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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Korczak Forest Label
2012.1.151
Yellow Star of David labeled "Jude" with Hebrew text.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Donations from these labels were dedicated to the Korczak Forest in Israel.
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Korczak Forest Label
2012.1.152
Red and orange label with illustration of a man carrying a child with children trailing behind him.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Donations from these labels were dedicated to the Korczak Forest in Israel.
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Envelope from a German Displaced Persons Camp
2012.1.173
Brown envelope addressed to "Hilfswerk Ostpreussen, Amerika Comitee Forth Relif (DE)" in blue ink.
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Polish Stamp Commemorating the Liberation of Lodz
2012.1.420a
Stamp with illustration of a monument with a statue of a man on top. Titled, "Poczta Polska."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Polish stamp commemorating the liberation of Lodz in 1945.
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Polish Stamp Commemorating the Liberation of Warsaw
2012.1.420b
Stamp with red illustration of a man holding a flag and a woman. Titled, "Poczta Polska."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Polish stamp commemorating the liberation of Warsaw in 1945.
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Polish Stamp Commemorating the Liberation of Lodz
2012.1.420c
Stamp with blue illustration of smokestacks. Titled, "Poczta Polska."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Polish stamp commemorating the liberation of Lodz in 1945.
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Polish Stamp Commemorating Majdanek Death Camp
2012.1.420d
Stamp with green illustration of a skeleton in Nazi uniform pouring gas on a compound of buildlings.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Majdanek Death Camp stamp issued by Poland in 1946 commemorating the atrocities that took place there. Stamp depicts death in skeletal form of a Third Reich Nazi pouring Zyklon B into gas chambers.
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Holocaust Martyred Children Label
2012.1.432
Label with candle, forest, and children with title in Hebrew.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Judaica label, forest of the martyred children. There were 1.5 million murdered children in the Holocaust.
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Jewish National Fund Israel Lives Ticket
2012.1.454
White ticket with blue text titled, "Israel Lives!" Includes an illustration of trees and dessert.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israel KKL/JNF Holocaust Memorial Day 1980s.
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Memorial Book in Yiddish
2012.1.550
A black hardcover book with a title in gold Hebrew. Interior includes text in Hebrew and black and white photographs.
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Real-Photo Postcards of Children of Izieu from Maison d'Izieu
2016.1.07ab
a:Front: image of children with 'Colonie d'Izieu - ete 1943' at bottom right; back: 'IZ V07' at top left with names of children and faint image from front.b:Front: image of children with 'Colonie d'Izieu, fete a la fontaine - ete 1943' at bottom right; back:'IZ VO5' with names of children and faint image from front.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Izieu, a village in Central France, was the site of a Jewish orphanage. The 44 children housed there during the war were between the ages of five and seventeen. On April 6, 1944, Klaus Barbie's Gestapo thugs forcibly removed the children and their seven supervising adults, threw them onto trucks, shipped them to the Drancy internment camp, and from there 42 children and 5 of the supervisors were sent to Auschwitz where they were gassed. The oldest children and the superintendent were shot before a firing squad in Estonia. The director of the orphanage, Sabine Zlatin, survived the raid and lived to testify 40 years later against Barbie at his trial.
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Recha Freier Israeli Commemorative First Day Cover
2019.2.245
Envelope with image of fields and pastures on left side, includes postage stamp of woman and postage stamp of three children on right side, stamped with image of boy and girl and “Recha Freier” in black ink. [Related items: 2019.2.246 and 2019.2.247]
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. Against extraordinary odds, she helped more than 5,000 Jewish children escape from Germany. Others were smuggled out of Europe during the war to Palestine, the UK, 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. Freier 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. She was awarded the Israel Prize in 1981 for her efforts in saving the imperiled Jewish children of Nazi Germany and founding Youth Aliyah.
