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 Nazi antisemitism superseded traditional Judeo-Christian religious conflict by uniting a racial ideology with social Darwinism: the Jew is seen as subhuman, a disease threatening the body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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Aryan Racial Declaration by German Citizen
2016.1.60
Typed document, ‘Erklarung’ underlined at top center; signatures and dates handwritten at bottom half with red handstamp on left.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
This declaration, given by Mr. Claus Rass, just six months after Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany, states that there are no known circumstances which would give reason to believe that “I am not Aryan or that my parents or grandparents were members of the Jewish religion. I am aware that I will be punished in the event that my given declaration is not true.”
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Postcard from Oberhausen to Frankfort, Germany in Yiddish
2014.1.29
Front: A postcard with an address written in black ink and a green postage stamp.Back: Message written in Yiddish in black ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Postcard written August 21, 1933, sent seven months after Hitler was appointed chancellor of the coalition government of NSDAP-DNVP Party, January 30, 1933. The first concentration camp was established at Dachau on March 22, 1933. The Enabling Act followed on March 24, 1933. April 1, 1933 saw the boycott of Jewish-owned shops and businesses in Germany. The Law for the Reestablishment of the Professional Civil Service commenced April 7, 1933. Book burning occurred by university students throughout many university towns on May 10, 1933. Non-Nazi parties were outlawed July 14, 1933. And on the same date the Law for the Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary Diseases was passed.
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Bernile Nienau with Adolf Hitler at Obersalzberg
2015.2.46
Front: Black and white photograph of Hitler with his arm around a young, blonde-haired girl in a floral-print dress. Behind them is a scenic background of trees and mountains. Back: Blank postcard lines. Coffee stain on bottom. Upper left has purple circular hand stamp with Nazi insignia.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Adolf Hitler with a small girl Bernile Nienau at Obersalzberg. Hitler enjoyed being photographed with children. Bernile had been chosen to visit the "Fuhrer" and it was discovered that they shared the same birthday, April 20. She was a favorite of Hitler and visited frequently. When Martin Bormann, Hitler's secretary, discovered that Bernile's grandmother was Jewish, he had her banned from all contact with Hitler. She apparently died at the end of the war in Munich, although the circumstances surrounding her death are mysterious. Nazi party stamp on reverse.
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Why the Aryan Law?
2015.2.159
Front: Tan cover with blocky black text on top and bottom.Interior: Printed black German text.This book was published by the Racial Policy Office of the NSDAP and summarizes the anti-Jewish laws of the Third Reich with explanations of why Jews are over-represented in important parts of society. It also promised the fair treatment of Jews.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
German antisemitic publication "Warum Arierparagraph?" by Drs. E.H. Schultz and R. Frercks, published by the Racial Policy Office of the NSDAP, Berlin, 1934. With graphs and illustrations, the pamphlet summarizes and justifies the anti-Jewish laws enacted by the Third Reich and provides statistics "proving" how Jews are overrepresented in the important parts of society. Interestingly it promises that Jews will be well treated--only their social standing is intolerable.
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Race Laws of Third Reich Pamphlet
2015.2.165
Front: Tan cover with printed black text, lines, and Nazi seal.Interior: Black printed text in German.Back: Small printed Nazi seal.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Pamphlet by William Frick on Nazi Race Laws. 1934. “Race Laws of Third Reich” by Wilhelm Frick, 16 pages, an early explanation of race laws, ultimately to be codified and known as the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, for the benefit of the press corps. The enactment of the antisemitic laws facilitated enforcement of legislation restricting civil rights of German Jews.
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Bund Deutsche Mädel Identification Card for Anni Luh
2012.1.14
Interior: Black and white photograph of a young woman in pigtails with biographical information.Exterior: Titled, "Mitglieds Ausweis für den Bund Deutsche Mädel." Includes image of a swastika in a diamond and a chart with pink tickets.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
ID with a photograph of a German Bund Deutsche Mädel. All women had to be of aryan heritage, citizens of Germany, and free of hereditary disease. As Jutta Ruediger, a leader of the German girls, states: girls were raised to "believe in Germany and our leader and pass on these beliefs to their children." Training consisted of sports (particularly gymnastics), philosophical education, and cultural work. Girls attended lectures and participated in work groups.
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Ancestry Attestation
2012.1.490
Tan document titled, "Abstammungsnachweis." Includes charts with information written in pen.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: An attestation about ancestry. This form is from 1934 and was completed by a woman who attests that she is of German offspring. On the reverse, she answers questions about party membership, membership in an organization for fighting antisemitism, etc. Signed by an authority of the State Office of Race (Landesamt Fur Rassewesen).
