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 Nazi antisemitism superseded traditional Judeo-Christian religious conflict by uniting a racial ideology with social Darwinism: the Jew is seen as subhuman, a disease threatening the body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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Yiddish Postcard Schedrin Under Soviet Occupation
2014.1.54
Front: Yellowed postcard with Cyrillic and Yiddish writing in green ink. Includes Soviet Stamps.Back: A handwritten Yiddish message.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: On September 17, 1939, the Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland pursuant to the secret protocol of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Non-Aggression Pact signed by the Foreign Ministers of the Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in August 1939. By that time, the Nazis already occupied western Poland (they had attacked Poland on September 1, 1939). In March 1941 this area (Schedrin, Polesskaya Oblast) was under Russian occupation and was annexed to Soviet Belorussia. Message in Yiddish on reverse.
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Postcard Commemorating Axis Leaders Hitler and Mussolini
2014.1.176
Front: Tan postcard with red, blue and purple stamps of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Includes three black hand stamps and printed text in black.Back: Black printed postcard lines. Includes a pasted stamp in upper right corner, black and red hand stamps, and writing in grey ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Used with Italian unity stamps on March 3, 1941 with censor and receiver.
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Third Reich "Israel" Postal Reply Card
2016.1.30
Front: Left half: ‘Ludwig Behr’ handstamp in red with ‘Israel’ handwritten in top left. Right half: Addressed to Chicago, Ill.; Back: Left half: handwritten lines in black ink. Right half: ‘Ludwig Behr’ handstamp in red.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Postal card pair between a Jewish man, Ludwig Behr, in Berlin, and his son in America. According to the Nuremberg Laws men of Jewish descent, in order to give evidence of their origin for potential special handling by the authorities, had to use “Israel” as their middle name on correspondence and women had to use “Sara.” These postcards are part of a correspondence between Jewish family members that were split up as things worsened in Germany prior to WWII – some remained, others fled. Mr. Behr was deported to the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp and perished there in 1942.
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Fragebogen for Jewish Physician Izrael Helman in Warsaw, Poland
2019.2.219
Form titled “Fragebogen zur erstmaligen Meldung der Heilberufe,” stamped with “JUDE” between two Stars of David at top, photograph of man on right side, three pages.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Ink stamped “Jude” between two Stars of David, the hand written answers to the questionnaire can be discerned under the typewritten response. His wife is listed as well, as are the grandparents of each. Along with his photo, his signature appears at bottom of page 3.
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Correspondence to George Eckstein
2012.1.523&524ab
Envelope: Blue envelope addressed in ink to Georg Eckstein. Includes handwritten return address to Bruno Lipschitz and censor tape on back.Letter: Two-page typewritten message on thin paper.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: This letter to Georg Eckstein was sent by Bruno Lipschitz, and postmarked from Olmütz, Austria. The purple rectangular marking contains the postal routing instructions: "by airmail to North America and from New York" and includes censor markings. The letter states that Bruno was taking it to the post office, in all probability referring to the law that Jews were enjoined from using mail boxes for outgoing foreign mail, and that they were required to hand deliver such mail to the post office personally, at which point the mail would be censored. Both letter and envelope have pencil censor notations at the top. The letter appears to be written by two persons, one of whom is probably the Bruno Lipschitz whose name appears on the envelope. Given Georg Eckstein's reputation as someone who could possibly help Jews, the senders were in all probability discussing possible passage to the United States.
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Rare Cover: Nuremberg Laws Applied to Lawyers
2012.1.289a
Grey envelope with typewritten address to Mr. Walter Rosenthal. Includes a stamped return address on back flap from Dr. Julius Israel Fliess, as well as 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. These names were to be used on all correspondence -- private or official -- including return addresses on mail. In September 1938, all Jewish attorneys were banned from practicing law. Only a few Jewish attorneys were allowed to continue practicing law under the professional title of "Konsulent" or Legal Consultant, but only with Jewish clients. This envelope was addressed from Berlin to Brookline, Massachusetts. The return address reads: "Dr. Julius Israel Fliess, Konsulent, specializing in accurate Consultations and Representing Jews." Also, since Elise "Sara" Reiss carried the letter to the post office (yet another decree directed at Jews required that foreign mail be hand-delivered to the post office where it would be censored), it was necessary that she list her name and address.
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![Un Bon Français [A Good Frenchman]: French Antisemitic Pamphlet](https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1340/thumbnail.jpg "Un Bon Français [A Good Frenchman]: French Antisemitic Pamphlet")
Un Bon Français [A Good Frenchman]: French Antisemitic Pamphlet
2014.1.17
Front: A caricature of a rich man with a cigar and waistcoat and jewels.Interior: Various information written in French.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
A series of French antisemitic cartoons in the style of Philipp Rupprecht of Der Stürmerfame.
