As the Einsatzgruppen continued to blaze a trail of murder through the Baltic states, Ukraine and the Soviet Union, Reinhard Heydrich officiated at the Wannsee Conference in January, 1942, where plans were discussed for the systematic extermination of all the Jews of Europe in all of the countries conquered by Germany. Entire Jewish communities were to be liquidated. Concentration camps, initially used to incarcerate political prisoners, became extermination centers for mass murder in gas chambers, especially after Heydrich’s assassination. While there were many concentration camps, the major extermination centers were Auschwitz, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor, Bergen-Belsen and Treblinka. Thus Jews were to be methodically killed with poison gas, or utilized as slave labor to be worked to death in war- related industries for the Reich.
This collection includes many examples of concentration and internment camp mail (including Romanian and Croatian camps as well as French internment camps) used during the Third Reich; several Auschwitz Briefaktion Postcards; and a program of the Bermuda Conference with a copy of a letter written by Rabbi Stephen Wise.
--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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Niederschrift [Oath of Office] Signed by Marianne Tuerk
Tan paper with two hole punches on the left side and printed text in German. Includes printed Nazi seal on top, as well as several pencil signatures and purple hand stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Marianne Tuerk was a medical doctor who had been imprisoned for murdering children at Kinderspital Am Spiegelgrund, the children's clinic in Vienna, as part of the Nazi Euthenasia program known as Action T4, headed by Philipp Bouhler. Among with Margarethe Heubsche and Ernst Illing, the head of the "clinic," she claimed that the murders were ordered from Berlin to "purify and improve the physical standards of the German race." These children were designated as Lebensunwertes Leben, Life Unworthy of Life, and were thus targeted for "euthanasia." Overdoses of Luminol, Veronal and Morphine were administered to children with mental and physical diseases and disabilities, or were considered "inferior" according to Nazi racial policy. Over seven hundred children perished at Spiegelgrund, one of 30 Nazi institutes where physically and mentally handicapped people were killed as part of the T4 program. In most cases cause of death was cited as pneumonia, or muscle problems. Brains and other body parts were collected and placed in jars of formaldehyde. Dr. Tuerk was imprisoned for ten years after the war. Illing was hanged. [This document is] An Oath of Office (Niederschrift) signed by Tuerk, in which she pledges her fidelity and obedience to Hitler and the German empire, and to fulfill her duties conscientiously.
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Sterilization Procedure Leaflet
Front: White paper with a graphic black, white, and red illustration of the body being opened with medical instruments performing a sterilization procedure. Includes dotted lines pointing to certain parts of the body with descriptions at the end of them. Includes red and purple hand stamps, black printed text, and Tuerk's signature in black at the bottom.Back: Another graphic black, white, and red illustration of the body being opened with medical instruments performing a sterilization procedure. Includes dotted lines pointing to certain parts of the body with descriptions at the end of them. Includes printed text at the bottom.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Marianne Tuerk was a medical doctor who had been imprisoned for murdering children at Kinderspital Am Spiegelgrund, the children's clinic in Vienna, as part of the Nazi Euthenasia program known as Action T4, headed by Philipp Bouhler. Among with Margarethe Heubsche and Ernst Illing, the head of the "clinic," she claimed that the murders were ordered from Berlin to "purify and improve the physical standards of the German race." These children were designated as Lebensunwertes Leben, Life Unworthy of Life, and were thus targeted for "euthanasia." Overdoses of Luminol, Veronal and Morphine were administered to children with mental and physical diseases and disabilities, or were considered "inferior" according to Nazi racial policy. Over seven hundred children perished at Spiegelgrund, one of 30 Nazi institutes where physically and mentally handicapped people were killed as part of the T4 program. In most cases cause of death was cited as pneumonia, or muscle problems. Brains and other body parts were collected and placed in jars of formaldehyde. Dr. Tuerk was imprisoned for ten years after the war. Illing was hanged. [This document is a] Leaflet signed by Tuerk pertaining to the sterilization procedure.
