1943 saw the gradual collapse of the Nazi regime until its surrender in May, 1944. Despite losing the war in the East, and irrespective of the diversion of necessary resources from the war effort, Hitler continued to relentlessly prosecute the Final Solution of the Jews in the concentration camps and ghettos, murdering as many as 10,000 per day in the Auschwitz gas chambers alone . Many attempted to rescue Jews from Nazi extermination at great risk to their own safety, and over 13,000 have been recognized as “Righteous Gentiles” for their deeds. Rescuers include diplomats Raoul Wallenberg, Carl Lutz, and Hiram Bingham; Oscar Schindler; and Pastor Andre Trochme. The citizens of Denmark hid Jews and ferried them to safety in neutral Sweden, saving most of Denmark’s 8000 Jews. In the fall of 1944, the Nazis began the evacuation of Auschwitz, and as the Allies advanced in 1945, all camps were evacuated under Himmler’s orders, resulting in many thousands of deaths from the so-called “death marches”. At the end of the war more than 200,000 survivors were living in the Allied zones of occupation in DP (Displaced Persons) camps. They could not return home and thus remained until emigration could be arranged to either Palestine or to other countries willing to absorb the refugees.
This collection features passports, visas and other documents of diplomats and others who saved Jews, including Friedrich Born, Frank Foley, Feng Shan Ho, Vlademar Langlet, Carl Lutz, Monsignor Angelo Rota, Andrey Szeptycki, Angel Sanz-Briz, Chiune Sugihara, Raoul Wallenberg,Carl Ivan Danielsson and Jan Zwartendijk. Also noteworthy is an assemblage of ephemera—photos, covers, letters, etc.- from the Bergen-Belsen (D.P. Hohne) Displaced Persons Camp (1946-1948); and covers from organizations such as the AJDC , IRO and UNRRA, established to provide aid and assistance to Jewish refugees.
--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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Feldpost from Posen
2016.1.12ab
a: Envelope: Circular 'Posen' handstamp at top right as well as stamp of Posen town hall. Letter: Handwritten in blue ink on lined paper
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Heinrich Himmler gave an infamous speech on October 4, 1943 in the town hall of Posen (Paznan in Polish) before 92 SS officers and group leaders. He extols the murder and ultimate extermination of the Jews and the Jewish race. Enjoining the men gathered in the room to not speak of this genocide, Himmler nevertheless sees exterminating the Jews as the Nazis' necessary historical mission, with no place for mercy or sentiment. Moreover, Himmler sees this as a "glorious chapter" in German history "which has never been written and shall never be written." Eventually segueing to the stickier issue of murdering Jewish children and women, he is clear that he does not want them to become avengers: a "difficult decision had to be made to have this people disappear from the earth." Himmler, who sees himself as the "political instrument to the Fuhrer", expects that the Jewish Question in its totality would be resolved by year's end. "We must be," he insists, "as SS men honest, decent and loyal to members of our own blood, and to no one else."
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Gestapo Chief Heinrich Muller Signed SS Arrest Document
2014.1.32
A green document with typed and printed information about Roman Gardala, a Catholic buildling master, signed by a Gestapo officer at the bottom. Gestapo Chief Henrich Müller ordered the Secret State Police to arrest Gardala for the unauthorized possession of fire arms.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Document signed by a Gestapo officer in pencil. In German, from Secret State Police, Krakow, dated October 23, 1943. Headed 'Protective Custody Instruction,' papers for Roman Gardala, a Catholic building master, born June 2, 1895 in Tarnow, Poland. He was held for unauthorized possession of fire arms on orders from Heinrich "Gestapo" Müller, Hitler's Gestapo chief who oversaw the implementation of Hitler's policies against all groups deemed a threat by the state.
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Envelope Commemorating 25 Years of Danish Aviation
2014.1.219
Front: White envelope with a large printed postage stamp and four identical pasted postage stamps. Includes an address typewritten in blue ink, four hand stamps, and a white and red sticker.Back: Black and blue hand stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Cover is dated during the month that the Danes were able to help spirit the Jews to safety in Sweden.
