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 Nazi antisemitism superseded traditional Judeo-Christian religious conflict by uniting a racial ideology with social Darwinism: the Jew is seen as subhuman, a disease threatening the body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 from George-Heinz Moses in Concentration Camp Buchenwald to Leipzig
2014.1.59
Front: White postcard with printed orange postcard lines. Handwritten message in purple pencil.Back: Includes printed orange postcard lines, green postage stamp, several hand stamps, and handwritten address.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: In all likelihood Mr. Moses was one of 30,000 arrested after Kristallnacht and imprisoned in concentration camps.
[Related items: 2014.1.57, 2014.1.58, 2014.1.60]
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Anschluss Postcard from Vienna to Rome
2014.1.202
Front: A tan postcard with black printed postcard lines and writing in black ink. Includes one green and two orange postage stamps and several black hand stamps.Back: Message written in black ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Austria and German mixed franking sent from Vienna to Rome.
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La Persecution du Peuple Juif
2012.1.31
A reproduction of a painting of a woman with child being attacked by a double-headed eagle. Titled, "La Persécution du Peuple Juif. Information printed on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
A postcard sold to raise funds for refugees and development in Palestine. The image on the front depicts a mother protecting her child from a double-headed eagle (a symbol with both Germanic and Russian roots). The child is lying on flags bearing the Star of David. The reverse side contains a quote from Bernard Lazare, French Jewish literary critic: "Nous sommes toujours le vieux peuple a la nuque dure, l'indocile et rebelle nation; nous voulons etre nous-memes, ce que nous ont fait nos aieux, notre histoire, nos traditions, notre culture et nos souvenirs, et nous saurons bien conquerir ce droit qui est le notre d'etre non seulement des hommes, mais aussi des Juifs." The quote translates to English as "We are still the old hard-necked people, the stubborn and rebellious nation, we want to be ourselves, what we have done for our ancestors, our history, our traditions, our culture and our memories, and we know we will conquer this right that is ours to be not only men, but also Jews."
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“Men it’s Time” Antisemitic Postcard
2012.1.435
Blank postcard with an illustration of men and a child running from Nazi flags. Titled, "Manner s'isch Zeit!"
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Postcard entitled, "Men, it's Time" [taken from a quote by Andreas Hofer], depicting the Austrian antisemitic union chasing the Anti-Nazi Austrian Chancellor, Kurt von Schuschnigg and his allies out of Austria.
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Complaint Letter Against a Jew Results in Arrest and Placement in Detention Camp by Gestapo
2016.1.11
Typewritten letter, right corner missing, 'W e n d l' underlined in red pencil, signed by (Dr. Publig)
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Mr. I.A. Knissel, a Viennese bureaucrat and head of the Administration and Organization Office, does a favor for a man lodging a complaint against a Jew. Mr. Knissel reports that due to his intervention, the Jew Israel Beisatti has been arrested and placed by the Gestapo in detention camp. A Dr. Publig signs the document as well.
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![Du und Dein Volk [You and Your People]: Political and Racial Guide for Hitler Youth](https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/2300/thumbnail.jpg "Du und Dein Volk [You and Your People]: Political and Racial Guide for Hitler Youth")
Du und Dein Volk [You and Your People]: Political and Racial Guide for Hitler Youth
2016.1.41
Cover: Title with swastika symbol below; Interior: 44 numbered pages with 2 additional at end for student to add genealogical information.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Booklet by Kurt Schrey, given to high school graduates by order of the NSDAP Main Office for Education (NSLB). Every graduate of a Third Reich High School was to receive a copy. It was meant to be a guide for teenage girls and boys to live their life following the National Socialist beliefs regarding purity of “aryan” blood, the importance of family and children, how to become a well-functioning member of the German society. The racial question and Jewish question are an important part of this booklet, and it contains a fold-out ancestry chart. This booklet was given to a Hildegard Fink in Vienna.
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Lebensborn
2015.2.18
Tan cover with black woodblock illustration of a woman in a forested area reading a book with a child resting his head on her lap. Includes text beneath in orange. Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash
Lebensborn: Jahrbuch fur innere Erneuerung, is Lebensborn's Yearbook for Inner Renewal, authored by Willibald Ulbricht, and displays many patriotic illustrations, quotations, etc. Lebensborn was the organization in charge of ensuring the purity of aryan blood. Unmarried German women who met specific criteria gave birth to children fathered by SS men who were encouraged by Himmler to volunteer.
