The Holocaust (1933-45) refers to Nazi Germany’s deliberate, progressive persecution and systematic murder of the Jews of Europe. Nazi antisemitism superseded traditional Judeo-Christian religious conflict by uniting a racial ideology with social Darwinism: the Jew is seen as subhuman, a disease threatening the body politic, and the cause of Germany’s problems—its economic woes, its defeat in World War I, its cultural degeneracy—and thus he must be eradicated. As soon as Hitler came to power in 1933, the Nazis commenced the organized persecution of the Jews. Jewish books were burned, and businesses boycotted. Jews were excluded from professions, public life, and from the arts. The Nuremberg laws of 1935 identified and defined a Jew based on immutable racial characteristics and lineage, less so his religion. Jews were stripped of their civil rights as German citizens. More than 120 decrees and ordinances were enacted subsequent to the Nuremberg laws. In 1938, Kristallnacht occurred, the planned pogrom that led to the destruction of synagogues, mass arrests, and the looting of Jewish businesses. Jews were murdered, and many more were interned in concentration camps that had been established for political prisoners. Jewish property was registered, confiscated, and ultimately aryanized. Life in Nazi Germany was sufficiently intolerable that more than 200,000 Jews emigrated. Hitler’s goal of making Germany “Judenrein” was proving successful.
With the Nazi’s ascension to power, other groups were imperiled as well, vulnerable to discriminatory treatment, persecution, and death; for example, the Roma and Sinti, the developmentally and physically disabled, homosexuals, and political and social "undesirables". Slavic people were considered Untermenschen, fit only for servitude in the new and expanded Reich. During this period, in direct contravention of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was also secretly building its military and preparing for an eventual war. Yet it was the Nazi’s growing confidence and skill in pruning the aryan tree of its undesirables that allowed it to create an increasingly sophisticated technical apparatus for carrying out mass murder on an industrial scale, its ultimate goal the “final solution to the Jewish question.”
--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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Postcard for “The Eternal Jew” Antisemitic Exhibition, Vienna, 1938
2012.1.480
A white postcard with an illustration of a fat man in a suit wearing glasses and a hat over a wooden bar.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
To further promote Nazi antisemitic objectives, a travelling exhibition named “Der Ewige Jude” ("The Eternal Jew") was created in 1937. It appeared in five cities during the following eighteen months. The exhibition depicted Jews - their clothes, facial characteristics, cultural items and art - in every conceivable negative and unfavorable way, and markedly “degenerate” in contrast to the Nazi aryan ideal. This antisemitic postcard bears the red cachet "Zugelassen fuer Austellung: Der ewige Jude."
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Letter from Der Aeltestenrat der Judischen Kultusgemeinder (Fanny Sara Czarna), Sosnowitz, Poland to Alfred Szwarcbaum, Lausanne, Switzerland
2014.1.443
Tan paper with typewritten German message. Printed return address in upper left corner reading, "Der Leiter, Der Aeltestemrate der Jüdischem Kultusgemeinden in Ost - Oberschlesien."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Original typed letter on Judenrat official stationery, to Alfred Szwarcbaum in Lausanne, Switzerland, regarding food packets, thanking him for past shipments but noting that none have been received lately. They request him to start sending food packets urgently as they are essential for the lives of many of the ghetto inhabitants. Signed by Fanny Sara Czarna, head of the Judenrat.
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Bermuda Conference Program
2015.2.181
Grey cover with black printed text in English.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Program for the Bermuda Refugee Conference concerning a proposal “For the Rescue of Jews;” see also the related letter (copy) from Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, co-chairman of the Joint Emergency Committee for European Jewish affairs, to Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles (2015.2.182). By the end of 1942 it was clear that the Nazis intended to liquidate European Jewry. Jewish groups in the United States and United Kingdom beseeched their governments to take defensive action. Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, president of both the American and the World Jewish Congresses, wanted to help ease the plight of German Jews through boycotting German goods and increasing emigration from the Third Reich. His pleas to Franklin Delano Roosevelt were largely ignored, and there was little interest among non-Jews in doing anything to help European Jews. As the news of the "final solution" became increasingly apparent, the American Jewish Committee joined with seven other organizations to form the Joint Emergency Committee on European Jewish Affairs. This group submitted a proposal to the Bermuda Conference. With Jewish groups in both United States and Britain demanding their respective governments to arrive at potential solutions to help the Jews living under German occupation, the two governments met together at Hamilton, Bermuda on April 19, 1943 to discuss this topic. The American presentation was led by Princeton University President Dr. Harold W. Dodds. However, with neither the U.S. willing to lift immigration quotas, nor the British willing to remove prohibitions on Jewish refuge in Palestine, the Bermuda Conference was not able to save a single Jew.
