Ghettos

For centuries Jews had been concentrated in specified areas of many European cities, segregated from the surrounding population. They were often required to wear identifying items such as yellow badges or pointed hats. The Third Reich built upon this religious and antisemitic impulse of European ghettoization, creating a ghetto system based on an eliminative racial ideology. Jews were no longer merely persecuted, terrorized, and denied their civil rights and loss of their ability to earn a living. Now they were to be herded like cattle into overcrowded enclosures typically surrounded by fences, walls and barbed wire, denied access to the basic necessities of life, exploited for their labor, and subject to starvation and disease: all as a preliminary step to what the Nazis considered the solution to the "Jewish problem." The specific form of this solution went through several iterations, from mass emigration to plans to ship Jews to Madagascar or to Siberia. Confining Jews to ghettos began in earnest after Germany invaded Poland in September 1939 and 3 million Jews fell into their laps. Reinhard Heydrich had proposed establishing ghettos near railway lines in large Polish towns, with Jews from the smaller villages as well making up the ghetto population, in the effort to centralize Jews for a presumptive "final solution." Jews would be employed as slave laborers. A counsel of Jewish elders - a Judenrat - would be formed to do the bidding of the German occupation administration, ensuring that initiatives and regulations would be carried out. Jewish "police" were to ensure maximal compliance with Nazi orders, including readying Jews for slave labor or deportation. Conditions were execrable: overcrowding, starvation, disease, and exposure to the elements created high death rates. While this scenario wasn't the much-vaunted Final Solution the Nazis struggled with, it served to contribute to Jewish death without Germans taking full responsibility; indeed, the self-serving Nazi idea that Jews were disease carriers would prove to be a self-fulfilling prophesy by virtue of their living conditions alone. After operation Barbarossa and the invasion of the Soviet Union, millions more Jews came under Nazi control, at which point deportation and extermination of Jews in all German-occupied territory became the most obvious and desirable solution to the Jewish problem. At Hermann Goering's request, Heydrich chaired the conference at the Wannsee villa in the Berlin suburbs in January 1942 to coordinate this decision with other Nazi elite. Adolf Eichmann sat quietly taking notes which would be euphemized and sanitized for public consumption.

--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966

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Postcard from Piaski, Poland

2014.1.151

Front: Tan postcard with purple printed postcard lines and stamp. Includes writing in pencil.Back: Message written in pencil.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Postcard from Piaski, Lublin, Poland, from Dr. Bernard Wolfenstein to Hilda Schmitz in Brunn, Bohemia, Moravia. Lublin at this time was part of the German "General Government,” an administrative unit not incorporated into the Reich. The ghetto in Lublin was ultimately the first to be liquidated.
Litzmannstadt Ghetto Postcard

2012.1.313

Tan postcard with printed purple postcard lines. Includes handwritten address to Sparkass (savings bank) in Litzmannstadt from Gertrude Sara Kugelman. Includes handwritten message.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A postcard sent to the city bank, Litzmannstadt, Wantlegan, sent by Gertrude Sara Kugelmann. She wrote: "To the Ghetto Adminstration: In today's mail I sent 10 D Mark to Mrs. Johanna Sara Kuffanbarger, Litzmannstadt, Gresner St. 26. Please advise of the receipt of money to Mrs. Harberger on the attached card. Gertrude Kugelman, Jew bank 14. Frankfurt/in April 24, 1942."
Postcard Sent by Adolf Kafka in Prague, Bohemia-Moravia, to the Litzmannstadt Ghetto Mayor Inquiring About a Dr. Paul Adolf Kafka

2014.1.134

Front: Red printed postcard lines and border. Includes black and purple stamps, and black handwritten addresses.Back: Message handwritten in black ink. Includes several underlined portions.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

At the time that this inquiry was sent, April 28, 1942, Litzmannstadt ghetto residents were forbidden to send mail to outsiders in an effort to prevent any news about the deportations to the extermination camp Chelmno (Kulmhof in German) from reaching the outside world. From mid-January to mid-May of 1942, 66 transports carried almost 55,000 Jews from this ghetto to Chelmno. Here they were gassed to death. The handstamp on the left shows that this postcard was received at Hans Biebow’s ghetto administration on May 1, 1942. Paul Kafka perished during the Shoah, as did Franz Kafka’s sisters, and other members of the Kafka family.
Letter from Berlin Resident Sofie Stern to Friend Ruth Ascher