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Official Postcard from Arbeitsamt Labor Office to Jewish Woman, Vienna, Austria
2012.1.17
Front: Printed German text with additional pencil and ink writing.Printed postcard lines with writing in black ink and black hand stamp with Nazi seal.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: : An official message from Arbeitsamt forced labor office to a Jewish woman -- with the appended "Sara" -- essentially telling her she must appear.
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"Israel" and "Sara" Envelope
2012.1.298
Grey envelope with typewritten address to Rolph A. Baum, with return address above to Peter Israel Hirschfeld. Includes brown censor tape on back.
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 combined "Israel/Sara" registered envelope.
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Envelope from Gestapo Office
2014.1.6
A tan envelope with typewritten address and illegible postmark.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Envelope from Gestapo Office to a Frau Helene Morkes.
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Envelope from "Israel"
2015.2.89
Brown envelope. Address written in blue cursive ink. Two pasted stamps on upper right: one orange with silver profile of a man facing left, one green with profile of man facing left. Black circular handstamp over them. Mit Luftpost blue pasted stamp on lower left. Back: Return address written in blue on top flap. Red Nazi eagle hand stamp on lower flap. White censor tape with black circular Nazi insignia on bottom portion.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A Nazi-censored "Israel" airmail cover sent to Akron, Ohio from Leipzig, Germany.
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Envelope from "Sara"
2015.2.95
Blue envelope. Address written in black cursive ink. Pasted Mit Luftpost stamp in bottom left, with writing beneath, and pencil writing at bottom. Two pasted stamps in upper right corner: blue of a man in profile facing left, and pink of a man in profile facing left. A black Berlin circular hand stamp over them. Faded red stamp in bottom right corner. Bacj: Return address written on top flap. White censorship tape upside down with Nazi eagle insignia. Red stamp over tape of alternating red circular stamp with Nazi eagle and horizontal lines.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Sara Cover
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German Ancestry Questionnaire
2012.1.498
Tan questionnaire with title, "Fragebogen." Includes typewritten and handwritten information, red checkmarks, and a signature on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
A questionnaire, or Fragebogen, in which Franz Fischer attested in 1941 that he was from German offspring. Fischer listed his parents and grandparents and confirmed that he was not from Jewish offspring. Signed by Franz Fischer and stamped with blue hand stamp of the State office of Racial Matters.
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Envelope from "Israel"
2015.2.90
Blue envelope. Address written in black cursive ink on left side. Three pasted stamps in upper right (from lefto to right): Purple, dark green light green. All depict a man's face in profile facing left. Writing on left side in pencil. Lower left has two pasted stamps: rectangular R stamp, and blue Mit Luftpust. Edges of brown censor tape on bottom each side. Back: Return address written in black cursive ink on flap. Many New York circular hand stamps, and a Nazi circular stamp. Brown censor tape at bottom.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Censored air mail "Israel" cover from Vienna to New York
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Robert Bittner Attestation Document
2012.1.495
Tan document with title, "Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei." Includes printed and typewritten information.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
German National Socialist Workers Party (NSDAP) document attesting to a Robert Bittner being a party member as well as a member of the SA or Sturmabteilung. It further attests that there are no doubts that Bittner will continue to support the movement of Adolf Hitler. This document was signed by Kreisamtsleiter Fliegner.
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"Sara" Envelope
2012.1.297
A greyish envelope with a handwritten address to Mr. and Mrs. P.M. Goldsmith-Krilb. Includes writing in red pencil over the address. Back flap includes a return address to Betty Sara Saalberg 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 "Sara" envelope was sent to the United States just six days before Pearl Harbor. It was returned with the notation "return no service." Interestingly, it was returned sealed and without contents. It was handled by Berlin rather than the Frankfort censors.
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Nuremberg Laws: Jewish Lawyers Representing Jews
2014.1.84
Front: An envelope with black and red postage stamps across the top. Addressed to Fritz Treidel, and includes a purple handstamp which reads, "Dr. Isidor Joseph Treidel, Consultant, Licensed only for legal advice and representation of Jews." Back: Black and white Nazi censorship tape and red Nazi stamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
In September 1938, a Nuremberg law was issued that banned Jewish attorneys from practicing law. Only a few Jewish attorneys were allowed to continue practicing law under the professional title of "Konsulent" or Legal Consultant, but only with Jewish clients. This cover is an example of the Nuremberg Laws applied to Jewish attorneys. The cover was mailed from Koblenz 24-9-42 to the sender's brother in Switzerland. The ink stamp in the lower right quarter reads in part: "Dr. Isidor Joseph Treidel, Konsulent, Licensed only for legal advice and representation of Jews."
