By May 1945 six million European Jews had been murdered by the Nazis and their allies. Much of Europe lay in ruins. Allied soldiers confronting the concentration camps for the first time found -amidst the scattered mounds of corpses and ash-“survivors” suffering from disease and starvation, many of whom would perish in the forthcoming days and months. Homeless and unable -or unwilling- to be repatriated to their countries of origin, many were housed in Displaced Persons camps throughout the Allied zones of occupation. These DP camps, often former military or even concentration camps, were themselves overcrowded, and just as often the Jews had to share space with their very persecutors. Many Jews attempted to emigrate to Palestine despite stringent quotas on immigration imposed by the British government attempting to mollify the Arabs. As a consequence, many emigrated “illegally” with the assistance of the Jewish Brigade and Haganah, through the underground Bricha Movement. A 1947 a United Nations resolution to partition Palestine between Jews and Arabs was to be rejected by the Arabs. Britain would end its mandate and withdraw from Palestine in May 1948. Israel established its provisional government in the same month, giving Jews their own homeland and unrestricted immigration. President Truman himself loosened restrictions on quotas of displaced persons, and approximately 28,000 Jews were able to immigrate to the US. The Nuremberg trials were a consequence of Allied efforts to take legal action against Germany as a criminal state. The first tribunal consisted of eight judges, drawn from each of the Allied countries. Twenty-one former Nazi leaders stood trial. The Tribunal enshrined for the first time in jurisprudence and international law the concept of “genocide”, as well as a typology of war crimes to be utilized by the United Nations. In the ensuing years many courts- both international and domestic-would conduct trials of accused war criminals.
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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Signed Letter from Muhammed Amin Al-Husseini to Fritz Fuchs
2019.2.262
Single-spaced typewritten letter with 'DAS HOHE ARABISCHE KOMITEE' at top left and signature at lower right. Related item: 2019.2.263
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, was a Palestinian Arab nationalist and Muslim leader in Palestine under the British Mandate. He promoted Islam and rallied Arabs against Zionism. He collaborated with Germany and Italy, seeing the Axis powers as the means to secure Arab independence and kill Jews. He made propagandistic radio broadcasts and helped the Nazis recruit Bosnian Muslims for volunteer units to be part of the Waffen-SS. He was instrumental after the war in establishing an all Palestine government, which was eventually dissolved by Egypt’s Nasser. This letter to Fuchs thanks him for writing an article supportive of the Arab patriots.
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East German Holocaust Monument Stamps
2012.1.429a-d
Series of four stamps. First stamp is red and white and shows a tall monument on a plaza, titled, "Gedenkstätte Buchenwald." Second stamp has green illustration of a monument with a statue on top of it with a crowd below. Titled, "Mahnmal Ravensbrück." Third stamp has a red illustration of a monument jutting into a harbor. Titled, "Mahnmal Ravensbrück." Final stamp shows a white monument with triangles over a brick wall. Titled "Mahnmal Sachsenhausen."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: To honor the dead and to remind those who continue to live, many monuments were constructed on the sites of concentration camps after the war. East Germany issued stamps with the surtax to ID construction of monuments at: Buchenwald, Ravensbruck, Sachsenhausen.