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Polish Passport of Chaim Jankiel-Wajnthal, a Jewish Emigrant to Palestine
2019.2.205
Blue booklet labeled “PASZPORT RZECZPOSPOLITA POLSKA” in gold print, 40 pages. [Page 20-39 blank]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Chaim Jankiel-Wajnthal, born in Warsaw in 1865, was able to emigrate to Palestine before the German invasion of Poland in 1939.
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Broadside by Julius Streicher Ridiculing Nuremberg Financier Richard Kohn
2021.1.52
Broadside with black text. Portrait photograph of man in a suit and hat in center.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Antisemitic broadside issued by Julius Streicher’s newspaper Der Stürmer. With a photo of prominent Nuremberg financier and lawyer Richard Kohn at center, it loosely reads: “Nuremberg bank-Jew exposed as a racial disgrace! The fairy tale of a decent Jew Kohn… For years he has desecrated German women and girls with impunity. The bank-Jew Kohn will not escape a just punishment!.....” Richard Kohn was an attorney, city councilman and member of the German Democratic Party (DDP). He was as well a partner in Bankhaus Anton Kohn and held numerous positions in banking and insurance. His apartment was destroyed during Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938. Kohn was arrested and the Bankhaus Anton Kohn was liquidated. Richard Kohn was deported to Riga in November 1941 with other members of his family, all of whom perished.
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Hitler Youth Identification Card
2012.1.15
Interior: Black and white photograph of a young girl and biographical information.Exterior: Titled, "Mitglieds - Ausweis der Hitler-Jugend." Includes an image of a Swastika in a diamond and blank lines.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
The ID of a young woman in the Hitler Youth. 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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Letter from William Feuer in Lwow, Poland to Samuel Wasserman in Brooklyn, N.Y.
2012.1.358abc
Envelope: Tan envelope addressed in green to Sam Wasserman, Brooklyn, New York. Includes return address on back flap to S. Feller.Letter: Letter in green ink written in English on lined paper.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Letter written in English four days before the Anschluss - the Nazi Germany assimilation of Austria into the Reich; eight months before the pogroms of Kristallnacht; 17 months before the non-aggression pact signed between Germany and the Soviet Union; and a week later the German invasion of Poland, the commencement of World War II, and the overrunning of the city of Lwow, the third largest population of Jews in Poland. The series of horrific pogroms against the Jews whose population swelled with Jews fleeing Western Poland before the pact between Germany and the Soviets was to take effect, commenced one month later. After the war there were less than 1000 Jews that survived the Holocaust in Lwow out of a population of more than 150,000 Jews before the war. Mr. Feuer - possibly an immigrant from Poland himself - is abroad visiting family - probably his sister and other family and friends - and after some introductory statements offers a Jewish foreigner’s perspective on the atmosphere in Lwow on the eve of the Holocaust:
“Well, Sam how times are here it is impossible for me to explain so much. The Heb has no chance if they have potatoes they eat if not they starve. All Hebs that have a little stars just to earn their bread and butter so one week the windows are broken, the next thing they do is just like they do on a strike in New York (don’t buy it’s a strike) the same thing they do here, they stay in front of the store and say (don’t give the Jews a show). Edibles are very dear, a bath I didn’t take yet, an orange I didn’t taste one since I’m here, meat is very dear and my sister keeps a Jewish home and if I want some I go into a kosher restaurant with a HECHSHER (certification that something is kosher or obeying the laws of kashrut) with a cross. I expect to leave as soon as it will get warm, whether I will make it or not I do not know. I know one thing. I’ll take all the chances in the world…I’m sorry I left N.Y. because it is a hard job to get out of this country. I’ll have to do a little travelling by hook or crook. I’ll try to do it.”
Mr. Feuer leaves Sam his address in Lwow. Not long after this letter was written to Brooklyn, the Jews of Lwow would succumb to the Russians, Germans and Ukrainian Nationalists.
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“Ein Volk Ein Reich Ein Führer” Postcard
2012.1.446a
A white postcard with an illustration of Hitler's face on a map of Germany. Titled, "Ein Volk Ein reich Ein Führer." [One Folk, One Reich, One Leader] Includes a message written in black ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
German postcard commemorating the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria into greater Germany March 13, 1938.
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Antisemitic Postcard Commemorating Anschluss
2012.1.470
Front: An illustration of a golden German map with a photograph of Hitler's face in profile pasted onto it. Caption reads: "13 Marz 1938. Ein Volk Ein Reich Ein Führer."Back: Green printed postcard lines and a painted red, black and white sticker depicting a muscular man with a swastika hammer ready to strike a snake with the head of A Jewish man. The caption reads, "Tod dem Marxismus. Her zu uns!"
