Concentration camps were a feature of the Nazi state from its inception. The first camps were initially used for detaining political prisoners deemed “enemies of the state”: communists, trade unionists, Jews and other dissidents. In short order, the list included homosexuals, alcoholics and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Prisoners were taken into “protective custody” to be “reeducated.” No term limits were given for their sentence. Dachau, founded in 1933, was the first major concentration camp. Himmler – in his role of head of the SS – appointed Theodor Eicke as camp commandant. Eicke would create in Dachau the brutal, inhumane paradigm for all Nazi camps to follow. While the number of Jews placed in concentration camps increased after the Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938, World War II was to be a major turning point: the number of camps to accommodate ghettoized Jews increased and the intended purpose of the camps changed from one of exploitation of prisoners who were able to work to the industrial scale murder of Jews with the goal being the “final solution to the Jewish problem.”
Forced labor was a significant aspect of all concentration camps. Prisoners were compelled to work under harsh, punitive conditions from early morning until late in the day. Each workday was preceded by a mandatory roll call - the Appel - in which prisoners would stand at attention for hours waiting for their numbers to be called irrespective of weather conditions before marching off to work. At day’s end the exhausted prisoners would undergo yet another roll call. Fainting in this absurd ritual often meant being executed on the spot. Treks to the worksite in inadequate and ill-fitting clothes and shoes would themselves exhaust the prisoners before they even began their workday. This daily routine was meant to humiliate and terrify the prisoners, much like the work itself. Prisoners often perished within weeks or months from malnourishment, psychological stress, overwork and disease.
The mass murder of Jews by mobile Einsatzgruppen firing squads began in earnest in June 1941 as part of Operation Barbarossa. However, this method of “murder by bullets” (Father Patrick Desbois) would prove both impractical and emotionally taxing even for some of the SS, creating the need for “efficiencies” by bringing Jews from ghettos and cities to stationary killing sites located near railroad tracks to make victim transport easier. Six camps (Chelmno, Sobibor, Belzec, Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz) were built with the express purpose of murdering Jews, improving upon the more primitive technology utilized in Hitler’s T-4 “euthanasia” program to murder German citizens who were disabled or emotionally disturbed: the so-called “unworthy of life.” Gassing in chambers disguised as showers would supersede other less efficient methods, such as starvation, injection of sedatives, or carbon monoxide poisoning.
Auschwitz would evolve into the epitome of the hybrid camps, constituting a concentration camp to hold and punish prisoners deemed enemies of the Nazi state; an extermination camp (Birkenau or Auschwitz 2); and a series of forced or slave labor camps (e.g., Buna-Monowitz) providing cheap dispensable labor to factories and businesses serving the German war effort. At the height of operations, the lethal insecticide Zyklon B was utilized in chambers attached to crematoria that could asphyxiate more than 4,000 Jews per day, an improvement over earlier carbon monoxide technology for murdering Jews. More than one million Jews perished in these chambers. As a slave or forced labor camp, Auschwitz comprised subcamps located near factories and industrial sites to provide cheap slave labor producing goods for the Third Reich. For example, Buna, also known as Auschwitz III or Monowitz, was a subcamp utilizing slave labor for the I.G. Farben Industries to make synthetic rubber. The SS would sell Jews to I.G. Farben, and the latter would profit from a never-ending supply of cheap labor. Conditions were horrid. Prisoners who perished from starvation, disease, and overwork would be replaced by new prisoners. Aircraft factories, mines, and other war material plants took advantage of proximity to concentration camps to profit from the cheap labor of prisoners.
--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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The War is Over for Remaining Inmates of Theresienstadt: An Announcement from Leo Baeck and Others
2019.2.29
Tan paper with red, double-lined border, black print, titled "Manner und Frauen von Theresienstadt!"
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Rabbi Baeck, author of The Essence of Judaism, was an important spokesperson for the Jewish community after the Nazi rise to power in his role as president of the Jewish umbrella organization Reichsvertretung. When the latter was summarily disbanded by the Nazis and replaced with the Reichsvereinigung, Rabbi Baeck remained president. On January 27th, 1943, Rabbi Baeck was deported to Theresienstadt. Here he held a prominent place as honorary head of the Judenrat, which afforded him privileges unattainable by other inmates; yet he continued to serve the ghetto community and refused to abandon it, opportunities to emigrate to the U.S. notwithstanding. While Rabbi Baeck survived Theresienstadt, three sisters perished. When it was finally liberated, Rabbi Baeck continued to attend to the sick and dying.