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Gestapo Document Regarding Seizing Jewish Assets
2014.1.99
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Typewritten document from Berlin Gestapo office to Jewish lawyer ("Konsulent" under Nuremberg Laws) Dr. Hans Israel Gumpert, in 1942, citing the 1939 Berlin decision to seize Jewish assets, signed by a representative of the office. According to this document, the assets of "Jew" Wilhelm Israel Gryzb were confiscated.
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Der Untermensch
2012.1.389
A booklet titled, "Der Untermensch." Cover includes title in red, and black and white photograph of a man in close-up, with people in uniform holding guns behind him.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Untermensch is one of the most revolting pieces of antisemitic and anti-Bolshevist racist literature, 50 pages of photos presenting Jews, Slavs, Bolshevists, etc., as morally degenerate, uncivilized, subhuman monsters, consistent with Hitler’s and Himmler’s belief in the necessity of the war of man against the subhuman and ultimately rationalizing Nazi genocidal policies in the East.
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Aftermath of Deportation: Three Photographs from German Soldier’s Album
2023.1.3a-c
a) baskets of belongings b) piles of belongings with German soldiers in the background c) men and women surrounding belongings
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Once Jews were sent to ghettos or deported to concentration camps, their dwellings would be rendered “entjudet” (free of Jews). Their homes would often be confiscated for use by a German family or by the military. Their belongings would be expropriated, pored over by former neighbors for personal use, or auctioned. Valuables were sent to Berlin.
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Palestine (Jerusalem) Identification Card
2015.2.64
Front: Tan paper initially folded in half. Purple stamp in lower middle saying that posession of the card does not equate to Palestinian citizenship with back printed text beneath. Right side has titles printed in black, the backs of two staples, and a rectangular hand stamp towards the bottom from the Jerusalem District. Back: Printed title and questions in black, with information written in with black cursive. Left side has a black and white photograph of a woman with dark hair pulled back and wearing plaid blouse, with a rectangular purple stamp over it. Beneath is a signature in Hebrew.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Card signed in Hebrew during the British Mandate.
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Postcard from Lyon in Vichy, France from Haberman Family to Haberman Children in Haifa, Palestine
2020.1.14
Postcard with red printed text and stamps at top. Address handwritten in blue ink. Two purple stamps indicate postcard has passed through censors. Message handwritten in blue ink on opposite side.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Message in German to Mayer Haberman: “Happy with your card, hope your wish will soon be fulfilled and we will be able to celebrate the birthdate all together. Thank God we are well and working and you would be surprised that I am working in a shoemaker shop. Mother works at home and Rachel works in a lady’s confection shop…Tell me what are you doing? Kisses, Father Hirsh.” Message from Mrs. Haberman, “Thank God we have survived the rough winter, hope the good Lord will not forsake us…” The young sister also adds a few words in French: “Dear brother and sister, Very happy with your card, must leave space for mother…with hugs…Rachel.”
British octagonal censor hand stamp and Palestine hexagonal censor handstamp (Haifa) recto. Petain stamps.
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Robert Bittner Pledge Document
2012.1.496
Tan document with title, "Nierderschrift über die Bereidigung des." Includes typewritten and printed information with two signatures.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A document from 1942 wherein Robert Bittner takes an oath that in the name of God he will be dutiful to the Führer and the nation.
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Letter from Baldur von Schirach
2012.1.384
Typewritten letter on "Der Beauftragte des Führers für die Inspektion der HJ und Reichsleiter für die Jugenderziehung der NSDAP" with embossed eagle. Signed in green.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Baldur von Schirach (1907-1974) was the Nazi leader of the Hitler Youth and Gauleiter of Vienna. He was sentenced at Nuremberg to twenty years for war crimes. Typed letter on his official Hitler Youth letterhead, Berlin, to Heinrich Burkhardt whose son had recently been killed on the eastern front. It reads, in part: "As is reported to be today, your wife's son Willi, a young guide in Bann 333, Franconia area, was killed in the east on the field of honor... the Adolf Hitler Youth movement mourns with them... proud of a comrade that his service in the home and the front, but by necessary [fighting?] to the death... [he] was a role model to the Hitler Youth to preserve the memory of her son Willie and in true honor..." The Hitler Youth did at times go to the front in various capacities, and at war's end, they were brought directly into combat.
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Postcard from Jewish Refugees from Poland Living in Lavlenka Village, Kazakhstan, to Tel Aviv, Palestine
2016.1.21
Front: Handwritten message in Hebrew using purple ink; Back: Hammer and sickle symbol in top left corner, four blue postage stamps at top right as well as a printed red stamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Postcard written by refugees fleeing from Nazis, written in Hebrew, to family or friends in Palestine. Approximately 8,500 Jews fled to Kazakhstan during the Holocaust.