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 Nazi antisemitism superseded traditional Judeo-Christian religious conflict by uniting a racial ideology with social Darwinism: the Jew is seen as subhuman, a disease threatening the body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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"In the Beginning was the Word" NSDAP Postcard
2012.1.448
White postcard with black and white illustration of Hitler addressing a crowded room. Titled, "Am Anfang war das Wort." Back includes various stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: This postcard depicts Hitler as leader of the NSDAP, standing on a platform, with his followers-men and women-listening in rapt attention. The scene occurs in humble surroundings. Quote "In the beginning was the word" is taken from the Gospel of St. John. Verso: a series of commemorative cancels.
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Certificate of Pure Aryan Descent
2012.1.493
Green certificate on white background with title "Prüfungsergebnis." Includes illustration of Eagle and Swastika.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
The official Nazi certification of pure “aryan” German blood, or Abstammungsnachweis, was required of any citizen who wished to exercise his or her civil rights or join the Nazi Party. This one - number 92444 - bears the Eagle and Swastika seal. It certifies that Franz Gerstorfer is "Deutchbluttig (Arisch)" or of pure aryan German blood, and that he is not of Jewish or mixed Jewish (or "Mischling") ancestry.
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Transporter's License for Irene Erdheim from Vienna, Austria
2016.1.02
Front: "Hawker's or Transporter's License in bold at top left. Photograph of Erdheim at top right. Three purple oval hand stamps. Back: Text at top in English; middle in Arabic, bottom in Hebrew.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Irene Erdheim, who had worked at the German post office in Vienna, was able to leave Vienna as a Jewish refugee for Palestine by 1940, as attested to by her Transporter's License issued in Haifa.
[Related items: 2016.1.03, 2016.1.04]
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National Registration Identity Card for Salome Goldstein (German Family Escapes the Holocaust)
2015.2.201
Front: A tan card with a black border. Includes a large black seal on top with crown and shield and a black printed title.Interior: Tan card with printed boxes and writing in English, as well as written information in with black and blue ink, a purple AIBA stamp on either page and a signature at the bottom right.
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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A Cry For Help from Nazi Germany
2014.1.100
Front: White postcard with message and address written in blue ink. Includes two green postage stamps, one blue stamp, and several hand stamps. Back: Continuation of message.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Postcard (with Nazi censor mark at upper right) airmailed from Mannheim to New York; sent by Dr. Siegfried Israel Basnizki and his wife Margrete to relatives in the U.S. "We are fine, why do we not hear from you? People here are being invited to the immigration office, why are we not among them? Have you transferred the funds that we sent you to use as financial guarantee funds? L. Jonnah of the Leipzig office said that the $500 required as insurance for immigration has not been received. In case you transferred it, please ask for confirmation to be sent to us... We do not want to lose more time." Thus, Seigfried and his wife urged the family to assist them as time was rapidly running out. Margrete added the following: "I am miserable from your silence. We do not ask for much. Just do it and we will be successful. Do not forsake us." At this time, the Nazis allowed and indeed encouraged emigration of German Jews. The Zentralstelle Fur Judische Auswanderung (Central Office of Jewish Emigration) assisted in this process. The office provided passports and arranged legal and procedural matters. The sum of $500 was required as financial assurance that the person would be leaving the country. Sadly, Dr. Basnizki and Margrete failed to get the appropriate papers for their rescue. They both perished the same day in Auschwitz, three years after sending this postcard.
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Kindertransport Correspondence: International Red Cross from Walter Herz, United Kingdom, to Marie Herz, Bohemia-Moravia
2012.1.36
Document with Red Cross at top, titled, "War Organisation of the British Red Cross and Order of St. John. Includes typewritten and printed information in English and German.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Red Cross correspondence. An official "War Organisation of the British Red Cross..." inquiry filed by Walter Herz ("Relationship of enquirer to addressee: Son"), a young Czech Jew, sent by his parents to Great Britain prior to WWII. His parents remained in Bohemia-Moravia. Form has official 4-line boxed hand stamped address at top: "Red Cross Message Bureau 22, 37 Sutherland Avenue, Paddington, London W9." Limited message (no more than 25 words) reads in German: "Dear Mommy, Do not worry about me, I am very fine. I have everything I need. Kisses, Walter." Addressed to his mother, Marie Herz, in Bohemia-Moravia. Form has a red double circle of the International Red Cross, Geneva. It was received in Nazi Germany on October 14, 1940 (per the red boxed hand stamp at top). His mother's reply, also in German: "My very dear Walter, Do not worry about me. I am healthy & fine, too. Thousand kisses from your Mama." The form was hand stamped by the International Red Cross in Geneva. Kindertransport (also Refugee Children Movement or RCM) is the name given to the rescue mission that took place nine months prior to the outbreak of World War II. The United Kingdom took in nearly 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Nazi Germany and the occupied territories of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the Free City of Danzig. The children were placed in British foster homes, hostels, and farms.