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Bermuda Conference Letter from Rabbi Stephen S. Wise
2015.2.182
Three typed pages on American Jewish Congress Letterhead.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Letter (copy) from Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, co-chairman of the Joint Emergency Committee for European Jewish affairs, to Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles concerning the Program for the Rescue of Jews (see 2015.2.181). By the end of 1942 it was clear that the Nazis intended to liquidate European Jewry. Jewish groups in the United States and United Kingdom beseeched their governments to take defensive action. Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, president of both the American and the World Jewish Congresses, wanted to help ease the plight of German Jews through boycotting German goods and increasing emigration from the Third Reich. His pleas to Franklin Delano Roosevelt were largely ignored, and there was little interest among non-Jews in doing anything to help European Jews. As the news of the "final solution" became increasingly apparent, the American Jewish Committee joined with seven other organizations to form the Joint Emergency Committee on European Jewish Affairs. This group submitted a proposal to the Bermuda Conference. With Jewish groups in both United States and Britain demanding their respective governments to arrive at potential solutions to help the Jews living under German occupation, the two governments met together at Hamilton, Bermuda on April 19, 1943 to discuss this topic. The American presentation was led by Princeton University President Dr. Harold W. Dodds. However, with neither the U.S. willing to lift immigration quotas, nor the British willing to remove prohibitions on Jewish refuge in Palestine, the Bermuda Conference was not able to save a single Jew.
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Letter From Oscar Krebs Regarding Bernard Koch's Engagement to an Allegedly Jewish Woman
2012.1.21
Short, handwritten letter in black ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
An assemblage of three documents (2012.1.19-.21), the first sent from Karlsruhe by the General Prosecutor to Bernard Koch, whose son wishes to marry an aryan woman, Helga Krebs, whose name suggests that she might be Jewish. In part: "... Your son Justice Inspector Heinrich Koch, needs to attest that his bride and her parents have German blood and ancestry. He will have to bring in the marriage certificates of the bride's parents as well as a birth certificate for her grandmother (Maria Elisabetha Detsel). I will send back the document of compliance which I will receive from the unit doctor as well as the declaration of Oscar Krebs [bride's father] from 20.5.1943." This set includes an original cover with SS stamp, Maria Elisabetha Detzel's birth certificate stating that she was born in 1868 in Bacharach, and a document from the aforementioned Oscar Krebs stating that he agrees that his daughter will marry Koch.
[Related items: 2012.1.20, 2012.1.19ab]
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Request From German General Prosecutor to Bernard Koch Requesting Proof that Finacée is not Jewish
2012.1.19ab
Brown envelope with printed and typewritten information and a typewritten letter on a half sheet of paper.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
An assemblage of three documents (2012.1.19-.21), the first sent from Karlsruhe by the General Prosecutor to Bernard Koch, whose son wishes to marry an aryan woman, Helga Krebs, whose name suggests that she might be Jewish. In part: "... Your son Justice Inspector Heinrich Koch, needs to attest that his bride and her parents have German blood and ancestry. He will have to bring in the marriage certificates of the bride's parents as well as a birth certificate for her grandmother (Maria Elisabetha Detsel). I will send back the document of compliance which I will receive from the unit doctor as well as the declaration of Oscar Krebs [bride's father] from 20.5.1943." This set includes an original cover with SS stamp, Maria Elisabetha Detzel's birth certificate stating that she was born in 1868 in Bacharach, and a document from the aforementioned Oscar Krebs stating that he agrees that his daughter will marry Koch.
[Related items: 2012.1.20, 2012.1.21]
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Birth Certificate for Maria Elisabetha Detzel
2012.1.20
Document titled, "Geburtsurkunde" with typewritten information and blue signature.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
An assemblage of three documents (2012.1.19-.21), the first sent from Karlsruhe by the General Prosecutor to Bernard Koch, whose son wishes to marry an aryan woman, Helga Krebs, whose name suggests that she might be Jewish. In part: "... Your son Justice Inspector Heinrich Koch, needs to attest that his bride and her parents have German blood and ancestry. He will have to bring in the marriage certificates of the bride's parents as well as a birth certificate for her grandmother (Maria Elisabetha Detsel). I will send back the document of compliance which I will receive from the unit doctor as well as the declaration of Oscar Krebs [bride's father] from 20.5.1943." This set includes an original cover with SS stamp, Maria Elisabetha Detzel's birth certificate stating that she was born in 1868 in Bacharach, and a document from the aforementioned Oscar Krebs stating that he agrees that his daughter will marry Koch.