On May 5th, 1945, the SS had withdrawn from Theresienstadt. The Commandant, Karl Rahm, was last seen on the morning of May 6th, after which he fled.
In this newsletter dated May 6th, 1945, published in both German and Czech, Rabbi Baeck, Dr. Alfred Meissner, Dr. Heinrich Klang and Dr. Eduard Meijer - all members of the Council of Elders - announce to the “Men and Women of Theresienstadt” that Theresienstadt is now under the protective custody of the International Red Cross, that the war is not yet over and that the remaining inhabitants of the Ghetto are safe as long as they remain in Theresienstadt. Anyone who leaves the camp can be exposed to all the risks of the war. Theresienstadt has taken over the care of “the martyrs” in the small fortress (Kleine Festung). The survivors are exhorted to maintain calm and orderly and help with the work.
This announcement appears in H.G. Adler’s Theresienstadt 1941-1945. A copy appears as well in the Central European University in Hungary.
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Yugoslavia Partisan Post
2014.1.256ab
Envelope Front: Green envelope with writing in black ink and a purple hand stamp.Envelope Back: Writing in black ink and a purple hand stamp.Letter: Message written in black ink on thin paper. Includes a purple hand stamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Written by a Yugoslav Partisan to his girlfriend Andelka Filipovic. Military censorship cancels in Zagreb. [Related item: 2014.1.256cd]
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Auschwitz Narrative of Katharina Lorbeer
2019.2.27a-h
"PROTOKOLL" in black print and underlined in upper left corner, eight pages, two holes punched in left side, "NR. 13. VII. 1945" in black print and underlined in upper right corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Copy of a post-WWII narrative given in German by a Slovakian woman Katharina Lorbeer to the Hungarian National Committee for Attending Deportees, describing her deportation to Auschwitz, and her experiences there. She is transported to Auschwitz by railcar in April 1942. Beaten by SS guards as the prisoners exit the train, Lorbeer and fellow prisoners are marched across the men’s section of the camp to the women’s barracks. All belongings are confiscated save one dress and underwear. Along with other women from Slovakia, she is tattooed, her hair is shorn, and her remaining clothes confiscated. She receives lice-ridden uniforms taken from executed Russian soldiers along with wooden shoes. They are taken out to the central yard for roll call, which lasts until past midnight. Lorbeer and her fellow inmates are put to work loading sand onto railcars. She does this for six months, guarded by Jewish “kapos” from the Ravensbruck concentration camp. Rumors persist that they will soon be sent to brothels at the front for German soldiers. In December, they are tasked with carrying bricks for the construction of a new crematorium. She describes a visit by SS chief Heinrich Himmler in December of 1942, in whose honor 50 randomly selected male prisoners are hanged. Lorbeer states that while the camp commander had allowed the prisoners to wear shoes to protect against the bitter cold, Himmler stated that “there is no good or bad weather for inmates,” and decreed that prisoners are to always work shoeless regardless of weather conditions. Moved to the subcamp of Birkenau, Lorbeer finds no latrines, dirt floors in the barracks, and miserable conditions in general. She is in “sumpfkommand” (“swamp commando”) draining the surrounding marshlands. With no access to drinking water, she is forced to rely on water from the swamp, into which the SS guards regularly dump truckloads of ash from the crematorium. Such conditions make diseases such a typhus common. Lorbeer describes the selection of prisoners to be executed in the gas chambers, early in 1943 as 35,000 women in the camp are gathered in the courtyard at two in the morning, as SS doctors Mengele, and others gather by the gate. The prisoners are made to pass through the gate with their hands outstretched, and any prisoner with reddened palms or demonstrating any kind of limp is selected for immediate execution. Only 5,000 women pass muster. Such selections continue daily, although Birkenau is slowly expanded and gains a proper sewer system, leading to improved hygiene. By this time, however, Lorbeer reports that veteran inmates like herself have become apathetic and sluggish and would be happy to be selected to put an end to their misery. Lorbeer recounts the rumors of horrific medical experiments being performed in Block 10 of Auschwitz, especially on new arrivals. With the advance of the Soviet Army in January 1945, the prisoners are evacuated on a forced march to Ravensbruck, during which hundreds of prisoners starve to death or are shot by guards. From Ravensbruck, they are transported to the subcamp of Retzow. Lorbeer and her companions hide from a further transport from Retzow and are eventually liberated by Red Army soldiers on May 1st, 1945. Of the 15,000 Slovakian women transported in 1942, only 300 survive.