2019.2.84ab

Envelope [a] Blue postage stamp of man's face in upper left corner with "BERLIN W 80 05.5.42-17" stamped in black ink over postage stamp. Letter [b] writing in gray ink "3.5.42." written in top right corner.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Sofie Stern, currently in the employ of the Rothenburg family in Berlin, updates her friend on what is happening to family members and friends since she has moved from Gottingen. She refers to members of her family who are in Warsaw, presumably in the ghetto, who regularly communicate with her. Ms. Stern would perish in Auschwitz within a year. Her daughter Martha died in Warsaw.
Postcard from Przemysl Ghetto to Alfred Schwarzbaum in Switzerland

2015.2.121

Front: Tan postcard with writing in black cursive ink. Back: Black printed postcard lines and text with writing in black and blue ink. Includes red, blue and black hand stamps, as well as some damage from a paperclip on the upper left, and several pencil markings on bottom right.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Censored card missing stamp to Alfred Schwarzbaum in Lausanne bearing "EINGELIEFERT AM SCHALTER." Card written May 18, 1942. The Jewish community in Przemysl dates to the 10th century. By 1931, there were over 17,000 Jews living in this town in the Warsaw District of Poland. There were several Hassidic sects, along with their assimilationist counterparts. It was occupied by Germans in 1939, and again in June 1941 it was taken over from the Russians. A Judenrat was established, Jewish property was expropriated, synagogues were destroyed, and by July 1942 Przemysl's 22,000 Jews were crowded into a ghetto. By fall 1943 the ghetto inhabitants were deported to Belzec, Auschwitz, or murdered outright.
Reinhard Heydrich Assassins Reward Broadside

2019.2.354

Broadside titled “BEKANNTMACHUNG” at top of left side and “VYHLASKA” at top of right side, left half of broadside in German, right side of broadside in Czech, dated May 27, 1942.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

SS Obergruppenfuehrer Reinhard Heydrich, the Reichsprotektor in Bohemia and Moravia (Czechoslovakia), head of the Reich Security Main Office, Chairman of the infamous Wannsee Conference (which devised plans for implementation of the Final Solution), and the man responsible for the Einsatzgruppen had been wounded in an assassination attempt by British-trained Czech soldiers on May 27, 1942 and died one week later on June 4 - from his wounds.

This rare broadside of “Bekanntmachung,” issued by Karl Hermann Frank just hours after the assassination attempt on Heydrich’s life, offers a reward of 10,000 kronen leading to the capture of the perpetrators. A state of civil emergency is declared with a curfew, along with the closure of restaurants, theaters, amusement parks, and public transportation. Anyone violating the curfew, aiding the perpetrators, or failing to notify the authorities of the identity or whereabouts of the perpetrators is to be shot along with their entire family.

Hitler ordered brutal reprisals following Heydrich’s death. Karl Hermann Frank carried out these reprisals against the entire village of Lidice, which was razed to the ground, its male residents executed, and its women and children deported to Ravensbruck where most were murdered. A similar massacre occurred in the village of Lezaky.

The assassins, Jan Kubis and Josef Valcik, evaded capture by committing suicide in a cathedral in Prague where they had been hiding. Text in both German and Czech.
Marriage Document for Jews in Hrubieszow, Poland

2015.2.97

Tan paper with typewritten message in purple. Several corrections made in black ink. Two pasted stamps on bottom left, identical and on top of one another blue stamps with Nazi eagle and Swastika. Signed by A. Finkielsztajn on the right, with some writing in black beneath. Two circular hand stamps, one by the signature and one on the bottom. Another signature in pencil next to second hand stamp.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Document with pair of General Government revenue stamps and two different handstamped insignias, one from a Jewish Committee in the town. Prior to the German occupation of Hrubieszow commencing mid-September 1939, there were approximately 12,000 Jews in the town. While pogroms occurred immediately, the Germans withdrew in acknowledgement of the pact between Russia and Germany. The Germans took over the town within two weeks and led 1000 Jews from Hrubieszow and 1100 from Chelmno on a death march to the River Bug. In early 1940, 6000 Jews and refugees were confined to a ghetto. In June 1942, around the time of this marriage, 3000 Jews from the ghetto were deported to Sobibor death camp. The second deportation occurred 28 October 1942 and 2500 Jews were murdered in Sobibor.
Litzmannstadt Ghetto Postcard