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Recha Freier Israeli Commemorative Postcard
2019.2.246
Postcard with black and white portrait of Recha Freier on front, two postage stamps on left side. [Related items: 2019.2.245 and 2019.2.247]
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. Against extraordinary odds, she helped more than 5,000 Jewish children escape from Germany. Others were smuggled out of Europe during the war to Palestine, the UK, 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. Freier 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. She was awarded the Israel Prize in 1981 for her efforts in saving the imperiled Jewish children of Nazi Germany and founding Youth Aliyah.
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Recha Freier Israeli Commemorative Postcard
2019.2.247
Postcard with black and white image of people dancing together in large circle on front, two postage stamps on left side. [Related items: 2019.2.245 and 2019.2.246]
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. Against extraordinary odds, she helped more than 5,000 Jewish children escape from Germany. Others were smuggled out of Europe during the war to Palestine, the UK, 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. Freier 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. She was awarded the Israel Prize in 1981 for her efforts in saving the imperiled Jewish children of Nazi Germany and founding Youth Aliyah.
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Commemorative poster of the Forest for Martyred Children of the Holocaust
2012.1.573
A colorful poster showing a forest on one side and shadowy children on the other, as well as a candle in the foreground. Includes text in Spanish and Hebrew.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Commemorating the 1.5 million children murdered by Nazis in World War II. Spanish and Hebrew.
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Reproduction Photograph with Original Signature of Benjamin Ferencz
2019.2.237
Black and white photograph of man in uniform, “Ben Ferencz” signed in black near bottom. [Related item: 2019.2.238]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Hungarian by birth, Ferencz’s family emigrated to the United States to escape persecution by the Romanians. After Harvard Law School, the scarcely five-foot-tall Ferencz served in the anti-aircraft unit in World War II. Transferred to Patton’s Third Army, Ferencz became part of a team collecting evidence relating to Nazi war crime trials, and was appointed at age 27 to Chief Prosecutor in the Einsatzgruppen trials, wherein all 22 defendants were eventually convicted. He had an important role in post-war reparations programs for victims of Nazi persecution, and eventually returned to New York as a partner in Telford Taylor’s law firm.
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Reproduction Photograph with Original Signature of Benjamin Ferencz
2019.2.238
Black and white photograph of three men looking through papers, man in center pictured sitting, men on either side wearing headphones, “Ben Ferencz” signed in black near bottom.[Related item: 2019.2.237]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Hungarian by birth, Ferencz’s family emigrated to the United States to escape persecution by the Romanians. After Harvard Law School, the scarcely five-foot-tall Ferencz served in the anti-aircraft unit in World War II. Transferred to Patton’s Third Army, Ferencz became part of a team collecting evidence relating to Nazi war crime trials, and was appointed at age 27 to Chief Prosecutor in the Einsatzgruppen trials, wherein all 22 defendants were eventually convicted. He had an important role in post-war reparations programs for victims of Nazi persecution, and eventually returned to New York as a partner in Telford Taylor’s law firm.
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Real-Photo Postcards of Children of Izieu from Maison d'Izieu
2019.2.304a-c
a: Front: image of children with 'Colonie d'Izieu - ete 1943' at bottom right; back: 'IZ V06'
b:Front: image of children with 'Colonie d'Izieu, devant la fontaine - ete 1943' at bottom right; back: 'IZ V08'
c: Front: image of children with 'Colonie d'Izieu, sur la terrasse - ete 1943' at bottom right; back: 'IZ V09'
[Related items: 2016.1.07ab]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Izieu, a village in Central France, was the site of a Jewish orphanage. The 44 children housed there during the war were between the ages of five and seventeen. On April 6, 1944, Klaus Barbie's Gestapo thugs forcibly removed the children and their seven supervising adults, threw them onto trucks, shipped them to the Drancy internment camp, and from there 42 children and 5 of the supervisors were sent to Auschwitz where they were gassed. The oldest children and the superintendent were shot before a firing squad in Estonia. The director of the orphanage, Sabine Zlatin, survived the raid and lived to testify 40 years later against Barbie at his trial.