[Related items: 2012.1.19ab, 2012.1.20]
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Identity Card for Parisian Jew, Sala Barrois, with Hand Stamp “Juif” Marking her as a Jew in Occupied France
2012.1.23
Interior: Booklet with typed biographical information and photograph of a woman.Exterior: Title,d "Carte D'Identité de Français" with identification number BZ11604.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: "Carte D'Identité de Français" with identification number BZ11604 of Parisian Jew in occupied France with hand stamp “Juif”.
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Food Ration Coupons for Jews
2012.1.75
Pink sheet with black printed coupons with blue "Jude" stamp over many coupons. Titled "Reichsfettkarte A."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: German food rations from Munich, stamped with "J" and "Jude."
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"Kennkarte" (Identification Document) for Herman Rosenbaum
2012.1.84
Grey booklet titled, "Deutsches Reich Kennkarte." Includes a black and white photograph of, and biological information about Herman Rosenbaum.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A Nazi identification document for Herman Rosenbaum, a Jew. The Kennkarte was a basic form of identification during the Third Reich, introduced in 1938. All citizens were expected to produce it when confronted by police or other officials of the state. Here the large "J" identified Rosenbaum as a Jew. Berlin is the identified police precinct which issued it.
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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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Postcard from Jewish Widow in Nuremberg
2012.1.522
Tan postcard with red printed postcard lines addressed to Kurt Kraemer at the Hotel Krone from Lore Sara Wuga in Nuremberg. Includes typewritten message in German.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
This postcard was postmarked June 24, 1944, two weeks after the D-Day invasion began to liberate Europe from Nazi control. Remarkably, it was written by a Jew living openly in "Nuremberg, the City of the National Party Meeting" -- a city known for particularly virulent antisemitism. The return address includes the middle name "Sara," which was required in documents written by Jewish women in order to identify them as such. Fortunately for the widow who wrote this card, she had been married to an aryan man. Jewish spouses of aryans had legal protection from anti-Jewish sanctions, but such protection for this woman probably died with her husband.
Translation: My dear ones, now I have finally received your card, it was like a sunbeam into my loneliness. Many thanks therefore. Yes, to be brave. What does it help now, my life has no meaning any more. I have lost my best. I think always on Heinz and everybody, but it is extremely difficult. The days do not want to pass by, they are filled with sadness, tears and worries. My dear husband died in the midst of his work, it was always a great helper to him. He was so diligent up to his last hour. It is very difficult for me to take care of everything. Much of my heart blood do I give, and I now close everything by myself. I'm not myself any more. Heinz will equally be sad, and now he has so many worries. I'm glad, that Freds has good news from his family, but if one would have helped us, then I would not be by myself. At the time there were possibilities. I'll never be able to forgive that. I'm to say hello to you from Else Grünberger, she is in the last mother's home, I have asked about Cäcilie. She will surely write to me. I hope that Jo and Michel are in good health. I also don't hear from Jlse, but she is not very much for writing. The internment of the urn took place last weekend for us. The brother and wives write to me quite often. Brother-in-law Franz was also there. Hearty greetings and kisses to you. Your Lore.
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Correspondence from Brandenburg Penitentiary
2014.1.76ab
Envelope Back: Tan envelope with handwritten address. Envelope Front: Handwritten address, red postage stamp and one black hand stamp. Letter Front: Printed black lines and text; handwritten message. Letter Back: Continuation of handwritten message.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Cover from Brandnburg Penitentiary franked with 12pf Hitler tied with 8/16/1944 Brandenburg (Havel) cds, to Bohemia, with censored letter enclosure, address label strip removed. Before Brandenburg became the site of political repression and terror, with almost 3,000 executions between 1940 and 1945 including that of a 15-year-old French boy, it was the site of the Brandenberg euthanasia center. As such it was part of the T4 program, where disabled, mentally retarded, or mentally ill people were gassed.
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Hungarian Permission Regarding Star of David Badge
2012.1.367
Tan document with typewritten information in Hungarian. Titled, "Tanusitvány" (Certification). Includes signature at bottom.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Hungarian government document granting permission by the Dome Sztojay Government of occupied Hungary for a Jewish woman to not wear the required badge of the Star of David. Issued in Budapest by the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior allowing Agesten Jeno Janes, born 1905, a Swedish citizen but of Jewish heritage to be permitted to not wear the Star of David Badge required by 1450/1944 Decree No. 5 requiring the distinctive Star of David Badge. The permission was granted until November 30, 1944.