2012.1.310

Tan postcard decorative black border with typewritten address to Georg Popper from Marta Fürth. Includes a short typewritten message.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Addressed with Jewish transport from sender Marta Fürth, Litzmannstadt Ghetto Administration, Mayor of Litzmannstadt. Addressed to Georg Popper. The red stamp and handwritten word mean "Return." Reverse side reads, "Received 25 June 1942. Litzmannstadt Ghetto - May/June, [June circled]. Else Maendl.”
Postcard from Miedzyrzec Podlaski

2015.2.126

Front: Tan postcard with writting in black cursive ink. Several words in pencil are interspersed through the message. Back: Printed purple postcard lines with writing in black cursive ink. Includes a red stamp along the left side, black and blue hand stamps, several pencil markings, and a printed purple stamp on upper right depicting a church.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Censored General Gouvernement postcard MIEDZYRZEC, LUBLIN DISTRICT, dated June 5, 1942. From Julius Weiss to Engineer Alexander in Bratislava. Violet "JUDENRAT IM MIEDZYRZEC..." cachet and Nazi censor alongside. Miedzyrzec Podlaski was a center of Jewish cultural life for centuries. After the German invasion in 1939, a Judenrat was formed and many inhabitants were sent to labor camps. In late August 1942, several months after this card was written, 12,000 Jews were herded into the city square where 1,000 were shot and the rest deported to Treblinka. A ghetto was established under Judenrat management. Deportations to Treblinka continued, with the last 1,000 Jews being sent to Majdanek.
Litzmannstadt Ghetto Postcard

2012.1.323

Tan postcard with green printed postcard lines. Message written in black ink from Alice Sara Leyser.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Alice Sara Peyser in Berlin asks whether 10 RM sent to Frau Hedwig Sara Saloman was received by City Bank of Litzmannstadt. Translation: "To the City Bank, On March 31, 1942, I sent 10 marks for the food distribution for Jews. This money was intended for Frau Hedwig Sara Saloman who lived in Berlin until October at Hohenstaudfeustr 12. Until today I have had no acknowledgement or notice of her possible death. I would appreciate an answer giving any information you might have on the present status of this lady. Very respectfully, Mrs. Alice Sara Peyser. Account No. 434038." On reverse side of card, there is a typewritten reply dated 7-18-1942 but only a few words are legible due to having been partly covered with a postage stamp and ghetto administration startup. A changed address is given as number 26 but the street is not legible.
Postcard from Kamionka Ghetto

2015.2.136

Front: Tan postcard with writing in black cursive ink, an ink blot on the top, and a red smudge on the bottom.Back: Printed purple postcard lines with writing in black cursive ink. Includes a printed purple stamp in upper right corner depicting a piazza with a green pasted stamp next to it depicting a church, as well as red, purple, green and black hand stamps, and a red hand stamp down the length of the left side.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

General Gouvernment postal stationery card with additional 20 pfg. stamp from Matilda Neuman to Dr. Ernest Fleischaker in Slovakia, showing violet boxed Kamionka uber Lublin 2. Message in German. Nazi censor markings and pink CENSOR 100. Dated June 7, 1942. By October 1942, the Kamionka Jewish council (Judenrat) informed the residents that they would be resettled in the Lubartow ghetto. This was of course a ruse as the Jews of Kamionka were deported to the death camps at Belzec and Sobibor. Many Jews in Kamionka and surrounding villages were shot while attempting to hide.
"Ausweis der Deutschen Volksliste" (Identification Card of the German People's List) for Hedwig Klopocki

2012.1.79

Small booklet titled "Ausweis der Deutschen Volksliste" with Nazi emblem on cover. Includes biographical information and a black and white photograph of Hedwig Klopocki.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

The Deutsche Volksliste (German People's List) was a Nazi institution whose purpose was the classification of inhabitants of German-occupied territories -- in this case, Poland -- into categories of desirability according to criteria systematized by Heinrich Himmler. “Ethnic Germans,” or Volksdeutsche who were not citizens of the Reich but could claim to have German ancestry, would have priority status in this system.
Postcards from Lublin Ghetto