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Anti-Semitic German Sign "Juden Ist Die Benutzung der Parkbank Verboten" (Jews are Banned from Using the Park Bench
2019.2.189
Black metal sign with "Juden Ist Die Benutzung der Parkbank Verboten" in white print.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Such signs were commonplace as an early measure in a progressive series of actions taken by the Third Reich to exclude Jews from public life, stripping away their citizenship, civil rights, and ability to earn a living.
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Label Warning Supporters of Jews
2021.1.41
Circular red and white sticker with anti-semitic depiction of Jewish man on front
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Rare circular label applied to doors of non-Jews who patronized Jewish-owned businesses, part of the overall Nazi effort to persecute Jews by intimidating non-Jewish Germans who do not boycott Jewish places of business. This label reads, “He who buys from Jews is a traitor to the people.”
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Label Warning Supporters of Jews
2021.1.42
Circular red and white sticker with the text “Wir wachen” in center
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Rare circular label applied to doors of non-Jews who patronized Jewish-owned businesses, part of the overall Nazi effort to persecute Jews by intimidating non-Jewish Germans who do not boycott Jewish places of business. This label reads, “You bought from the Jew! We are watching.”
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Identification Document
2012.1.507
Criminal record document from Berlin Ministry of Justice with Gestapo and Jewish hand stamps in red from June, 1934.
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SS-Schutzstaffel of the NSDAP ID with ink-stamped Reichsfuhrer SS Himmler Printed Signature
2012.1.106
White card with printed and typewritten information, as well as purple and black signatures.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Early 1934 SS ID or Ausweis to SS Mann Herbert Lenk. He was born in Elbing in 1916. Ink stamped Himmler signature with early eagle and NSDAP script, with hand signature of an SS Standartenfuhrer. Yellow stamp at bottom indicating dues were paid for July/September 1934. His picture is on opposite side and embossed with a stamp. His number of the SS Ausweis is 218946.
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Nazi Proof of Jewish Ancestry Folio
2012.1.500
Tan document with title, "Ubstammungsnachweis." Includes a chart filled out with handwriting and purple "Jüdisch" stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A legal folio, stamped "Pillfallen," in which Heinrich Brodowski listed his ancestors going back to 1839. The SS stamped the various "Jüdische" stamps to the right of each name. On verso, the stamp "Aryan ancestry with no exceptions" has been crossed out, with "Jüdische" stamped beneath.
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"Access not permitted for Jews" Sign
2015.2.215
White metal sign with black German text.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Signage for public establishment.
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![Buchenwald Arbeitsbuch [Work Booklet] for Georg-Heinz Moses](https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1366/thumbnail.jpg "Buchenwald Arbeitsbuch [Work Booklet] for Georg-Heinz Moses")
Buchenwald Arbeitsbuch [Work Booklet] for Georg-Heinz Moses
2014.1.57
Front: Grey paper booklet with Nazi eagle emblem and swastika.Interior: Includes pages with handwritten name "Georg-Heinz Moses," as well as stamped and written information.Back:Handwritten name: "Arbeitsbuch."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Nazi-issued work booklet with handwriting. Grey paper booklet with Nazi emblems/page designs. Mr. Moses was likely one of 30,000 arrested after Kristallnacht and imprisoned in concentration camps.
[Related items: 2014.1.58, 2014.1.59, 2014.1.60]
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![Die Stimme der Ahnen [The Voice of Our Ancestors]](https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/2308/thumbnail.jpg "Die Stimme der Ahnen [The Voice of Our Ancestors]")
Die Stimme der Ahnen [The Voice of Our Ancestors]
2016.1.49
Cover: Black text with red design; Interior: 39 numbered pages
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
The Voice of Our Ancestors by “Wulf Sorenson,” thought by some a pen name for Heinrich Himmler but was most certainly Fritjof Fischer who founded the Nordland-Verlag publishing house – publisher of this and other antisemitic tracts—and was known to use a variety of pen names. It is an essay expressing the significance of Paganism and racial memory. Written in 1935, it is an incendiary call against Jews and a rejection of Judeo-Christian values in general (“the depraved colored Hebrew rabble”) in favor of a return to the Nordic attitudes and bearing of the pre-Christian, Nordic man.
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Envelope from Saarbrucken, Franked by 1934 Plebiscite Overprinted Issue and Tied by Machine Slogan Cancel
2014.1.28
A tan envelope addressed in black ink with two orange stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: On this date in 1935 a plebiscite was held in the Saarland resulting in more than 90 per cent of voters favoring returning to a union with Germany. The Saar had been held jointly under the Treaty of Versailles by both Britain and France. After the 15 year term of the mandate ended, voters chose to cast their ballots for a return to the German Reich.