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Funeral Card for Raymond Theisen
2012.1.49
Front: A black and white photograph of a man in suit and tie. Titled, "Priez pour le repos d l'âme de Monsieur Raymond Thesisen."Back: Printed black text.
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 [Related items: 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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Yugoslavia Partisan Post
2014.1.256cd
Envelope Front: Purple envelope with address written in black ink and a purple hand stamp.Envelope back: Includes writing in black ink.Letter: Message written in black ink on white paper. Includes several horizontal black lines and a purple hand stamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Written by a Yugoslav Partisan to his girlfriend Andelka Filipovic. Military censorship cancels in Zagreb. [Related item: 2014.1.256ab]
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Postcard to Rira Wachova from Unknown Inmate at Dora-Sangerhausen
2015.2.29
Front: Message written in pencil across the entirety of the postcard. Back: Split by vertical black line. Left side has return address written in pencil on printed lines. Beneath is a purple textual hand stamp, and a large blue rectangular handstamp with German inside. The right side has a pink stamp of Hitler in profile facing right with a black Sangerhausen circular hand stamp over it. Beneath the address is written in pencil on printed dotted lines. Dora-Sangerhausen was a secret production facility for manufacture of the V-1 and V-2 rockets.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Postcard from inmate at concentration camp Dora-Sangerhausen, 1945. Rare postcard from this camp, the production facility for V-2 rockets.
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Illustration of Auschwitz by David Olere
2012.1.441a
An illustration of German officers pointing naked women and children to a gas chamber.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
A print of a sketch by David Olere based upon his experiences as a Sonderkommando of Crematorium III at Auschwitz, emptying gas chambers and burning bodies in the ovens.
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Illustrations of Auschwitz by David Olere
2012.1.441b
An illustration of a shirtless man dragging the naked bodies of a woman and child out of a room of corpses.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Prints of sketches by David Olere based upon his experiences as a Sonderkommando of Crematorium III at Auschwitz, emptying gas chambers and burning bodies in the ovens.
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Testimony About Experiments in Concentration Camps
2012.1.526a-g
Torn typewritten pages in English, each with an identifying number on bottom right. About experiments performed at Dachau, Mauthausen, Buchenwald, Auschwitz, Natzweiler and Ravensbruck.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Torn typewritten pages in English, each with an identifying number, relating to experiments performed at a number of concentration camps including Dachau, Mauthausen, Buchenwald, Auschwitz, Natzweiler and Ravensbruck, in all probability for the Doctors’ Trial in Nuremberg. The documents themselves state that they are predicated on witness reports, interrogations, and documentary evidence. They establish the kinds of inhumane and illegal - by any standard except those of a criminal organization like the Nazis - “experiments” performed on involuntary prisoner subjects. Such research was approved by Heinrich Himmler. The report states that many suggest “sadistic and obscene motives.” Emphasis is placed in these documents on the types of “experiments” conducted by Sigmund Rascher, an ambitious SS doctor with the Luftwaffe who performed with his unwitting and involuntary inmate subjects high altitude, freezing, and coagulation experiments with attendant prolonged agony and eventual death of the subjects. Other inhumane procedures performed by Nazi doctors included liver punctures and inoculation of malaria in which healthy patients were injected with the blood of malaria-afflicted patients. As well, castration experiments were performed with 18-21-year-old boys at Auschwitz. Several of the doctors mentioned in these pages were also involved in the T4 program.
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Proceedings for Cross-Examination Regarding Concentration Camp Experiments
2012.1.530a-c
Thin paper with typewritten cross-examination questions regarding concentration camp experiments. Each page has an identifying number on the bottom right.