2015.2.127ab

Front: Tan card with typewritten message, black signature, and red stamp.Back: Printed red postcard lines with embelisshed border. Includes red, purple, pink, green and black hand stamps, and typewritten information.Front: Initally stapled to the first postcard. Red stamp in bottom left corner.Back: Printed red postcard lines with embellished border. Typewritten information.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Censored Slovakian reply card showing violet GENERAL GOUVERNEMENT JUDENRAT LUBLIN and red Lagerpost Gepruft (checked) Reply portion still attached and unused. Joseph Bonisch is trying to reach his parents and states that “We are very worried because we know nothing of you.” Red boxed cachet on reverse states that postal service to Slovakia not allowed, only through Judenrat Pressburg. Lublin had a large and active Jewish community dating to the 15th century. When the Germans occupied Lublin in September 1939, approximately 40,000 Jews were living there. On October 26, 1939, Lublin was officially incorporated into the General Government territory with Odilo Globocnik as head of the police and SS. Globocnik was responsible for constructing the death camps of Majdanek, Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka. In January of 1940, a 24-member Judenrat was established. By 1942 Operation Reinhard was put into effect and each day 1400 Jews were deported to Belzec, where 30,000 Jews ultimately perished. The Jews remaining in Lublin were sent to Majdanek.
Lvov Ghetto Broadside

2012.1.577

Tan poster with three columns of text, one in German, the other Ukranian, and the last Polish. There is a diagonal red line across the entirety of the poster.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

An announcement printed in three languages - German, Polish, and Ukrainian - organizing the Lvov Ghetto (Lemberg in German), referred to as a “Jewish residential area” in the city of Lemberg. This would entail “clearing out of Jews” on streets throughout August and listing each street and the day it is to be cleared of Jews. Dr. Ullrich who endorses this broadside is the Chief of Police (Schutzpolizei) of Lvov.

Lvov had been absorbed into the German-administered General Government after the Non-Aggression Treaty between Germany and the USSR. A ghetto was established for Jews in 1941, its inhabitants used for slave labor or transported to the extermination center at Belzec - one of the so-called Aktion Reinhard camps.

This broadside addresses what has been referred to as the “Great Aktion,” occurring in August 1942. In anticipation of Reichsfuhrer-SS Himmler’s arrival, as many as 55,000 Jews were systematically and methodically removed from their homes and taken to Janowska transit camp or deported to Belzec extermination camp. Preparations were made by the Gestapo, the German and Ukrainian police, and specially trained SS brigades called Vernichtung Kommandos (extermination commandos) to fulfill Himmler’s wish of murdering half the Jews of Poland within one year. In preparation for deportation, entire city blocks were emptied, the Jewish victims removed, and the sick, elderly, women and children sent to their deaths at Belzec. Many were simply shot in place. Healthy men were used for slave labor. The murder of Jews through successive selections continued after the “Great Aktion” through June 1943. Those Jews not capable of working were dispatched to Belzec, the others were sent to Janowska. There were so few Jews left that the ghetto was redefined as a work camp. Those Jews were eventually liquidated as well. During the period of the German occupation of Lvov more than 250,000 Jews were murdered.
Litzmannstadt Ghetto Postcard

2012.1.312

Tan postcard with black printed postcard lines. Includes handwritten address to Robert Reitzer with stamped return address from, "Der Aelteste der Juden in Litzmannstadt." Includes printed and handwritten message.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Postcard from the Elders of the Jews in Litzmannstadt to Mr. Robert Reitzer, Kladno. The message reads: "To Robert Reitzer family and present address, Bruemmengasse 18/17 and is in good health. CH. Rumkowski, the Elders of the Jews in Litzmannstadt." Chaim Rumkowski headed the Council of Elders in the Litzmannstadt (Lodz) Ghetto.
Arrest Warrant from Vilna Ghetto

2015.2.114

Tan paper with typewritten words, and writing in purple, green, and blue pencil, and black ink. Includes a large red hand stamp in the upper left, and signature on the right.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