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Postcard Commemorating Nazi Seizure of Power
2014.1.27
Front: A 'Postkarte' depicting a Nazi rally at the Bradenburg gates after Hitler came to power on January 1, 1933. Address on left in blue, and postage stamp in the upper right-hand corner showing Hitler and Hindenburg in profile with a black handstamp. Back: Writing in several colors.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Post card commemoration of Nazi seizure of power January 1, 1933. 6-Pfennig picture post card with Hitler and Hindenburg in the stamp imprint and torchlight parade at left. Hindenburg, president of Germany, appointed Hitler, leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP), as chancellor. Having taken the oath of office, Hitler then convened the cabinet four hours later, commencing his reign. The Nazis celebrated their victory that evening with a torch-light parade, the jack-booted SA (Sturmabteilung) marching through Berlin's Brandenburg gates.
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Court Document Sentencing Otto Toebs for Homosexual Acts
2014.1.446ab
Two documents on tan paper with typewritten and printed German. The first is titled, "Straffache."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Two documents from the Prussian court in Berlin, sentencing one Otto Toebs to KL (Konzentrationslager) Lichtenburg for "widernatuerlicher Unzucht (perverse sodomy)." He is sentenced to one year for each act. KL Lichtenburg was among the first concentration camps in the Nazi system and was in operation from 1933 to 1939. Its first commandant was the sadistic Theodore Eicke, who ran it from May 1934 to July 1934. Promoted to SS Brigadefuhrer in January 1934, he claimed the title of Concentration Camps Inspector for himself in May. In this role Eicke reorganized the camp system at Dachau and utilized Dachau as a model to train guards in disciplinary techniques for concentration camp service and disciplinary measures for prisoners. All regulations for both guards and prisoners at all concentration camps throughout Germany were to follow the blueprint Eicke created at Dachau. Eicke had a role as well on the Night of the Long Knives in June 1934 in shooting Ernst Rohm, head of the SA who was himself a homosexual. Nazi attacks on homosexuality -- closing gay bars, arresting people suspected for being gay and sending them on to concentration camps -- were all part of Hitler's campaign against all forms of "degeneracy" in the Third Reich.
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Postcard Commemorating Reichsparteitag in Nuremberg
2019.2.200
Postcard includes photo of Hitler walking in front of line of soldiers, swastika in background. Back includes green stamp in upper right corner next to swastika and “Reichsparteitag der N.S.D.A.P in Nürnberg” stamped in black ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Real photo postcard of Hitler and Himmler reviewing his “Leibstandarte” troops, his personal “honor” guard- or bodyguard unit- with special postmark advertising the rally and its date. Hitler’s customary speech during this annual rally of the Nazi Party in Nuremberg introduced the so-called “Nuremberg laws” which would deprive the Jews of their German citizenship, and would inexorably culminate in their systematic removal from Germany.
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Antisemitic Envelope
2012.1.467
Green envelope addressed to "An den Reichsverband Deutscher Darm- und Fleischereibedarfsartikel-Händler E.V." Includes red sticker on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
The Nazis' use of labels and slogans was an early method to promote antisemitic hatred through the mail system. The following label reads "Kauft Nicht, etc." meaning "Do not shop at department stores. Do not trade with the Jews."
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Hitler Greeting German Olympic Athlete at Olympic Games 1936
2014.1.36
Front: Photograph of Adolf Hitler and other SS officials greeting Olympic athlete Hans-Otto Woellike. Back: Blank postcard lines.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Germany Olympic real photo postcard with Adolph Hitler congratulating the winner of shot-put event Hans-Otto Woellike during the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Jesse Owens, who had won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics, was not given similar acknowledgement by Hitler.
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“The Tragedy of German Judaism” Broadside Published by Jewish National Fund Following Nuremberg Laws
2020.1.13
Page with French text printed in blue ink as well as a line of Hebrew text at bottom.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
An “Appeal to the Jews of France”, this broadside, published before Passover with this holiday’s references to the Egyptian Pharaoh and his anti-Jewish edicts, lists some of the Nuremberg laws and their toll on the Jews of Germany: businesses destroyed; physicians, lawyers, and civil servants without jobs; students expelled from universities; etc. Jews in Germany are no longer citizens; rather they have lost their civil rights and have become hostages to Hitler and his Nazi minions.
