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 Nazi antisemitism superseded traditional Judeo-Christian religious conflict by uniting a racial ideology with social Darwinism: the Jew is seen as subhuman, a disease threatening the body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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Ukrainian Document Acknowledging Laws That State Who Must Be Considered Jewish
2014.1.211
Front: Light brown paper with columns of printed text in German, Ukrainian and Polish.Back: Continuation of text.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Document issued in Ukrainian, Polish and German languages. One side states the infamous laws saying who must be considered Jewish. The second part is to be signed and states that the signer is acquainted with the laws and is not Jewish. Either the paper had to be signed to join the Ukrainian SS Division "Galichina" or that all Ukrainians working for the Germans had to sign it.
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"Ahnenpass" (Proof of Aryan Identity)
2012.1.81
Brown booklet titled, "Ahnenpaß." Includes Nazi seal on cover. Interior consists of printed text and registers filled in with handwriting.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
The Ahnenpass was published by the Zetnral Verlag of the NSDAP, the Nazi Party publishing house. Its purpose was to prove and record an individual's aryan descent. All ancestors could be documented. Entries were checked by the church or municipal registrar's office. The Ahnenpass was mandatory for Nazi Party members, Wehrmacht officers, and of course, SS.
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"Arbeitsbuch" (Labor Registration Document) for Herman Rosenbaum
2012.1.85
Brown booklet with eagle on the cover titled, "Deutsches Reich Arbeitsbuch. Interior includes grids and written or stamped information.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
The Arbeitsbuch -- a result of the Labor Law of 1935 -- required labor registration and use of appropriate documentation. It documented the work history of each German citizen. This is an early style document which comes with a Weimar eagle and small swastikas on the four corners. This document was issued to Herman Rosenbaum, a Jew.
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German State Visitors Pass
2012.1.97
Grey cover with Nazi eagled titled, "Deutsches Reich Fremdenpass. Interior includes a black and white photograph of, and various biographical information about Bernard Fenster.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
110 Jewish Relief Unit, British Army of the Rhine (British Occupation Force). A note of appreciation addressed to Mrs. Sabatchnick of Montreal, Canada, on December 3, 1946, thanking her for her relief parcel “on behalf of the recipients” in the Bergen-Belsen DP camp. She continues, “We are very much in need of this food, and it is being distributed immediately to people who have just been released from hospital, etc.”
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"The White Book" Poem Postcard
2012.1.412
Postcard with red border titled, "The White Book." Includes a poem in English. Back is blank.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: English anti-German propaganda, World War II.
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Antisemitic Label
2012.1.414c
White label with blue Star of David. Titled, "Zur ärztlichen Behandlung ausschliesslich von Juden berechtigt."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A Nazi label required for Jewish doctors, which announced that their practice was restricted to Jewish patients.
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Antisemitic Label for Doctors
2012.1.414d
Small white label with blue Star of David. Titled, "Zur ärztlichen Behandlung ausschliesslich von Juden berechtigt."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
A label required for Jewish doctors, consequent to the Nuremberg Laws, which announced that their practice was restricted to Jewish patients.
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Print of Adolf Hitler
2012.1.452
Black and white photograph of Hitler giving the Nazi salute in a Nazi armband. Back includes German text and title, "Adolf Hitler in München, Frühiahr 1932."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Adolf Hitler in Munich in 1932.
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Real Photo Postcard of Adolf Hitler
2012.1.453a
Blank postcard with black and white photograph of Adolf Hitler accepting flowers from a young boy as a group of children salute him.
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Real Photo Postcard of Adolf Hitler
2012.1.453b
Blank postcard with a black and white photograph of a young woman handing Adolf Hitler flowers as a group looks on.
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Real Photo Postcard of Adolf Hitler
2012.1.453c
Blank postcard with a black and white photograph of Adolf Hitler in profile and hat.
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Antisemitic Postcard
2012.1.469
A tan postcard with a black printed stamp with a cariacturized Jew with a hooked nose looking through a Star of David.