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Envelope from Dusseldorf, Germany to Gestapo Offices in Frankfort
2014.1.31
Green envelope with typewritten address, a purple ink stamp in bottom left and a red stamp in top right.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Envelope from NSDAP office in Dusseldorf to Gestapo headquarters in Frankfort.
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Jews Forced to Wear Star of David
2014.1.305
Front: Black and white photo of ten Jewish men, each wearing a yellow Star of David on their chest.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Acme wire photo with attached press release verso: “Worn and exhausted from their experiences at the hands of the Nazis is this group of Jews liberated from German camps by Red Army troops. Because of a Hitlerite decree they were forced to wear the six-pointed Star of David on their coats." Credit (ACME Radio Photo) 11/29/44.
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Postcard From Belgian Survivor Felice Grossman Describing Her Wartime Experiences
2012.1.24
Postcard with red printed postcard lines and message written in black ink. Addressed to the Bronx in New York City.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
11 Fr. Belgian stationery card written by Felice Grossmann to Herta Schwarzstein, her family member in New York. Felice reveals her whereabouts during the war years: "I am finally allowed to write... I have been hiding, for almost two years, in a Monastery... You can not imagine the horror, fear, misery and persecutions we suffered in the last four years... All we think about is how to reach you [in the United States] and when... We are disgusted with Europe... I always look for Egon whenever I see American soldiers... With heart full of yearning, your Lissy." The letter is written in German and has Belgian and American censor marks at front. Belgium was liberated by US troops in September 1944.
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Envelope to Salome Goldstein, New York from Victoria Woolen Co., Inc., New York (German Family Escapes the Holocaust)
2015.2.207
A white envelope with a return address printed in the upper left corner. Includes a typewritten address, several black hand stamps and some pencil markings.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Group of items pertaining to the timely escape of a Jewish family from persecution in Hitler's Germany. Includes: (2015.2.202) a legalized copy of a letter from Chase National Bank to the American Consul in Vienna, Nov. 19, 1938, stating that the American Louis Cohen wishes to be responsible for the entrance of Salome Goldstein to the U.S., and further states that he maintains accounts at the bank and has been etended credit; (2015.2.201) a British National Identity card issued to Goldstein and signed by her on May 23, 1940; (2015.2.203) a Jan. 25, 1939 notice that the German Jewish Aid Committee in London has retained Goldstein's passport which presumably will remain in their possession until her future status is determined; (2015.2.204ab) a May 5, 1939 letter from a Jewish dressmaker in London stating that business conditions do not permit her to hire Goldstein; (2015.2.205a-c) a letter from a Mrs. Hoffman in London to Goldstein's parents in the U.S. who had just made the crossing, with Mrs. Hoffman relieved that they had arrived alive; (2015.2.206) a May 3, 1939 postcard from a Jewish friend or relative mentioning Budapest; (2015.2.207) an envelope to Goldstein from Victoria Woolen Co. in New York.
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German Antisemitic Hotel and Spa Resort Directory in Black Forest
2019.2.191
Document titled “Heilklimatischer Kurort Herrenalb” in black print at top, ”Wohnungsverzeichnis” underlined. Directory lists on front and back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A guide to hotels and health resorts in the town of Bad Herrenalb listing establishments which exclude Jews. The statement that “Juden unerwuenscht” (“Jews are undesirable”) applies to all businesses with the cross as a symbol, which is to say all businesses listed. Many bear the notation as well that they are a “Judenfrei Haus” (“Jew-free house”). A number of businesses seem to be located on streets named after Hindenburg or Hitler.
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![Gruss aus Karlsbad! [Greetings from Karlsbad!]: German Antisemitic Postcard](https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1003/thumbnail.jpg "Gruss aus Karlsbad! [Greetings from Karlsbad!]: German Antisemitic Postcard")
Gruss aus Karlsbad! [Greetings from Karlsbad!]: German Antisemitic Postcard
2014.1.18
Front: An illustration of seven caricaturized figures holding hands and dancing in a semi-circle. Back: Titled 'Corespondenz - Karte.' Includes a green border design, an orange postage stamp in the upper-right corner, and two hand stamps.