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Envelope from "Israel"
Blueish white envelope. Address written in blue cursive ink. Two pasted stamps in upper right: pink stamp with man in profile facing left, and blue stamp with Hitler's profile facing right. Black circular handstamp between them. Pasted Mit Luftpost stamp in upper left. Ink and pencil writing in bottom left, water damaged. Back: Address written in blue cursive ink on flap. White censor tape with black Nazi eagle circular emblem upside down on bottom. Red stamp of alternating circles with Nazi eagle and horizontal lines across censor tape.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israel Cover
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Transfer of Farm Property to True Germans Document
Front: White paper with printed black writing and lines. Includes written information and several purple hand stamps.Back: Includes several stamps and a purple signature.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Probate court ensures only true Germans own farms. Legal folio, Cologne August 8, 1942, an 'Anerbengerichts' or inheritance court document approving the transfer of a farm to another party. The 'Anerben' laws were specifically established by the Nazis to ensure that German farms would be sold, inherited, or otherwise transferred only to those with pure German blood and that they would not be split up. The law actually saw farms as the "wellspring of German Blood" in fulfillment of Himmler's dream.
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Censored Envelope from Germany to Undercover Address in New York
Front: A white envelope with writing in blocky black ink. Includes a blue postage stamp, a black hand stamp, and censor tape.Back: Includes censor tape in both German and English.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: This was the undercover address (generally assumed to have been run by Thomas Cook and Co.) used for mail from Germany to Canada prior to US entry into the war. Mail was sent on from there under separate cover, as evidenced by the lack of re-direction and the presence of Canadian censor tapes on the German covers.
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Correspondence from Ernest Kohn/Adolf Slunjski in Zagreb, Croatia
Envelope: A white envelope with green writing. In the upper left corner is a printed return address, crossed out with black ink with a different return address stamped on in purple. Includes two green postage stamps and a black hand stamp.Letter: Typewritten letter on white paper, including two purple hand stamps, and some writing in black ink, including a signature.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A letter from Zagreb from a formerly Jewish-owned company "Ernest Kohn" with its name crossed out and replaced with the new owner, Adolf Slunjski. Ernest Kohn of Zagreb was murdered during the Holocaust in 1942.
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Polizei Soldbuch
Cover: Green cover with eagle and Swastika in a reef. Title 'Soldbuch zugleich Perfonalausweis.' within black border. Green binding on left side. Interior: 36 pages with numerous stamps and handwriting throughout.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Soldbuch for member of regiment sud police battalion 314 one Leo Markert, a Revierober Wachtmeister of the Schutzpolizei with awards including the antipartisan badge in silver and close combat clasp in silver containing an attached foldout detailing engagements by date and place. Anti-partisan is a euphemism for Jews. Picture removed, probably to conceal identity. Entries as well for postwar internment in a British POW camp. Many of engagements occurred in Ukraine in all probability as a part of Einsatzgruppen activities.
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Polish Prisoner at Auschwitz
Front: A triptych of photographs. The leftmost one is a profile of the prisoner with the text 'Pole 20627 K.L.Auschwitz' on it. There is a medal rod at the back of the man's head. He is shaved and in a prisoner's uniform. The middle is of the prisoner facing towards the camera. The right one is the prisoner facing slightly to the left with a cap on. Back: Purple stamp that says 'Panstwowe Muzeum W Oswiec... Pracownia Fotograficzna'.
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J.A. Topf and Sohne Erfurt Brochure
Front: White brochure with black text and green accents. Large picture of the malt-drying machines done in black take up most of the cover. Green accents at the top and bottom 'J.A. Topf & Söhne' stamped in red at the top. 'J.A. Topf & Söhne Erfurt' in large black letters on the top.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Brochure from the 1940's of malt-drying machine manufactured by the engineering firm that gave us the crematoria--the incineration furnaces--at concentration camps such as Auschwitz.