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Letter from Haavara Limited, Tel-Aviv
2015.2.72ab
Two page Letter on acidic tan paper. Haavara title in English and Hebrew on top in blue. Beneath a typewritten message, including several ink-written checkmarks. Second page continues the typewritten text with signature in bottom right.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Haavara was a company established in 1933 as the result of an agreement between the Jewish Agency (the official Jewish executive in Palestine) and the Nazi regime. The Trust and Transfer Office Haavara Ltd. was established in Tel Aviv to facilitate Jewish emigration to Palestine. Though the Nazis had ordered Jewish emigrants to surrender most of their property before leaving Germany, the Haavara agreement let them retain some of their assets by transferring them to Palestine as German export goods. Approximately 50,000 Jews emigrated to Palestine under this arrangement.
[Related items: 2015.2.73]
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Treuhander Stamp on Krakau Envelope
2012.1.73
Cream-colored envelope with outlined space for the address to be written. Includes the Treuhander Stamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A Treuhander -- trustee or power of attorney -- cover from Krakau.
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Correspondence to George Eckstein
2012.1.517 & 518a-c
Envelope: Grey envelope with typewritten address to Georg Eckstein in New York City. Includes handwritten return address and censor tape on back.Letters: Typewritten letters on thin paper. Includes handwritten additions.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of two letters to George Eckstein (2012.1.517 & 2012.1.519). Eckstein was a Jew who escaped from Nazi Europe and who attempted to aid others in their attempts to flee. This envelope was postmarked from Breslau on June 27, 1940, the day after the enclosed letters were dated. The return address has the Jewish designation Gertrude Sara Cohen, and the envelope was taken to the post office and presented to a clerk for mailing, as provided by regulations requiring Jews to present outgoing foreign mail in person rather than use a letter box. The purple rubber stamp on the face of the envelope confirms that the rule was followed, "Delivered at the counter." Although the envelope lacks the typical pair of rubber stamped numerals within small rectangles, the pencil notations on the front may be the censor numbers. The same notations are found on each sheet of the enclosed correspondence. The language of the correspondence has Austrian phrases, suggesting that the writer was from the southern part of Germany, and the quality of the German language is poor, as is the punctuation.
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Jewish Snakes Antisemitic Postcard
2012.1.440
Blank postcard with an illustration of shirtless German men pulling a plow over snakes with the Star of David on their heads.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Antisemitic German postcard from 1940, depicting German soldiers killing snakes in a field. The heads of the snakes have Stars of David.
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Letter from Haavara Limited, Tel-Aviv
2015.2.73
Tan page with Haavara title in printed green English and Hebrew at top. Numbered 12101. Typewritten message with black ink signature in bottom right.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Haavara was a company established in 1933 as the result of an agreement between the Jewish Agency (the official Jewish executive in Palestine) and the Nazi regime. The Trust and Transfer Office Haavara Ltd. was established in Tel Aviv to facilitate Jewish emigration to Palestine. Though the Nazis had ordered Jewish emigrants to surrender most of their property before leaving Germany, the Haavara agreement let them retain some of their assets by transferring them to Palestine as German export goods. Approximately 50,000 Jews emigrated to Palestine under this arrangement.
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Late Passport Issued to Betty “Sara” London, with Visa Markings, Tracing Her Journey to Freedom From Germany to Portugal
2015.2.10
Front: Green cover. Nazi eagle and Swastika in black above title. Interior: Photograph, biographical, and travel information for Betty "Sara" London (nee Cohen).