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Postcards From German Citizen to American Family Friend
2021.1.4ab
[a]: postmarked 8.1.36; burgundy pre-printed lines and stamp; handwritten message on front and back
[b]: postmarked 8.1.37; green pre-printed lines and stamp along with added brown postage stamp; handwritten message on front and back
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Two postcards written by Carl Roeder on the same day one year apart during the early years of the Nazification of Germany. Mr. Roeder lives in Dresden, is an “old friend” of the recipient Walter Meyer of North Bergen, New Jersey, who is possibly a German émigré. He hopes Mr. Meyer had a “good time” over the holidays - Christmas and New Year’s. He keeps Mr. Meyer up to date about his family. He reminisces about the holidays they have celebrated together. He then states: “I cannot report any news. Life for us here always the same. But you can read the newspapers and you can understand all the better than if I would write it down. It is too long of a story for a letter, and may not do me any good, when I write too much, because I am getting now slowly an old man with a feeble hand so that I do not dare write too much. I hope you take notice of the circumstances, and you understand me and you will excuse me, that I send only this post card.”
Mr. Roeder continues with reporting the weather and wishing his best regards to his old friend Mr. Meyer and his wife. Finally, Ulrike Roeder sends her best wishes.
One year later, postmarked on the same day, Mr. Roeder writes Mr. Meyer again. He states that he does not want to be late in sending best wishes and hoping for a prosperous year for Mr. Meyer. He and Ulrike were happy to hear that Mr. Meyer and Katie were doing well. He then states: “The goddess of justice is blind, but in these hard times we must be content, if we can make an honest livelihood, even if it is a modest one…I do not come to Berlin, as I have no friends there anymore. One often thinks it could not be otherwise. Out fate and destiny then seems to be determined by another heart than our own...We did not expect such a great success for Mr. Roosevelt, but we consider him here always the next President. Sometimes we see a thing from a distance better from a near stand...I do not know yet when I will be able to make the trip to N.Y. because it depends on so many circumstances…”
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List of Displaced German Scholars and Supplementary List of Displaced German Scholars
2022.1.12ab
a: 125 page list printed in Great Britain by Speedee Press Services, London, Autumn 1936; cover - page 9 scanned
b: Supplemantary List,16 page, London, August 193; cover - page 7 scanned
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Within months of his appointment as chancellor in 1933, Hitler’s government issued the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service. Political opponents of the Nazi Party, and anyone in government positions with at least one Jewish grandparent were summarily dismissed from their jobs. University professors in Germany’s best universities, judges and police officers lost their positions. The so-called “Arian paragraph” would apply to lawyers, physicians, musicians and other civil servants. At every level of civil society and public life, Jews were persecuted through the gradual, methodical, yet inexorable rollout of laws and regulations restricting their civil and political liberties. As this noose of incremental persecution tightened, academicians began to emigrate. Stepping into the breach was the British Academic Assistance Council (AAC), giving needed support and assistance to the growing number of scholars and academicians whose plight only increased with the 1935 Nuremberg Laws; the 1938 Anschluss; and the devastation of the Kristallnacht pogrom shortly thereafter.
Faced with the loss of their careers and livelihoods, fearful of losing their lives, and concerned for the welfare of their families, Jewish scholars became increasingly resigned to their fate in Germany, and the exodus of Jewish scholars increased. The AAC would eventually evolve into the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning (SPSL), but its mission would continue: to help refugee scholars-based on their specific curriculum vitae- find employment in the UK, the USA, and other countries. Several of the more than 1500 academic refugees from Germany and Austria would win Nobel Prizes. Several refugees had already earned them. Many of these emigres would make important contributions to the scholarship and the culture of their adopted countries and have an enormous influence in their respective fields. For example, the current New School for Social Research in New York, had been the home in the 1930’s to the University in Exile -a haven for over 180 scholar-refugees and their families. Though a number of these refugees would find positions in other universities, many would remain as permanent faculty after the University in Exile had been incorporated into the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science in 1934.
The remarkable role played by the AAC academics in rescuing Jewish emigre academicians imperiled by the Nazis and helping them find new homes and institutions where they could continue their careers, would stand in stark contrast to the lack of support- and frank betrayal -on the part of their academic colleagues in the Reich who were either afraid of reprisals or given to “Gleischsaltung”;i.e., “working toward the Fuhrer” in establishing totalitarian control over Germany. A notorious example of this duplicity was that of Martin Heidegger, a world-renowned philosopher, author of Sein und Zeit (Being and Time), and rector of the University of Freiberg, given to sporting a Hitler-style mustache and proudly wearing his Nazi pin. Heidegger signed every letter dismissing Jewish faculty members, including that of his own mentor Edmund Husserl - the renowned phenomenologist who had been Heidegger’s most important advocate: born a Jew but later in life baptized into the Lutheran faith. Some of Heidegger’s most eminent students were forced to leave Germany and find positions elsewhere, including Herbert Marcuse and Hanna Arendt. Heidegger would remain unrepentant for the rest of his life.
[Related item: 2022.1.13]