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Early Postcard Sent from Buchenwald Concentration Camp
Front: Split in half by orange line. Right side has orange dotted lines with the addressee written on them. The upper righthand corner seems to have had the stamp ripped off. There is "-26-" in its place, as well as the bottom outline of a circle stamp. Address is written in black pen. The left side of the postcard has a block of German text in orange print, titled: "Konzentrationslager Weirmar=Buchenwald" with the name of the inmate written along with his room and block in the bottom in black ink. Back: Message is written on dotted orange lines in black ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Sent by inmate Joseph Kachel, inmate #15, block #44. The low inmate number shows that he was more than likely one of the earliest inmates at the concentration camp.
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Ausweis Issued to Elfriede Förster, Flossenberg Concentration Camp
Green card titled, "Konzentrationslager Flossenbürg Ausweis." Includes writing on front and back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Ausweis Nr. 289 was issued to Elfriede Förster, born May 18, 1919. The text below the date of birth says that she is allowed to carry weapons while on duty in the camp and that all other government authorities are supposed to help her. The document is signed by the commander of the Konzentrations-Lager (KL or concentratrion camp) Flossenbürg who was in the rank of a SS-Obersturmführer. The ID photo has been removed in all probability by Elfriede herself, or her family, in or after 1945 because it was not very advantageous to be recognized as a former guard in a Nazi concentration camp.
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Censored Letter from Drancy Internment Camp
Envelope with title, "Kriegsgafanyenpost" with address and message written in pencil.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Frontstalag 111, Drancy France. Censored lettercard sent by Jewish POW to his wife in Frontslag 142 Besancon. Drancy was French concentration camp with direct line to Auschwitz.
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Real Photo Polish Postcards of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of Nazis shooting a group of people with printed postcard lines and caption on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: German firing squad shooting civilians in the woods near Bochnia.
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Real Photo Polish Postcards of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of Nazis undressing corpses with printed postcard lines and caption on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Post-execution photo of civilians undressing and burying bodies under watchful eyes of Germans.
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Real Photo Polish Postcards of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of Nazis filming a group of children with printed postcard lines and caption on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Germans filming female victims.
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Real Photo Polish Postcards of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of Nazis watching naked Jews with printed postcard lines and caption on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Jews—men and children- stripped naked, hovering over pit awaiting execution.
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Real Photo Polish Postcards of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of a line of corpses with printed postcard lines and caption on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Cracow-murdered Jews post execution.
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Real Photo Polish Postcards of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of Jews being herded by soldiers with printed postcard lines and caption on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Jews being removed from Rzeszow, either being sent to ghetto or deported.
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Real Photo Polish Postcards of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of a Jewish man on his knees with Nazi soldiers nearby with printed postcard lines and caption on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Old Jewish man, dressed in prayer garb, being made to dance while Germans enjoying his humiliation.
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Real Photo Polish Postcards of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of a group of people carrying their belongings with printed postcard lines and caption on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Jews packing belongings for trip to the ghetto in Grodno.
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Real Photo Polish Postcards of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of Jewish men standing and on their knees wearing armbands with printed postcard lines and caption on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Jewish men —with armbands--forced to humiliate themselves playing leapfrog to the delight of Germans. Jewish onlookers.
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Third Reich Cover to Dr. Pappenheimer in Shanghai from Isaak Gottleib
Tan envelope with typewritten address to Mr. & Mrs. D. Pappenheimer. Includes handwritten address on back flap from Mr. Isaak Gottlieb.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: This envelope to Dr. Pappenheimer traveled through Siberia to reach its destination in Shanghai where Jews were given safe haven. Nazi censor markings.
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"Israel" Envelope
Purple grey envelope with typewritten address to Henri Landauer and return address typewritten on back flap to Julius Israel Josephi.
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.
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"The White Book" Poem Postcard
Postcard with red border titled, "The White Book." Includes a poem in English. Back is blank.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: English anti-German propaganda, World War II.
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Buchenwald Lagergeld Money
Two pieces of paper currency. First is titled, "Außenkommando" and worth -.50 RM. The second is titled, "Wertmarke" and worth 1 RM.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Buchenwald was a Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Thuringia, Germany. Camp prisoners worked primarily as slave labor in local armament factories. Inmates were Jews, political prisoners, religious prisoners, and prisoners of war.