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Late passport issued to Betty "Sara" London (nee Cohen) on July 29, 1940. London was a resident of Berlin, born in 1870. Her passport bears the red "J" and the middle name "Sara" marking her as a Jew. On March 6, 1941, she receives a "Quota Immigration visa" at the American embassy in Berlin. On May 19, the Portuguese Consul in Berlin issues her a transit visa for travel to America from Lisbon, and three days later the Spanish Consul allows her passage through Spain. On May 26, London's passport is stamped by German police at Hendaye railway station on the French-Spanish border. Two days later she arrives in Portugal. While there is no U.S. entry stamp, she most likely received new travel documents. Portugal was known to be generous in granting visas to those hoping to escape persecution in Nazi Germany.
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"Israel" Envelope
2012.1.294
Grey envelope with typewritten address to Miss Anneliese Galliner. Back flap includes a stamped return address from Dr. Moritz Israel Galliner and censor tape.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A law enacted August 17, 1938 required Jews with non-Jewish forenames to assume the name "Sara" if a woman and "Israel" if a man. This law became effective January 1, 1939. These names were to be used on all correspondence -- private or official -- including return addresses on mail. This is an "Israel" envelope from a Berlin doctor sent to New York City.
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Correspondence to Salome Goldstein, New York, New York (German Family Escapes the Holocaust)
2015.2.205abc
Envelope front: White envelope with rip on right side. Includes address written in black cursive ink, two circular black hand stamp and white censor tape.Envelope back: Return address written in ink on top flap with white censor tape and several pencil markings.Letter: Message written in English on write paper.Paper front: Ripped piece of paper with an address written in black ink with additional writing in pencil.Paper back: Printed black British Manufacture title with writing in pencil beneath.
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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Palestinian Citizenship Application from Polish Refugee
2014.1.451
Front: Tan form titled, "Particulars Relating to Applicant" with text in English, Hebrew and Arabic. Includes a black and white photograph of a man.Back: Information in English, Hebrew and Arabic from the Government of Palestine.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
The 30-year-old applicant from Bialystock applies for citizenship in Palestine under a British Mandate. He eventually becomes a naturalized citizen of Palestine.
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“Sara” Envelope to International Committee of the Red Cross, Central Agency for Prisoners of War in Switzerland
2012.1.290
Tan envelope with typewritten address to the "Comité International de la Croix Rouge, Agence Centrale Des Prisonniers de Guerre" (International Committee of the Red Cross, Central Agency for Prisoners of War). Includes typewritten return address on back flap to Erna Sara Kahn and censor tape.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A law enacted August 17, 1938 required Jews with non-Jewish forenames to assume the name "Sara" if a woman and "Israel" if a man. This law became effective January 1, 1939. These names were to be used on all correspondence -- private or official -- including return addresses on mail.
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Jewish Man Scrubbing Street
2014.1.53
Front: Black and white photograph of men scrubbing the street.Back: Typewritten and handwritten information about the image.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Wire photo from 1941 with information attached verso: "Forcing the Jews to scrub the street like this was a Nazi idea to embarrass them. The Nazi program also aims to prevent the Jew from transferring their wealth abroad." "Embarrass" is clearly a trivialization and understatement of the burgeoning Nazi program to persecute, humiliate and murder Jews throughout the 1930's.
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Letter from Gestapo Prison in Gorlitz
2014.1.77ab
Page: typed memo with typewritten information attached to letter. Letter Front: black printed text and postcard lines with typewritten and handwritten messages. Letter Back: continuation of handwritten message.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Allied officers connected with the famed "Great Escape" were interned here before 50 of them were murdered.
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Food Ration Coupons for Jews
2012.1.76
White sheet with black printed coupons with red "J" stamp over many coupons. Titled, "Reichsfettkarte."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: German food rations from Munich, stamped with "J" and "Jude."
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"Juden" Poem by Joseph Goebbels Broadside
2012.1.508
Grey poster with poem, "Juden" by Joseph Goebbels.
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Censored German Occupation of France Cover to Belgium
2016.1.48
Front: six postage stamps and a ‘R PARIS 49’ stamp in top left; Back: censor tape.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
A German military-censored cover from Paris to German-occupied Belgium, franked with French stamps issued under occupation and cancelled with Paris post office cancel in 1941.