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Postcard of Pope Saint John XXIII
2015.2.79
Black and white photograph of a man in profile facing left. He wears all white, and a rope around his neck. Gives a printed signature beneath. Back: Printed black postcard lines. Greetings message written in blue ink. Some water damage. Addressed to Mrs. J. Gallagher in Richmond Hill, New York. Two stamps in upper right corner. The left stamp is blue and shows men in battle. The right stamp is purple and shows men in battle near a church. Two black handstamps over the pasted stamps, one with text and a lantern, the other a black circular hand stamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: "The Good Pope John" served as Pope from 1958 to 1963. The card was sent by a priest who later became a Vatican representative. The Raoul Wallenberg Foundation has catalogued some of Pope John's extensive humanitarian actions on behalf of Jews during the Holocaust when he was Apostolic Delegate Monsignor Angelo Roncalli. Published reports about his actions during World War II, collated by the Foundation, can be found on their website, and include the following verified actions: Delivery of "immigration certificates" to Palestine through the Nunciature diplomatic courier. Rescue of Jews by means of certificates of "baptism of convenience" sent by Monsignor Roncalli to priests in Europe. Intervention before King Boris of Bulgaria in favor of Bulgarian Jews. Intervention in favor of Jewish refugees from Transnistria. Intervention in favor of Italian Jewish refugees on request of Isaac Herzog, Great Rabbi of Palestine. Intervention in favor of Jewish refugees from Romania, Slovakia and Croatia. Intervention in favor of Jewish refugees from Greece. Intervention in favor of Jewish refugees from France, Germany and Hungary. Monsignor Ronacalli's personal disposition to help Jewish refugees taken to Istanbul or in transit to Palestine. The effects of these interventions varied depending on the situation, but were palpable and effective. For example, Slovakian children were able to leave the country. Some Hungarian Jews were saved deportation to Auschwitz through baptismal certificates sent to the Hungarian Nuncio Monsignor Angelo Rota by Monsignor Roncalli. Importantly, his work on behalf of Jewish-Christian reconciliation continued throughout his papacy. The Raoul Wallenberg Foundation has been advocating for some time for the bestowal of the title Righteous Among the Nations upon Roncalli.
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Post-War Postcard: Eisenhower in Germany
2016.1.28
Front: image of Eisenhower as well as two postmarks and a stamp; Back: Handwritten note in blue ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: German postcard commemorating the state visit of President Eisenhower to Germany in August, 1959. The author of this postcard, evidently unhappy with Eisenhower’s visit 14 years after Germany’s defeat in WWI, wrote: ”How can you welcome and celebrate such a war criminal here in Germany? Did you all forget, that he was responsible for all this destruction and death of millions? This Jew is a war criminal! Shame on you!”
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Manuscript from Adolf Eichmann's Defense Attorney
2012.1.365
Fragile paper with typewritten text in English.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Adolf Eichmann was a Nazi Military Officer charged by Hitler with the destruction of the Jewish race, present at the Wannsee conference where the "Final Solution" formulated, and generally oversaw the oepration of the death camps. Captured and smuggled to Israel, he was convicted of war crimes and hanged. These papers are from the files of Robert Servatius, Eichmann's defense attorney (who also defended Fritz Sauckel, Karl Brandt and Paul Pleiger at Nuremberg). A typed manuscript (1962) with holograph corrections 14pp. Legal folio, Jerusalem, CA. In which the unrepentant Eichmann essentially blames World War II and the Holocaust on the Jews themselves. Eichmann's treatise is centered on Zionism and his opinion on its effects on world politics. Eichmann makes some remarkable charges: "... The chance for the Zionists to get Palestine will be found in a worldwide war... This activity of the Zionists had no other motive but to stir up the nations against each other... To disturb the European balance, to create chaos by war and revolution... Weakening of the European Nations by losses of population... Gavrilo Princip was a Jew... Lloyd George refuses this offer [of peace by Germany], because he knows... The United States had promised the Zionists to enter the war... The Germans are indebted to the Zionists for this changes... With the German disaster [of surrender and Versailles] grows the supremacy of the Jews in Germany.... With the take-over by Hitler.... Zionism recognizes, that the good times in Germany are gone... Zionists reaction come quick. It is the world-trade-boycott.... Hitler had given the order in June 1941, to solve the 'Jewish question' i.e., to annihilate the Jewish population of Europe physically... if World War II, as Mr. Chamberlain has said, was initiated by Judaism... Then of course the Zionists are responsilbe for the losses on both sides."
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Adolf Eichmann in Court
2014.1.365
Front: Image of Adolf Eichmann wearing glasses and suit with man wearing hat behind him. AP Wire photo from Jerusalem April 11, 1961, taken at the opening of Eichmann's trial in Jerusalem. Statement below reads"Eichmann in Court -- Adolf Eichmann tilts his head as he appears in Jerusalem courtroom today on the opening day of his trial. (AP Wirephoto via radio from Jerusalem) "Back: Taped newspaper clipping of same photo with 'Apr 17,1961' stamp.