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Annexation of Austria commemorative postcard with sticker verso depicting a muscular man with a swastika hammer ready to strike a snake with the head of a Jew. The caption reads, "Tod dem Marxismus. Her zu uns!" ("Death to Marxism. Join us!"). In Nazi ideology, Marxism and Judaism are indistinguishable foes.
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Anschluss Postcard
2014.1.175
Front: An illustration of Adolf Hitler smiles at a map of Austria. Includes text in black.Back: White postcard with black printed postcard lines and text. Includes writing in blue, a green postage stamp and a black hand stamp.
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Broadside Announcing Speech by Hermann Goering in Vienna
2019.2.15
Printed "GORING" in black text on tan paper with thin red border, swastika in top left corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
This speech was slated to occur on the eve of the Austrian Anschluss and exhorts Viennese men and women to attend (“you cannot remain home”). Goering had informed the audience that Vienna needed to be free of Jews within four years’ time.
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German Occupation Austria Plebiscite Ballot - Registration Postcard
2016.1.46
Front: ‘Wahlausweis’ printed in bold at top center; Back: Postcard split it two sides, pink and purple handstamps as well as some handwritten in lines
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Hitler has promised Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg that Austria would remain independent following Chancellor Dollfuss’s assassination. Riven by strife, the government was unable to cope with the situation without offending Hitler. As a last resort Schuschnigg announced a plebiscite for March 13, 1938 on the question of independence. Only “yes” ballots were to be handed out, while “no” voters would have to supply their own ballots. Hitler sent Schuschnigg an ultimatum to postpone the plebiscite and resign. The latter complied, and Hitler and his army entered Austria. The propaganda campaign was quite successful. This registration card to incorporate Austria into the German Empire for the plebiscite on April 10, was printed after the Nazis had already invaded Austria.
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Postcard Announcement of the Plebiscite of 10 April 1938 on Annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany
2019.2.224
Postcard with blue stamp including date “10. April 1938.” Back includes “Wahlausweis” in black print in center.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
"The annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany into the Greater German Reich (the Anschluss), made effective by a legislative act on March 13, 1938, required ratification by a plebiscite to occur in April. The message on this card meant for Jews reads: “Anyone who is to exercise his right to vote, although he is denied the vote or is a Jew or it is known to him that he is descended from at least three fully Jewish grandparents, or he is married to a Jewish mixed-race person (at least two Jewish grandparents), is to immediately return this voting document to the community office and stay away from the election. Otherwise, he is subjected to severe punishment.” "
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Postcard from George-Heinz Moses in Buchenwald to Leipzig
2014.1.58
Front: White postcard with printed orange postcard lines. Includes a handwritten message and Georg-Heinz Moses' signature.Back: Includes printed orange postcard lines, green stamp and handwritten address.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: In all likelihood Mr. Moses was one of 30,000 arrested after Kristallnacht and imprisoned in concentration camps.
[Related items: 2014.1.57, 2014.1.59, 2014.1.60]
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Correspondence from an Austrian Jew
2012.1.306a
Tan postcard with green printed postcard lines and message written in pencil.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The following correspondence may chronicle the fate of one Austrian Jew, including items 2012.1.306a, 2012.1.306b and 2012.1.306c. In this first item, one individual with the last name Weiser sends another Weiser -- both living in Vienna -- a postcard about returned laundry, greetings, and kisses, etc.. A purple stamped impression instructs the addressee to "reply only with postcard."
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Postcard Airmail from Vienna to Palestine After Anschluss
2016.1.19
Front:Typewritten page beginning with "Liebste Hedy" and ends with handwritten "Lola"; Back: Four postage stamps, two red, 2 green, two "MIT FLUGPOST POST AVION" stamps
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Austria had been annexed by Nazi Germany in March 1938 - the so-called Anschluss - one month before this airmail postcard was written by Lola Feiner, living in Vienna, to her sister Hedy Finkelmann in Palestine. After the annexation, Jews were chased through the streets, compelled to wash sidewalks on their knees, humiliated and beaten. Jewish-owned businesses and residences were pillaged. Thousands of Austrians who opposed Nazi rule were sent to concentration camps. Statements of assets were required of all Jews. Germany’s Nuremberg Laws would be imposed upon the Jews of Austria. This is the political context for the postcard that Lola sends to Hedy expressing concern over the circumstances in which she is immersed, asking for financial assistance, as she has not received money from “Luschi”: “It has been three weeks now that we haven’t received anything, and you can probably imagine the situation…We don’t know what to live on.” Lola asks urgently to “send us something for maintenance by airmail or otherwise as quickly as possible…” She asks her sister not to send schillings as they would be confiscated. “Pounds arrive easily.” Assuring Hedy that she is healthy, Lola hopes that this is as well the case for her.