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Italian Fascist Party Identification Card
2019.2.229
Green identification booklet, image of Mussolini in helmet, large black letters read “PNF” and “XIX,” marked “No. 142139” in black print. Inside stamped twice in blue ink, includes identification photo of woman. Back includes one green and one orange Mussolini postage stamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Wartime card belonging to a woman. Mussolini stamps.
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Women Contribute to Victory: Photographs of Women and Mothers in the War Effort by Gertrud E. Scholz-Klink
2021.1.3
[Cover]: black and white photograph of woman with blue border and title text below
[Interior]: full and half pages of black and white photographs of women working; pages are not numbered.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Gertrud E. Scholz-Klink (photograph and signature in blue ink title page) was head of the National Socialist Women’s League (NSF) and the German Women’s Enterprise (DSF) or Deutsches Frauenwerk. The DSF had a membership of 2.3 million women. During the Third Reich, Scholz-Klink held the title of Reichsfrauenführerin, or Reich Women Leader. Scholtz-Klink was a passionate orator, and her panegyrics to the new Aryan woman and the Nazi state were well-received. She was especially emphatic about highlighting the differences between the sexes in Nazi Germany. The role of the new “aryan” woman was to acknowledge the essential superiority of the male whose duty was to protect the nation; to marry and bear her husband children; and to focus her energies on the home. This ethos was coextensive with supporting the Reich. Women and girls were to be programmed to focus their energy on home management: the proper healthcare of both mother and child, child-care strategies, cooking, and general nutrition. Supporting the Reich could also mean women working as nurses, caring for and uplifting the very men who protect the nation during times of war. Similarly, working in industries that support the war effort, or helping during the nation’s time of need - especially when men were not available - would not be at variance with the aryan woman’s role as Scholz-Klink understands it. Caring for one’s family and serving the Reich were both seen as coequal obligations for women.
Of course, Scholz-Klink was unapologetically against any notion of gender role equality; she was adamantly opposed to women being “emancipated” to the extent that they competed in the same arena as men. Scholz-Klink considered sexual equality “shameful,” and against the values of the Nazi party, essentially a democratic “liberal Jew-Bolshevik” fantasy which would ultimately bring dishonor to the Reich. She did feel strongly that the German woman should be able to face and endure “struggle,” sacrificing her own comforts for the good of the nation. Scholz-Klink herself would marry three times, bear four children in her first marriage and one child with her third husband, SS General August Heissmeyer, who himself brought to their marriage six children of his own.
Whether Scholz-Klink thought her romantic, gender-focused ideology applied at all to her - a woman of comfortable means serving in the man’s world of Nazi Germany - is unclear. Was it even self-consistent? The last photo in her book is that of Hanna Reitsch, who at 4’11” was a record-setting test pilot likewise devoted to Hitler and the Reich. What is obvious is that there were costs to dedicating herself to a twelve-year criminal enterprise - and the determined men at its epicenter - committed to the root and branch extirpation of entire families not considered part of the “aryan” gemeinschaft.
Essentially ignored by Hitler’s inner circle, Scholtz-Klink would spend time in prison after the war, but to the end of her long life she was unrepentant about her service to Hitler and the Reich.
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Envelope from "Sara"
2015.2.93
Blue envelope with address written in black cursive ink. Printeed Luftpost emblem in bottom left, obscured by EXAMINER 1096 white censorship tape. Pieces of tape in the top left and right sides. Two stamps pasted in upper right: blue stamp of a man in profile facing left on top of a purple one of a man in profile facing left. A black circular hand stamp over each. Back: Return address written in black cursive ink on flap. Black Nazi eagle hand stamp on flap. White censorhip tape with Nazi eagle insignia across bottom. OPENED BY sticker on right side.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Censored "Sara" cover from Martha Grossmann in Berlin to New York.
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“Israel” Envelope to Ohio
2012.1.285
Grey envelope with seven different-colored stamps with typewritten address to Miss Marga Henle and typewritten return address on back flap to Dr. Rudolf Israel Kahn.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
A law enacted August 17, 1938 required Jews with non-Jewish forenames to assume the name "Sara" if a woman and "Israel" if a man. This law became effective January 1, 1939. These names were to be used on all correspondence - private or official - including return addresses on mail. This is a registered "Isrrael" envelope from Stuttgart to Cincinatti, Ohio. The sender was a professional doctor but could only treat Jewish patients -- not Germans. The envelope was received February 27, 1941.