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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Commemorative Australian First Day Cover Featuring Schutz-Passes Signed by Raoul Wallenberg
Front: Reproduced images of Schutz-passes with postage stamp of Raoul Wallenberg in top right; Back: ‘JSR 5/5’
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Only 5 issued.
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Young Judea Certificate of Membership
Front: A red card with a black printed border and black text. Includes a title in white against a black background with a white emblem including the Star of David in middle, typewritten information, and a printed signature.Back: Printed black text in English.
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Stairs of Death' in the Mauthausen Quarry
Front: Black and white photograph of a quarry with house in upper left side and small groupings of people throughout. Back: No handwriting or postage stamp. Printed message in French and German the upper lefthand corner, with a place for a stamp in the upper lefthand corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Real photo postcard showing the infamous "stairs of death".many of the inmates at Mauthausen were worked to death in the granite quarry while receiving only starvation rations. Prisoners were divided into two groups: one that hacked the granite and the other that carried the 100 pound slabs up the 186 steep steps to the top of the quarry. Regardless of the real cause of death, for SS "doctors," "the official version was always euphemized to conceal the reality of "life" in this category three camp where prisoners were subject to "vernichtung durch arbeit" (extermination through work). For all prisoners life in Mauthausen meant "ruckkehr unerwunscht" (return not desired)."
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Mass Produced Postcard to Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany, from the Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, Yeshiva University, Los Angeles, California
Front: Black and white photograph of a man in a Nazi uniform with his foot on a dead body, and two hanging bodies next to him. Titled, "This Murderer Has Not Been Found!"Back: Printed postcard lines and information about German laws.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Postcard from the Wiesenthal Center. Simon Wiesenthal was a Holocaust survivor and writer, who after the war devoted his life to bringing Nazi war criminals to justice.
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Army Signal Corps Photos of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of a naked corpse lying on the ground with other clothed corpses.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of a set of 10 (2012.1.77a-k) Army Signal Corps photographs reproducing images taken at time of liberation of Buchenwald.
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Army Signal Corps Photos of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of two corpses on the ground with the forearm of a third corpse in the foregound.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of a set of 10 (2012.1.77a-k) Army Signal Corps photographs reproducing images taken at time of liberation of Buchenwald.
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Army Signal Corps Photos of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of men in a barracks bunks with one man standing.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of a set of 10 (2012.1.77a-k) Army Signal Corps photographs reproducing images taken at time of liberation of Buchenwald.
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Army Signal Corps Photos of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of a decomposed corpse lying in thorns or barbed wire.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of a set of 10 (2012.1.77a-k) Army Signal Corps photographs reproducing images taken at time of liberation of Buchenwald.
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Army Signal Corps Photos of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of two men standing over decomposed corpses with buildlings in the background.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of a set of 10 (2012.1.77a-k) Army Signal Corps photographs reproducing images taken at time of liberation of Buchenwald.
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Army Signal Corps Photos of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of a pile of many corpses.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of a set of 10 (2012.1.77a-k) Army Signal Corps photographs reproducing images taken at time of liberation of Buchenwald.
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Army Signal Corps Photo of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of men under a blanket.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of a set of 10 (2012.1.77a-k) Army Signal Corps photographs reproducing images taken at time of liberation of Buchenwald.
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Army Signal Corps Photo of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of a pile of about ten corpses.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of a set of 10 (2012.1.77a-k) Army Signal Corps photographs reproducing images taken at time of liberation of Buchenwald.
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Army Signal Corps Photo of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of crematorium ovens.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of a set of 10 (2012.1.77a-k) Army Signal Corps photographs reproducing images taken at time of liberation of Buchenwald.
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Army Signal Corps Photo of Nazi Atrocities
Black and white photograph of a large pile of corpses with a roof in the background.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of a set of 10 (2012.1.77a-k) Army Signal Corps photographs reproducing images taken at time of liberation of Buchenwald.
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Army Signal Corps Photo of Nazi Atrocities
A small tan envelope.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of a set of 10 (2012.1.77a-k) Army Signal Corps photographs reproducing images taken at time of liberation of Buchenwald.
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First Day Cover: Israeli commemoration of Holocaust martyrs and heroes
White envelope with orange photograph of buildings on fire, and a grey stamp with a shirtless man among ruins.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli First Day Cover commemorating Holocaust martyrs and heros.
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Korczak Forest Label
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.