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Catholic Prelate Dr. Konrad Graf von Preysing Denounced Nazis and Collaborative Actions of Other German Bishops
2015.2.12
Front: Black and white photograph of Bishop Konrad Graf von Preysing in glasses wearing ornate bishop's robes, holding a scepter. Back: Blank postcard lines.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
The Bishop of Berlin during the Nazi era, then Cardinal von Preysing viewed the Nazis as corrupt and malignant, and openly challenged Nazism's ideological underpinnings. He consistently opposed the Nazi treatment of Jews - the only Catholic prelate who did so - and denounced the collaborative behavior of other German bishops.
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Sheet Music Signed by Composer Leon Jessel
2015.2.28
Front: Tan paper with three printed music staffs, and handwritten music notes/writing beneath each staff. Title and other information on top. Back: Tan paper with three printed music staffs. The top two staffs include notes and writing beneath those notes, but the third staff is blank. Beneath the third staff is Jessel's seignature, and a purple hand stamp with his name.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Leon Jessel was a Jewish composer who composed numerous operettas, classical music pieces, as well as popular music, including Schwarzwaldmadel, Parade of the Tin Soldiers, etc. Despite converting to Christianity, his music was suppressed by the Nazis. In December 1941, Jessel was arrested by the Gestapo after a search of his apartment had revealed what had been interpreted as anti-Nazi sentiments in a letter to his librettist, in which he had written that "I cannot work at a time when hatred of Jews threatens my people with destruction, where I do not know when that gruesome fate will likewise be knocking at my door." Taken to police headquarters in Berlin at Alexanderplatz, he was tortured by Gestapo, and died soon thereafter in Berlin's Jewish hospital.
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Gift for Lebensborn Children
2015.2.34
Front: Brown envelope with red cross and SS thunderbolts in the middle, with text above and below the cross. A Christmas gift envelope from the Bad Polzin-Lebensborn Home in Pomerania.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
A Christmas (referred to by SS as Julfest) gift envelope from the Bad Polzin Lebensborn Home in Pomerania, situated in a medieval castle. The bag would be filled with a little gift and presented to children. The mothers would be living at the facility during the holiday. This particular home was opened in 1938. Under Himmler's direction after 1935, and as part of the Race and Settlement Bureau of the SS, the Lebensborn's goal was essentially to increase the birth rate of aryan children in accordance with standards of racial, biological, and hereditary purity, and to ensure a life in harmony with nature. Unmarried maidens who met the requisite criteria gave birth to their children, while SS men were encouraged to volunteer the procreative services: all to ensure pure aryan stock. The child was then given to the SS organization who took charge of education and adoption.
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![Die Fahne Hoch [Horst-Wessel-Lied] Postcard](https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1180/thumbnail.jpg "Die Fahne Hoch [Horst-Wessel-Lied] Postcard")
Die Fahne Hoch [Horst-Wessel-Lied] Postcard
2015.2.58
Front: Tan postcard with green striped border. Left side gives German lyrics to Die Fahne Hoch, the national anthem of Nazi Germany. On the right is a portrait of Wessel in uniform, with a Swastika pin on his tie. Back: Blank postcard lines.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Horst Wessel (1907-1930) had been a young activist for the NSDAP, or Nazi Party. He had written the words to Die Fahne Hoch (but not the music), which became the national anthem of Nazi Germany. The hagiography commenced soon after his assassination in 1930, and he was eulogized by Goebbels at his funeral.
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Nuremberg Race Laws
2015.2.62
Front: Tan background with black text and charts made of circles with different colors in them. Red title at top. Charts like this were used to determine ancestry under the Nuremberg Race Laws.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
At the Nazi party rally of 1935, Hitler signed the Nuremberg Race Laws. The laws come under two different headings, "The Protection of German Blood and German Honor" and "The Reich Citizenship Laws." The first section was used to determine exactly who was identified as a Jew. Under the law, a person was considered a Jew even if they did not practice the Jewish faith. A "full-Jew" was defined as an individual with three or more Jewish grandparents. A "half-Jew" or "mischling," was an individual with two Jewish grandparents. A person with one Jewish grandparent was a "quarter-Jew" or "mischling of the second degree." Charts were handed out explaining the laws. The second section was the Reich Citizenship Laws, which stripped away German citizenship from all Jews. They were not allowed to vote or hold public office and were prohibited from marrying a person of German blood. Jews were required to register their businesses with the German government, then Nazis would release the proprietors with no compensation. The businesses were then sold to non-Jewish Germans at a bargain price. During the first six years of the Nazi regime, there were over 400 legal restrictions imposed upon Jews and other persecuted groups. This card is a recent copy of the original.