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Poland Exermination Camps Commemorative Envelope
2012.1.408
White envelope with blue and black illustration of camp prisoners behind barbed wire. Includes black triangular stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: FDC from Poland, 1962, commemorating Auschwitz, Maidanek, and Treblinka extermination camps.
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Israeli Commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Concentration Camps Envelope
2012.1.410a
White envelope with a brown illustration of a child in a concentration camp uniform and a man in military uniform. Includes a stamp with hands reaching upwards.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: An Israeli commemoration of 20th anniversary of liberation of the concentration camps.
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Israeli Nazi Victims Commemorative Envelope
2012.1.410b
White envelope with a brown illustration, and two stamps: one black with Hebrew letters in a flame, the other of candles.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israel issued two stamps in honor of the victims of the Nazis, both on this first day issue envelope.
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Stamp Commemorating Belgium Concentration Camp Victims
2012.1.430a
White stamp with blue background. Depicts hands reaching out of barbed wire.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: This stamp was released by Belgium in memory of the victims of Nazi Concentration Camps in World War II. The design was by Belgian sculptor Lanchelevici, and marks the 21st anniversary of the first contingent of Belgian martyrs from the death camp at Neuengamme. Of 120 men who departed, only nine later returned to three families.
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First Day Cover: Israeli Celebration of Janusz Korczak
2012.1.126
White envelope with an illustration of a book with Hebrew text and a stamp with facial hair.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli First Day Cover commemorating the life of Janusz Korczak.
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First Day Cover: Commemoration of Immigrant Ships
2012.1.124
White envelope with quote from Deuteronomy in Hebrew.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A commemoration of immigrant ships.
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Czechoslovakian Commemorative Art of Children at Terezin First Day Cover
2012.1.156
Off-white envelope with illustration of children holding each other, and three stamps with children's drawings.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A Czechoslovakian envelope commemorating the art of children at Terezin Concentration Camp.
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Creation of the Israeli State Commemorative Envelope
2012.1.438
Tan envelope with text in Hebrew, German and English. Includes an illustration of the Star of David. Titled, "Resolution of the General Assembly of the UNO to Establish a Jewish State in Palestine."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli envelope with postmark of Ramat Gan on the JNF stamp honoring the Warsaw Ghetto fighters.
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First Day Cover: Czechoslovakian commemoration of the Destruction of the Village of Lidice
2012.1.109
Off-white envelope with illustration of hand and barbed wire on left, yellow stamp with architecutral buildling and hand on right. Beneath circular black hand stamp with barbed wire.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Czechoslavokian commemoration of the destruction of the village of Lidice in 1942. Hitler ordered brutal reprisals following Reinhard Heydrich’s assassination. Karl Hermann Frank carried out these reprisals against the entire village of Lidice, which was razed to the ground, its male residents executed, and its women and children deported to Ravensbruck where most were murdered. A similar massacre occurred in the village of Lezaky.
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First Day Cover: Israeli Commemoration of 30th Anniversary of Rescue of Jews in Denmark
2012.1.122
White envelope with red and blue illustration of the Star of David and Swedish flag. Titled, "30th Anniversary of the rescue of the Jews in Denmark.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of the most remarkable events in the annals of the Holocaust is the rescue of Jews by Danes. Danish boats ferried some 7,300 Jews across a waterway to neutral Sweden to avert a Nazi deportation, an unprecedented feat carried out by Danes to protect Danish citizens. After the German occupation of Denmark in April, 1940, the Danish government was granted some autonomy in running domestic affairs. The Nazis were reluctant to make a major issue of the “Jewish Question” at that time, in great part because they saw the Danes as fellow “Aryans”. Thus the standard measures reproduced in occupied countries to humiliate and subjugate Jews did not occur in Denmark, such as having to wear the yellow star, register property and other assets, give up homes and businesses, etc. The Jewish community was even able to go to synagogue and hold services. More remarkably, King Christian was outspoken in his support of a Jewish community integrated into Danish society and consequently opposed their persecution. In 1943, however, the Nazi military government of Denmark declared martial law, a state of emergency was declared, and citizen arrests occurred. Danish military and police were taken over by the Nazi authorities. Hitler approved a proposal to commence deportation of the Danish Jews. Ferdinand Duckwith, a German naval attache-and Nazi-warned non-Jewish Danes of the planned deportations. The response was swift, if uncoordinated, and involved the combined efforts of Jewish community leaders, Danish authorities and citizens. On October 1, 1943 operations occurred to move the Jewish population of Denmark in fishing boats, rowboats and kayaks to Sweden. Jews were hidden in cars on ferries to Sweden. In consequence, 99 per cent of Danish Jews were saved from persecution and certain death. Only 470 Jews were seized by the Nazis-most of whom were not Danish citizens- and deported to the Thesienstadt ghetto. Only 120 Danish Jew died during the Holocaust.