One of four arrest warrants bearing Vilna (Vilnius: Lithuanian) Ghetto handstamp in violet and red. Of the more than 60,000 Jews living in Vilnius before the German occupation, 21,000 were murdered over the course of the summer of 1941 by German troops, Einsatzgruppen A, and their Lithuanian collaborators. The effort was to establish a ghetto to imprison all Jews of Vilna and suburbs in the old Jewish quarter of the city. The area was split into two Ghettos, referred to as the Large and Small Ghettos, to implement the process of dehumanization, exploitation of the population for slave labor, and systematic extermination of all the Jewish residents. As in other ghettos created by the Nazis, conditions were intentionally overcrowded and unsanitary, with disease, hunger, and daily death as expectable outcomes. The Small Ghetto was liquidated by the end of October 1941, leaving approximately 20,000 Jews remaining in the Large Ghetto. Jacob Gens was appointed head of the Ghetto administration. A former police chief, he set about establishing medical care, cultural and welfare systems for the Ghetto. Like Rumkowski in the Lodz Ghetto, he hoped that if Jews could prove themselves to be a productive workforce for the Nazis, then the Ghetto's destruction would be delayed. Germans continued to murder Ghetto Jews--typically the elderly and infirm--on a regular basis. Under Himmler's orders, deportations to concentration camps in Poland and slave labor camps began in the summer of 1943, along with mass shootings in the Ponary Forest. At the slave labor camp known as HKP, Wehrmacht Major Karl Plagge was heroically able to shield many of the Jewish workers from murder at the hands of the Nazis. The extraordinary privations notwithstanding, Vilna was known for its sustained cultural and intellectual life. It maintained a substantial library, ran theatrical productions, sports events, magazines, poetry readings, and more. Vilna Ghetto was also known for its underground partisan organization, the FPO, formed in 1942 and head by Abba Kovner and Josef Glazman and Yitzhak Wittenberg, its motto was "We will not go like sheep to the slaughter," thus attempting to establish a means for Jewish self-defense. Ultimately they pursued a policy of sending members out to join partisan units in the forest.

[Related items: 2015.2.111, 2015.2.112, 2015.2.113]
"Bekanntmachung" [Notice] Broadside

2012.1.568

A red poster with white border and text in black German. Titled, "Befanntmachung" and includes the name "Erich Deibel."

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Announcement of forthcoming execution of Erich Deibel.
"Bekanntmachung" [Notice] Broadside

2012.1.569

A red poster with white border and text in black German. Titled, "Bekanntmachung" and includes the name "Maria Diecker."

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Announcement of forthcoming execution of Maria Diecker.
Kamianets Podilskyi Ghetto Document of Peysa Farberman

2019.2.19

Half sheet of tan paper, "Bescheinigung Nr. 350" in center, text printed in black ink, writing in purple, purple stamp in lower right corner.

[Related items: 2019.2.16, 2019.2.17, 2019.2.18]

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Partly-printed Kamianets Podilskyi document dated September 1, 1942, in both German and Ukrainian, a two-week pass permitting Peysa Farberman (referred to as “Der Jude”) to travel from his home to his place of employment, but barring him from other streets. The document was renewed September 30th, October 15th, and October 31st, each time for two weeks.

Farberman was a young Ukrainian Jew living in Kamianets Podilskyi during the early German occupation of the town. Farberman’s fate is unknown, but Kamianets Podilskyi was the site of an early massacre by the Nazis shortly after the commencement of Operation Barbarossa in 1941.

Jeckeln’s Einsatzgruppen and Police Battalion 320, along with Ukrainian Auxiliaries, slaughtered in two days close to 24,000 Jews from the town along with 16,000 Jews removed from Hungary. The killing of Jews continued through 1942, and in November of that year they murdered 500 children by burying them alive in the cemetery. The last of the Jews were murdered in the winter of 1942 to 1943.

[Related items: 2019.2.16, 2019.2.17, 2019.2.18]
Envelope from Sokolow-Podlaski, Poland to Basel, Switzerland

2014.1.250

Front: A white envelope addressed in black ink. Includes green and blue postage stamps, two black hand stamps and a red and white sticker.Back: Return address in black ink. Includes brown censor tape as well as black, red, and purple hand stamps.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Sokolow Podlaski is a Polish town about 90 kilometers from Warsaw. Jews had settled in the area before 1420. Before the German occupation, Sokolow Podlaski had a vibrant Jewish life; indeed, Jews comprised approximately 60 per cent of the population of the town. The ghetto in Sokolow was established in 1939 with 5,000 residents. It was closed off in 1941, and as in other ghettos, disease, starvation, and death were rampant. Deportations began in 1942, Jews sealed in cattle wagons and driven to Treblinka where they were murdered upon arrival. This cover was mailed to Switzerland less than two weeks before the deportations from Sokolow occurred. This registered and censored cover was sent from Sokolow by someone named R. Mielnick to a J. Guttermann in Basel, Switzerland.
Censored Letter from Simon Neisser in Berlin to Dr. Lauer in Biel, Switzerland on Eve of Deportation to Theresienstadt. Letter Mailed by Werner Carl Rabinowitz

2012.1.351

Tan postcard with printed red postcard lines. Addressed to Dr. Lauer from Simon Neisser. Includes two messages in different handwriting in black ink.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Mr. Neisser writes: We spent the last two days in our room all by ourselves, praying to the Almighty for peace and good health. May He soon hear our prayers and answer them. Uncle Max is with us to help us pack. We will travel in the next few days to Theresienstadt. We are calm and quiet and pray to the Almighty that we stay well. We have not heard from our children but will also write to them following the trip. Our faith in God will continue to help us and give us strength. All of you stay well and we send our greetings to all. With love, Uncle Simon.