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German Jewish Winter Aid Patch
2016.1.47
Circular cloth shoulder patch with two clasped hands before a light blue Star of David encircled by the name of the organization, ”Judische Winterhilfe Berline”.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
The Judische Winterhilfe was established in 1935 by the Reichsvertretung to aid unemployed and needy Jews. Jews were excluded from receiving general assistance during winter months by the Nuremberg Laws, and thus set up their own organization to help with food, medicine and shelter even as they were pressured to leave Germany. For as long as the organization survived, it proved a model charity, opening soup kitchens, orphanages, etc. from funds provided by means of donations.
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Adolf Hitler Election Broadside
2016.1.58
Tan paper with black printed German text, ‘Nr. 28’ at top right corner. Two illustrations of men at center.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Calls for the election of Hitler as Chancellor of Germany. The text promises that greater Nazi influence will free the German people from subjugation by Jewish bankers. The illustration shows a bare-chested German laborer representing the German people struggling beneath a load, labeled “International Jewish Financial Capital,” juxtaposed with an image of the laborer ultimately freed from his load, hefting a sledgehammer emblazoned with a swastika.
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Mein Kampf Promotional Broadside
2012.1.570
Tan poster with a black and white photo of Adolf Hitler. titled, "Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A promotional poster for Adolf HItler's work Mein Kampf, with Hitler's portrait prominently at top. The text celebrates the book, which sold for RM 2.85 at the time.
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Oswald Pohl Family Tree
2015.2.172
Family tree on grey paper written in blue-gray ink with two names on the right circled in blue.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Oswald Pohl (1892-1951). Pohl was the head of the Economic Office of the SS and ultimate overseer of the concentration camp system. He was responsible for turning his victims' gold teeth, eyeglasses, hair, etc. into cash for the SS, using the "Max Heliger" Swiss accounts. He was captured by British troops in 1946 and sentenced to death by an American military tribunal for crimes against humanity, as well as war crimes, mass murder, and crimes committed in the concentration camps. Despite repeated appeals, he was executed in 1951.
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Scheuer's Doppel-Ritter
2019.2.7
Yellow stamp with ridged edges showing image of an old woman and young girl.
[Related item: 2019.2.6]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Scheuer's stamp from chicory coffee factory in Nuremberg- Fuerth founded by Georg Joseph Ignatz Scheuer.
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American Isolationist Sentiment WWII: Pre-War Propaganda Stamps Advocating Non-Involvement in Europe
2019.2.33-.58
26 stamps of various sizes:
2019.2.33: “America First” in shape of shield
34: DEMOCRACY BEGINS AT HOME
35: MEMORIAL DAY 1941
36: 1ST BIRTHDAY
37: Benjamin Franklin quote
38: Abraham Lincoln in profile
39: HELP!
40: WAR? What For?
41: Birthright
42: DEMOCRACY BEGINS AT HOME (duplicate of .34)
43: Franklin D. Roosevelt quote
44: NO FOREIGN ENTANGLEMENTS
45: cartoon with two men
46: AMERICA FIRST COMMITTEE
47: AMERICA FIRST COMMITTEE (duplicate of .46)
48: NATIONAL UNITY?
49: NATIONAL UNITY? (duplicate of .48)
50: Thomas Jefferson quote
51: “Isn’t it great to be an American”
52: Make America Strong
53: Make America Strong (duplicate of .52)
54: John Q. Public
55: John Q. Public (duplicate of .55)
56: Remember You’re an American
57: America First
58: There’s No Way Like the American Way
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
The America First Committee, founded in 1940, was a non-interventionist group opposed to military involvement in a European war. It had opposed sending aid to Britain - Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease program - fearing that it would lead inexorably to America’s involvement in yet another European war. Among the numerous luminaries supporting this movement were the Kennedys, Charles Lindbergh, and Father Coughlin. Indeed, Joseph P. Kennedy, America’s ambassador to the Court of St. James, urged appeasement with Hitler, fearing that a war with Germany could not be won. Father Coughlin, a militant antisemitic priest who would hurl invective at Jews on his popular radio program, was also part of this movement. Charles Lindbergh’s speech in Iowa in 1941, however, elevated the taint of antisemitism in claiming that Jews were pushing for a war that was not in America’s national interest, alluding to their broad influence in the press, radio and cinema. Lindberg downplayed his own racist and antisemitic views, as well as his admiration and sympathy for Hitler, which undergirded his defeatist stance.