By May, Jews of Vienna had lost their civil liberties, and were forced to wear the yellow star. The Kristallnacht pogrom occurred in November. Synagogues were destroyed and many Jews were sent to Dachau concentration camp. Jewish owned property and assets were confiscated. Many Jews would attempt to flee to other countries.
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"Vollmacht" Power of Attorney
2012.1.504
Tan paper titled, "Vollmacht." Includes typewritten message.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Notarized power of attorney document from 1938.
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Correspondence from an Austrian Jew
2012.1.306b
Tan postcard with green printed postcard lines and a message written in pencil.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The following correspondence may chronicle the fate of one Austrian Jew, including items 2012.1.306a, 2012.1.306b and 2012.1.306c. This second item is addressed to the same location in Vienna as 2012.1.306a, with a message that is difficult to read.
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Correspondence from an Austrian Jew
2012.1.306c
White envelope with address handwritten to Soloman Weiser and return address to Wisn Weiser on the back flap.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
The following correspondence may chronicle the fate of one Austrian Jew, including items 2012.1.306a, 2012.1.306b and 2012.1.306c. This third item is an envelope with an addressee at Buchenwald Concentration Camp, in which Buchenwald is crossed out. The Zuruck on front instructs to return to sender and boxed stamp impression on reverse advises "addressee allowed no mail until further notice."
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A Plea for Help. Letter Sent by Suria Kalb in Vienna to Relative in America Requesting Assistance Emigrating to America
2012.1.363ab
Envelope: Tan envelope addressed to Sam Wasserman in black ink. Includes return address from Sara Kalb on back flap.Letter: Letter in black ink written on grid paper.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Dear Cousin: Even though I was just a little girl when your dear cousin departed for America you will no doubt remember my mother from Tarnow. My mother was the sister to your mother who had gone to her eternal rest. Mindel Laufer was my mother’s name and my name is Suria and I live in Vienna. I am married by the name Kalb. We lived well and everything was OK. Now however a great change took place for every Jewish person. It is a situation in which we all find ourselves. No doubt you are familiar with it. I assume that people in America have very little understanding for it when one is caught in a situation like this. All the people who have relatives in America are leaving to go there. Everyone is willing to help whenever they can. I am thankful that I have you in America. Please be our savior in my problem. I do not know of anyone whom to ask for help. Will you send me the papers for me to emigrate to America? I am not the least concerned about my future over there. It simply cannot be more difficult to earn a living there comparing it to here. We are still young and not afraid to work hard. We need the necessary papers. You can make contact with the “HIAS Society” in New York Lafayette Street who will help you. I am very sincere regarding my coming to America. I want to save myself from being condemned to death. I plead with you dear cousin to provide the papers for me and my husband whose name is Mendel Kalb. Born August 9, 1903 in Tarnow. Our 8 ½ year old child is named Manfred Kalb born November 23, 1935 in Vienna. We are certain that you will do everything possible and will notify us that you will help us for it means life or death and it may be easy for you to help us. It is an opportunity once in a lifetime to do something good for people in need. We plead with you to help us and we thank you dear cousin in advance. We greet you heartily and remain as the family of Mendel and Suria Kalb. Vienna II Talen Str. 46/25.
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Postcard for “The Eternal Jew” Antisemitic Exhibition, Vienna, 1938
2012.1.478
Yellow postcard with an illustration of a stereotyped Jewish man, holding a cane and map with the Communist hammer and sickle in one hand and coins in the other. Includes caption, "Der Ewige Jude" (The Eternal Jew) in type that mirrors Hebrew.
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 postcard advertising the exhibition - in this case in Vienna - depicts a caricatured, unattractive image of a disheveled Jewish man against a yellow background clutching a knotted whip in his left hand with an inset map of the Soviet Union with red Communist hammer and sickle. In his outstretched right hand are gold coins. His eyes are closed against a secret he is hiding: the composite image represents a putative Jewish conspiracy for world domination. The two special cancellations on the back of the postcard commemorate the event.