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Envelope With Stamp Commemorating 25 Years of Danish Aviation
2014.1.220
A white envelope with a typewritten address, red postage stamp and black hand stamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Cover is dated during the month that the Danes were able to help spirit the Jews to safety in Sweden.
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Aleph Zadik Aleph B'nai B'rith Youth Organization National War Service Convention By Mail
2015.2.200
Front: White program with text in blue ink. Title printed between illustrations of menorahs made from Stars of David. Invludes a photograph of a young man speaking into a microphone at a podium, with various greeting cards and ballots on either side of him coming out through a mailbox in upper left corner. Lines of mailmen spew from the mailbox.
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Censored Envelope from Denmark to Germany
2014.1.221
Front: A white envelope with writing in blue cursive ink with censor tape on the left side. Includes a red postage stamp as well as two black and two red hand stamps.Back: Includes a return address written in blue ink, several printed letters and censor tape.
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Swiss Airmail to Tel Aviv
2012.1.359
Blue envelope addressed to Hanna Kornfeld. Incluces white censor tape and return address on back flap.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Swiss airmail to Tel Aviv with censor marking.
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Marshal Tito
2014.1.260
Front: A black and white photo of Jozef Tito in uniform looking down. There is an American flag to the right and a British flag to the right. Tito stands beneath a framed photo of another military leader.Back: A pasted caption form International News Photo, as well as a barcode.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A 1943 Press Photograph of Marshal Tito, Leader of the Yugoslav Partisans. In the spring of 1941, Nazi Germany invaded Yugoslavia, dismembering the federation and imposing a fascist Ustache government on Croatia. Germans imposed a military occupation force on Serbia. A revolt broke out in the Yugoslav region of Serbia in July. Tito and his Communist followers took the lead as the rebellion spread to the rest of the country. Tito was able to unify Yugoslavia's disparate ethnic and religious groups into a guerilla fighting force of 300,000 partisans, who engaged as many as twenty German divisions. More than 2,000 Jews fought with the Partisans, and Tito explictly ordered the Partisans to help Jews attempting to escape the Nazis.
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Envelope Addressed to Philipp Bouhler
2014.1.67
Back: White envelope with small crown seal.Front: Handwritten address, three postage stamps, and several black hand stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Philipp Bouhler (1899-1945) was a Nazi leader who was both a Reichsleiter and Chief of the Chancellery of the Fuhrer of the Nazi Party. He was also the SS officer responsible for the Aktion T4 euthanasia program, developed with Karl Brandt, that murdered more than 70,000 disabled German adults and children. Arrested with his wife in 1945, he committed suicide. The knowledge gained from Aktion T4 was eventually applied to the industrialized murder of other groups of people.
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Christmas Postcard from Copenhagen to Aarhus, Denmark
2014.1.222
Front: A tan postcard with black printed postcard lines. Includes a message and address written in black ink, a pasted green stamp and several black hand stamps.Back: An illustration of white flowers, gardenia florida.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Postcard including a Christmas Seal and King Christian X stamp, mailed Christmas 1943.
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Denmark Christmas with Seal & King Christian X Stamp
2014.1.257
Front: Colored illustration of a winter scene, including several trees and a bridge.Back: Tan postcard with black printed postcard lines. Includes writing in black ink, blue and purple postage stamps and several black hand stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: This 1943 Christmas card was written less than two months after the Danes ferried the Jews of Denmark to safety in Sweden.
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Prague Council of Elder Jews Work Order
2015.2.49
Front: Tan paper with purple typewritten message in purple in German and Czech. Black signature on bottom, and a line of black typewriting on top.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Harsh document, typed in both German and Czech, ordering a man to come in his work clothes on 25 September 1944, to a specified location in Bulowka to clean streets. He will not receive any pay for this work and must bring his own cleaning equipment. Punishment will ensue if he fails to show.
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Notice to Appear For Work Issued by Elders of the Jews in Prague
2014.1.114
White paper with printed and typewritten information in two langugages.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Notice to appear for work sent to Rudolf Seidler by the Jewish Elders in Prague in 1944. Typed in both German and Czech.