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Photograph of "Gypsies"
2019.2.203
Black and white photograph of women and children with ridged edges. [Related item: 2019.2.204]
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Photograph of "Gypsies"
2019.2.204
Black and white photograph of bearded man in hat. [Related item: 2019.2.203]
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French Antisemitic Cartoon Leaflet
2019.2.230
Front includes three anti-Semitic illustrations with caption in black ink near each, “QUI” in bold in upper left corner. Front includes two anti-Semitic illustrations with caption in black ink near each, “Francais!” and “Vous” in bold, signed in lower left corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
WWII French leaflet with insulting cartoons of Jews, blaming them for black market profiteering while others have to endure long lines and unavailability of food. It ends with the exhortation to avoid Jews and their schemes.
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Cast Metal Plaque, Rescued from Berlin's Fasanenstrasse Synagogue During Kristallnacht
2019.2.356
Metal plaque with scene of men seated at table
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
The Fasanenstrasse Synagogue was Berlin’s liberal Synagogue and the largest Synagogue in Berlin. It was opened in 1912, and during its years of operation had been for a time the spiritual home to Rabbi Leo Baeck. During the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 9 and 10, 1938, along with many other synagogues in Germany and Austria, the Fasanenstrasse Synagogue had been set on fire - under Joseph Goebbels orders - and destroyed by SA thugs. This plaque, depicting a Seder scene with a group of Rabbis - probably influenced by a painting by the 19th century artist Moritz Oppenheim - had been damaged in the ensuing destruction of the synagogue. However, someone, perhaps a congregant, had been able to rescue the bullet-damaged plaque and carry it out of Germany to Jerusalem.
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Damaged Goat Skin Torah Fragment Found in Poland
2021.1.115a-c
a: threads along both edges; b: repaired hole at bottom, multiple smaller holes along top; c: stain at bottom left corner, hole in top right corner
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Parchment fragments such as this one -part of an old Torah scroll - were most often the result of acts of desecration by German soldiers. As territories in the East were conquered and occupied, along with the persecution and humiliation of Jews it was common to pillage and plunder their houses of worship. An indelible expression of contempt for Jews and their way of life, artifacts and ritual and ceremonial objects considered holy by Jews were either wantonly destroyed, taken as souvenirs or used for commercial purposes. Typically, old torahs or other holy books and artifacts which outlived their ceremonial use continued nevertheless to be objects of veneration and would customarily be stored in a special place until they could have a proper burial: precisely because they contained the word of God. For the German conquerors, on the other hand, Torah parchment had value not merely as souvenir: in the hands of the antisemitic German conquerors, it was decontextualized, and became mere raw material transmuted and repurposed into wallets and other leather goods, musical instruments such as drumheads, canvas for paintings, etc. The clever Germans also found the means to eradicate the long, painstaking work of Jewish scribes with chemicals to remove the Hebrew script. More enterprising Nazis would attempt to turn this parchment to commercial use, collecting it for possible sale, for example, to leather goods manufacturers.
There were other examples of the Nazi contempt for Jewish institutions and ways of life. Places of worship themselves were also destroyed, set on fire, or used as storage facilities, garages or stables. Centuries old cemetery gravestones were violated, often used as pavers for roads or bricks for buildings. Prayer books, candelabras, Torah covers, paintings and embroidery, all of which were embedded in an ancient ceremonial and ritual context, were themselves taken as souvenirs, destroyed, or sold. Such looting would also be initiated by non-Jewish antisemitic locals, having been given tacit “permission” by the Germans.