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Postcard of Cita del Vaticano
2015.2.80
Color photo of the Vatican with a crowd of people in its piazza and beyond. Several cars, and the steps of the Vatican are decked in red. Back:Black printed postcard lines. Left side has message written in black ink vertically. Sent from Aaron Kennedy. Right side has address written to Florence Gallagher, Richmond Hill, New York. Two pasted stamps in upper right corner, each depicting a man hammering something on an anvil.
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First Day Cover: Israeli Celebration of Yad Vashem
2012.1.123
White envelope with quote in English and Hebrew, "He who saves a single life is like one who saves a whole world."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli First Day Cover commemorating the Righteous Among Nations of Yad Vashem with Hebrew quotation, "He who saves a single life is like one who saves a whole world."
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Israeli Holocaust Memorial Day Sticker
2012.1.442
Sticker in green and yellow with an illustration of a flower. Includes text in Hebrew and English. In part: "We Remember the Fire... and so We Plant."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli 1980s KKL Holocaust Memorial Day Sticker.
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First Day Cover: Israeli 35th Anniversary of Liberation of Auschwitz Concentration Camp
2012.1.143
White envelope with black and orange illustration of three figures standing by barbed wire.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli First Day Cover celebrating the anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz.
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First Day Cover: Israeli Commemoration of World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors in Jerusalem
2012.1.146
White envelope with illustration of a yellow Star of David with barbed wire. Titled "World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors Jerusalem."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli First Day Cover commemorating World Gathering of Holocaust Survivors in Jerusalem.
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First Day Envelope: Dachau Commemoration of Liberation
2012.1.107
Envelope with image of Hitler with barbed wire, skulls, Nazi flag, and Jewish family in foreground.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: 1982 Commemoration of liberation of Dachau Concentration Camp .
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Commemorative Stamp Collage
2012.1.160
Collage of four different kinds of commemorative stamps having to do with World War II and the Holocaust.
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Raoul Wallenberg Commemorative Envelope
2012.1.437
White envelope with a stamp of a man in profile, titled "Raoul Wallenberg" in English and Hebrew.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Stamp issued in 1983 to honor the humanitarian achievements of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.
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Youth Aliyah Commemoration Stamps
2014.1.371
Front: Five stamps with 'Essen '84' printed over them. Back: Image with 'Jews from Germany disembark at Jaffa (1933)' caption above a reproduced stamp with caption, 'The stamp depicted here was issued in 1983, in honour of 50 years of "Aliya" (immigration) of Jews from Germany.'
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Youth Aliyah was founded by Recha Freier on January 30, 1933, the day Hitler took power. With remarkable prescience, she sought to protect German youth from impending doom by sending them to pioneer training camps in Palestine to be educated and absorbed into kibbutzim, the indigenous farming communities. She helped 5,000 Jewish children escape from Germany. Others were smuggled out of Europe during the war to Palestine, the U.K., and other countries. Many more came to Palestine between the end of the war and the establishment of the state of Israel. Youth Aliyah also helped Jewish child survivors in D.P. camps. Frier herself experienced significant opposition from the German Jewish community who thought her methods illegal. She eventually fled to Palestine herself, taking a group of 40 teenagers with her.