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Lettersheet from Netherlands Red Cross Settlement Office of Concentration Camps Concerning Fate of Zendijks
2019.2.299
Letter with Red Cross symbol near top, stamped with date “15.11.1946” in top right corner, “Dhr. D. Zendijk, Singel 16, Deventer.-“ printed in bottom left corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Lettersheet sent to D. Zendijk in Deventer with information about the fate of Hersch A. Zendijk (born in 1885) and Dina Zendijk-Natan (born in 1888). At the time of this letter the only information available was that they were transported from Westerbork transit camp to Auschwitz on January 25, 1944. With newly available information it was discovered that they were both murdered in Auschwitz in April 1944.
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Letter from Prague Council of Jewish Religious Communities in Czech and Moravian-Siles Countries
2021.1.32
Typewritten letter with the header of “Rada Židovskych Náboženskych Obcí v Zemích České A Moravskoslezské”
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Signed letter confirming the death of Ella Zenkerova, born May 15, 1908, whose last residence was Bechyne in Czechoslovakia. Mrs. Zenkerova had been transported to Terezin on November 12, 1942 and on January 20, 1943 she was transported to Auschwitz where she perished.
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Belgian Author René Lambrechts (1923-1981) Photograph with Written Statement to Friend
2019.2.103
Photo of man with glasses wearing striped concentration camp hat and shirt labelled with "82221." Back of photo signed "René Lambrechts" near bottom.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
René Lambrechts was a Belgian author and hymnist. During WWII, he had been a liaison officer in the Belgian resistance. Arrested in November 1943, he spent the remainder of the war in various concentration camps, including the infamous Dora-Mittelbau near Nordhausen, where he was severely injured.
After the war Lambrechts wrote Wir Muselmanner about his experiences in captivity. “Muselmanner” is a derogation of Moslems, but in the vernacular of the concentration camps it refers to the walking dead, those prisoners who, dispirited and in increasingly poor physical health give up all hope for survival. Lambrechts also devoted himself to ethnography and hymnology, publishing collections of folk tales and hymns. He co-founded the museum Die Swane and became its first conservator.
In the photograph, Lambrechts is wearing his concentration camp garments. Verso is text written to his friend and fellow prisoner Jos Veerman, an inmate from concentration camp Dora-Mittelbau and political prisoner from Gross Strehlitz. Lambrechts writes: To Jos Veerman, my brother from the hell of hate and murder. As a remembrance of our Musselman-ship. Rene Lambrechts 12 December 1946.
[Related item: 2019.2.104]
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Four Women Show their Tattooed Identification Numbers
2014.1.366
Front: Smiling women showing their identification numbers tattooed on their forearms. Back: Wire photo with newspaper clipping attached verso, "Liberated by the United States Ninth army in Kaunitz Germany, these Jewish girls, who were forced to work in a German munitions factory, bare their arms to show where Germans tattooed identification numbers.''
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Israel Kultusgemeinde Wien Response Concerning Fate of Mrs. Franziska Distler, Mother of Alexander Distler
2019.2.321ab
a: Green envelope with a purple ink stamp in the center with “508” and a purple purple stamp in the top right corner. b: Typed letter dated “18. Februar 1948” in the top right corner and the same purple “508” ink stamp as the envelope.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
An official reply from the Israel Kultusgemeinde Wien (Jewish Community Organization of Vienna) to an enquiry by Alexander Distler, now living in London, about his mother Mrs. Franziska Distler of Vienna, Austria. The agency reports that Mrs. Distler was deported to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia on June 28, 1942 “and to our greatest regret” does not appear to have returned. Records indicate that Mrs. Distler was born in 1864 and had been deported on Transport 29. Signed with official handstamp of organization.
[Related items: 2019.2.310 - 2019.2.323]
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Roll Call in the Dachau Concentration Camp
2012.1.102
A black and white photograph of men in prisoner uniforms in lines. Back includes printed postcard lines and stamps.
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Photographic Postcard of Church at Oradour-sur-Glane
2014.1.191
Front: A photograph of demolished church interior with infant carriages. Back: Titled 'Carte Postale; Editee par l'Association Nationale des Familles des Martyrs d'Oradour-Sur-Glane [Published by the National Association of Families of Martyrs of Oradour-sur-Glane].'