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Postcard, Written in Hebrew, with Handwritten Star of David
2012.1.355
Tan postcard with printed green postcard lines and decorative border. Addressed to Dr. Nathan Grunburg. Return address has a handwritten Star of David next to it. Includes a message written in blue ink in Yiddish.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Postcard, written in Hebrew to a Dr. Nathan Grunburg, with handwritten Star of David-perhaps a requirement to identify him as a Jew; with Slovakian stamp with Josef Tiso's picture. The latter was an anti-semitic priest, and a fervent Nazi supporter, who deported Jews to death camps. Tiso was executed for his crimes after the war.
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Envelope sent from Bolivia to Hicem
2014.1.374
Front: Typed address, 'HICEM SOCIEDAD DE SOCORRO, Casilla 1196, Santiago de Chile'; two red stamps at left. Back: Typed Return address, 'Dr. Glogauer'.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Cover sent to Hicem, an organization to assist Jewish refugees, in Chile.
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Postcard to Zagreb, Croatia, with Ante Pavelic and War Relief Stamps
2014.1.277
Front: White postcard with black printed postcard lines. Includes writing in black ink, as well as red and green postage stamps and two black hand stamps.Back: An illustration of five chicks with a message 'Sretan Uskrs!' [Happy Easter] in blue.
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German Life Insurance Company Letter Concerning Jewish Female
2014.1.433
Front:Typed letter wtih large red Star of David handstamp at bottom center; '1.Aug.1944' handstamp at bottom left. Back: Continuation of typed text with Reich seal hand stamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Typed one page two sided file document concerning one Hedwig 'Sara' Broh with large red 'Jude' and Star of David hand stamp, and Third Reich eagle hand stamp on reverse. Jews who were later killed by the regime were forced to pay for life insurance policies in which the regime was the beneficiary.
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One of 982 Jewish Refugees at Fort Ontario, Dorrit Blumenkanz Samples a Hot Dog
2014.1.46
Front: An image of a young girl, Dorrit Blumenkanz, holding a hot dog. Back: Typewritten information about image.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: From information attached to this International News Photos wire photo verso:Six year old Dorrit Blumenkanz is one of 982 Jewish refugees from Vienna finding shelter at Fort Ontario in Oswego, N.Y. Refugees were “assured that “ ‘whenever there is a knock at your door , it will be a friendly one.’”
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Letter from Karl Herman Frank
2012.1.377ab
Two-page typewritten document on "Der Deutsche Staatsminister für Böhmen und Mähren SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Hermann Frank" (The German State Minister for Bohemia and Moravia Obergruppenführer Karl Hermann Frank) letterhead. Includes a two-page typewritten letter to a Professor Speer with Hermann's signature at the end.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A letter from Karl Hermann Frank to Reichminister Professor Albert Speer. Karl Hermann Frank (1898-1946) was SS Obergruppenfuhrer and a prominent Sudeten German Nazi official in Czechoslovakia serving under Reich protector Reinhard Heydrich until the latter's assassination. Frank was instrumental in implementing Hitler's orders of revenge, which included the destruction of the Czech villages of Lidice and Lezaky, the murder of their male inhabitants, and the deportation of women and young adults to concentration camps. Frank was executed in 1946.
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Red Cross Form Sent from Nitra, Slovakia, to Palestine
2014.1.271
Front: White Red Cross stationery with printed and typewritten text. Includes several red and purple stamps.Back: Printed black text.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: After the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in 1939, Slovakia's Josef Tiso government partnered with the Axis powers. Jews were deported, and 60,000 Jews found themselves in labor and concentration camps by October 1942. Jews were also sent to the General Government where many were placed in extermination centers.Other deportations occurred in 1944. The Red Cross message system was a chief means of communication during World War II, utilizing printed forms that took weeks to reach their intended party and only allowed messages of 25 words or less. Leo Zilz of Nitra, Slovakia, sends a message using the Red Cross form to Lea Honigsbeer, formerly of Nitra now living in Palestine, inquiring about friends and family members. The Yad Vashem Data base of Shoah Victims' Names lists many Zilz family members from Nitra, Slovakia, murdered in the Holocaust. Moritz Zilz is one of them, murdered in Auschwitz.
