by Pierre Laval's government in February 1943. Philippe Pétain, head of state of Vichy France, personally disapproved of Frenchmen wearing German uniforms. The Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism volunteered to fight against the USSR on the Eastern Front.
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Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism Postage Stamp
Green stamp depicting two soldiers firing a cannon.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A stamp from the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism (Légion des Volontaires Français contre le Bolchévisme). The Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism was a collaborationist French militia founded July 8, 1941. Philippe Pétain, head of state of Vichy France, personally disapproved of Frenchmen wearing German uniforms and never went beyond individual and informal words of support to some specific officers. The Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism volunteered to fight against the USSR on the Eastern Front. It was officially known to the Germans as Infantry Regiment (Infanteriereregiment) 638.
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Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism Postage Stamp
Red stamp of soldiers on horses.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A stamp from the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism (Légion des Volontaires Français contre le Bolchévisme). The Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism was a collaborationist French militia founded July 8, 1941. Philippe Pétain, head of state of Vichy France, personally disapproved of Frenchmen wearing German uniforms and never went beyond individual and informal words of support to some specific officers. The Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism volunteered to fight against the USSR on the Eastern Front. It was officially known to the Germans as Infantry Regiment (Infanteriereregiment) 638.
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Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism Postage Stamp
Blue stamp of soldiers saluting and carrying flags.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A stamp from the Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism (Légion des Volontaires Français contre le Bolchévisme). The Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism was a collaborationist French militia founded July 8, 1941. Philippe Pétain, head of state of Vichy France, personally disapproved of Frenchmen wearing German uniforms and never went beyond individual and informal words of support to some specific officers. The Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism volunteered to fight against the USSR on the Eastern Front. It was officially known to the Germans as Infantry Regiment (Infanteriereregiment) 638.
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Life Insurance Document for Margot Loewenstein
Typewritten document in black and blue with a large red Star of David stamp with the word "Jude."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A very distrurbing set of three typed documents (2012.1.44, 2012.1.45, 2012.1.46) from Berlin. Each is ominously stamped "Jude" in a large red Star of David, concerning the life insurance policy of one Margot Lowenstein of Hamburg, who fled Nazi Germany in August 1939 for England. Under German law, Jews who left the country or were forcibly deported were forced to forfeit any benefits or monies due on existing life insurance poliices. The document, loosely translated in part, reads: "According to our records, the claimant is a Jew who has left the country and has forfeited her German nationality. At present the above policy is due... We waive the certificate of insurance in the interest of the Reich..." This is a morbid reminder of the lengths the Nazi regime went to bilk every last penny out of their political and cultural enemies.