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Oradour-sur-Glane was a small farming village of around 350 inhabitants, located approximately 15 miles from Limoges. During World War II, it was located in the German-occupied zone of France. On June 10, 1944, troops of the 2nd Waffen-SS Panzer Division Das Reich massacred 642 people, almost the entire population of the village at that time, including a number of Jewish refugees. More than 450 women and children were locked in this church by the Nazis, while the men were locked in barns and sheds. The Nazis detonated an incendiary device in the church; anyone attempting to escape was machine-gunned. The men were shot in the legs; no longer able to move, their bodies were covered with gasoline and the barns were set ablaze. The village of Oradour was partially razed that night. After the war, Oradour-sur-Glane rivaled Lidice as an iconic symbol of German crimes against civilians in occupied Europe. The ruins of the original village remain as a memorial to the dead.
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Zyklon-B Cannister Label
2015.2.13
Front: Tan paper with text in black, white and red. Includes skull and crossbones in upper left corner, a red shield with white design in lower left, and a black circular hand stamp on right edge. Zyklon B was a pesticide used in Nazi death camps to exterminate Jews through vaporizing pellets in shower chambers.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
A hydrogen cyanide product produced by Degesch, Zyklon-B had originally been used as a pesticide. By summer of 1941, the Nazis were experimenting with it on Soviet POWs, and discovered that the vaporizing pellets were an effective means of gassing Jews. Degesch was a subsidiary of I.G. Farben which, along with Tesch and Stabenow, profited by supplying the SS with Zyklon-B. By pouring the pellets through rooftop openings on the gas chambers, thus exposing them to air, a lethal gas was produced as an effective means to murder the victims. Nazis murdered more than one million Jews in gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek. Bruno Tesch, who developed the form of this product for use in canisters, was executed after the war for advising the SS on Zyklon-B's use on humans.
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Postcard of Church at Oradour-sur-Glane
2014.1.189
Front: Color photograph of the courtyard of a church.Back: Blue printed postcard lines and text in French.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
On June 10, 1944, more than 450 women and children were locked in this church by the Nazis, while the men were locked in barns and sheds. The Nazis detonated an incendiary device in the church; anyone attempting to escape was machine-gunned. The men were shot in the legs; no longer able to move, their bodies were covered in gasoline and the barns were set ablaze. The village of Oradour was partially razed that night.
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Correspondence from Ernest Kohn/Adolf Slunjski in Zagreb, Croatia
2014.1.254ab
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 named "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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Postcard of Nazi Concentration Camp Chart of Prisoner Markings
2014.1.307
Front: Reproduction of chart of concentration camp prisoner markings, describing the different colors, symbols and placement. Shapes are mostly triangles, with some circles, as well as Stars of David, colors include red, green, blue, purple, pink and black. The bottom righthand corner shows a prison uniform with the markings in their correct placement. Back: Blank postcard with purple text. A printed on purple stamp of Hitler's profile facing right in the top right corner next to the word 'Postkarte.'
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
The victims of the concentration camps were not just Jews. Political prisoners (Communists, Social Democrats, etc.), Jehovah’s Witnesses who refused to take an oath of allegiance to Hitler or serve in the Army, Homosexuals, Roma and Sinti, and Asocials (prostitutes, alcoholics, race offenders, etc.) also had to wear color-specific triangles.
The system of identification of prisoners utilizing colored inverted triangles with lettering sewn onto clothing representing prisoner’s alleged crime was first used in 1937-38. Jews were identified by two yellow triangles forming a star; if both triangles were indeed yellow, the prisoner would be marked as a Jew; and if one triangle of another color was surmounted on a yellow triangle, it would mean that the Jew in question would be identified as also being in that category. The colors represent the following:
Brown – Roma (Gypsy)
Violet – Jehovah’s Witness
Pink – Homosexual
Green – Habitual Criminals
Red – Political Prisoner
Black – Asocials (prostitutes, criminals, race offenders)
Blue – Emigrant.
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Polish Prisoner at Auschwitz
2014.1.308
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 & Sohne Erfurt Brochure
2014.1.309
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 1940s 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
2014.1.314
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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“Stairs of Death” in the Mauthausen Quarry
2014.1.319
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" at Mauthausen. 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).