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Funeral Card for Marcel Fayon
2012.1.47
Front: Depiction of Jesus on the Cross, titled, "Mon Jésus, Miséricorde!" with printed text.Back: Printed text titled, "A la pieuse mémorie de notre martyr monsieur Marcel Fayon."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of a group of funeral cards for Catholic individuals who perished at various concentration camps, including Bergen-Belsen, Stettin, Mauthausen, Neuengamme and Buchenwald (2012.1.47, 2012.1.48, 2012.1.49, 2012.1.50, 2012.1.51, 2012.1.52, 2012.1.53).
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Volkssturm Medical Form for Berthold Allwardt
2019.2.232
Form with red line across page, purple text and dotted lines, writing in green, titled “DEUTSCHER VOLKSSTURM Gau Berlin” in purple print. [Related item: 2019.2.233]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The Volkssturm was established in October 1944 as a militia utilizing males between the ages of 16 and 60 who were not otherwise serving in the Wehrmacht or other military units. They were under the control of the Nazi party and its officials (Gauleiters) with Himmler as commander. The Volkssturm was used extensively during the defense of Berlin against an overwhelming Russian army.
Berthold Allwardt was pressed into service as a 37-year-old in Berlin, and in all probability fought in the Battle of Berlin.
This document, signed by the local group leader less than one month after the Volkssturm was established, states that Mr. Allwardt, having been medically examined, was fit for duty in his Volkssturm squad. A note states that this certificate must be presented upon request.
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Berlin Finance Office Mail:Jewish Mail Recipient Cannot Be Located
2012.1.291
Tan envelope with printed layout titled, "Finanzamt Wilmersdorf-Süd." Includes handwritten address to Hugo Israel Jakob.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: 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. The finance office sent this official cover to Hugo "Israel" Jacob at Badensche Street NN.21, Berlin-Wilmersdorf. Information on left advises to fulfill your national duty by paying your taxes promptly. The tax number of the addressee is given. On the reverse side the mailman writes that the recipient is unknown on aforementioned street and the post office confirms by rubber stamp with red ink that the addressee could not be located. In all probability this is because Mr. Jacob had been deported to Auschwitz in 1943. It is assumed he perished.
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Postcard from Serviceman to his Spouse on V-E Day
2019.2.234
Postcard with black and white image of a garden, bottom left corner marked “Bad Pyrmont,” bottom right corner marked “Palmengarten.” Back stamped by U.S. Army postal Service with date “May 8 1945.”
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Army Sergeant Charles Witham, 334th Infantry Regiment Stationed in Germany, sends and Army-censored postcard- US Army Postal Service 84- from Bad Pyrmont to his wife in Kansas on V-E Day, May 8, 1945. This postcard is one of a number he sent, obviously in celebration of the end of the war in the European theatre. Interestingly, the postcard carries no message: the date says it all.
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Volkssturm Medical Note for Berthold Allwardt
2019.2.233
Note marked “NSDAP” in black print in top left corner, date “6/3/45” written in purple in top right corner, signed “Heil Hitler! Rossmann, Gemeinschaftsleiter der NSDAP.” [Related item: 2019.2.232]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The Volkssturm was established in October 1944 as a militia utilizing males between the ages of 16 and 60 who were not otherwise serving in the Wehrmacht or other military units. They were under the control of the Nazi party and its officials (Gauleiters) with Himmler as commander. The Volkssturm was used extensively during the defense of Berlin against an overwhelming Russian army.
Berthold Allwardt was pressed into service as a 37-year-old in Berlin, and in all probability fought in the Battle of Berlin.
This document is a form from the local Nazi party group in Wiesbaden, signed by the Nazi party community leader Rossmann two months before the end of the war, which states that the Volkssturmmann’s (name illegible) successful medical exam allows him to serve in his unit.