A second note is written in German script: My very dear ones: Uncle Max was here and must have had permission to visit us. The definite day for our departure has not been decided. We are now ready to leave and hope to see all of you again soon in good health. We place all of you in God’s care who gives all of us strength and hope to meet whatever the future holds. May God bless and protect us and keep us protected by his loving care. It is with this wish that I wish all of my dear ones the very best. Once again we thank you for your love and your affection and your prayers and I greet you as your loving aunt. “Tanta”… (name indecipherable).
Document Relating to Jurgen Stroop and Rudolf Brandt

2019.2.20

Green paper, wear along edges, three underlined lines in center, "43" stamped in blue ink in top right corner.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Document from September 16, 1942 announcing Stroop’s promotion to the rank of the SS-Brigadefuhrer and Major-General of Police, the rank which he held at the time of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, signed by an unknown Hauptsturmfuhrer. Stroop was the SS Police Leader of Warsaw who was responsible for the savage crushing of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 about which he wrote a book – intended as a souvenir for Himmler originally entitled “The Warsaw Ghetto is no more.” It took Stroop and his army a month of overwhelming firepower to subdue the Ghetto fighters who had little in the way of food or ordinance. Indeed, Stroop grudgingly acknowledged surprise at the fighting spirit of the ghetto inhabitants. Brought to trial as a war criminal, he was found guilty and executed – appropriately - in Warsaw.

[Related item: 2019.2.21]
Postcard from Opatow

2015.2.124

Front: Tan postcard with writing in black cursive ink. Includes a note on bottom left corner. Back: Printed purple postcard lines with writing in black cursive ink. Includes purple and black hand stamps, and a printed purple stamp in upper right showing a piazza with a statue.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: General Gouvernement 12 pfg postcard cancelled 10/6/1942. Boxed violet cachet "JUDENRAT OPATOW Postabteilung 2." Opatow was in the Kielce District of Poland. Jews had been living in this area since the 16th century. Occupied in 1939 by the Germans, a Judenrat was set up in early 1941, with a ghetto following later that year. Disease, especially typhus, spread as the population of the ghetto swelled with refugees from other towns. While many of the inhabitants were sent to labor camps, most were deported to Treblinka death camp several weeks after this postcard was written, between 20-22 October, 1942.
Document Stating the Ghetto of Nowy Sacz is Destroyed

2019.2.26

Dashed line underlining "Neu-Sandez" in upper left corner in black print, purple stamp marks "13 OKT. 1942" in upper right side

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Nowy Sacz, known as Neu-Sandez in German, is in southern Poland. The Germans occupied Nowy Sacz in September 1939. A Judenrat was established, along with forced labor and the confiscation of both property and businesses. Approximately 18,000 to 20,000 Jews were sealed in the Ghetto created in 1941. During August 1942, the ghetto was liquidated with three transports of men, women, and children to the Belzec extermination center.

This letter from a civil engineer Hueber to the city commissioner in Neu-Sandez “for his perusal” follows less than one month later. He notes that “Due to the resettlement [typical Nazi euphemistic term for deportation and murder] of the Jews … demolition of the houses in poor condition is of major importance … remaining building materials are to be retained and reused … you may not sell these materials to private hands or dealers …”
Postcard from K. Stein in Theresienstadt Ghetto to Friend Oskar Schulz in Oslavan Jewish Labor Camp (Arbeitergrupped). GHETTOPOST Handstamp and Censor Mark

2012.1.332

Tan postcard with black printed postcard lines addressed to Oskar Schulz from K. Stein. Includes handwritten message in black ink.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Translation: To: Mr. Oskar Schultz, AF 562, Oslavan -- Jewish North Group. Sender: K. Stein, AH 353 204, Theresienstadt. Translation: "Dear Oskar: We received your card and are happy that your foot is well again. Also that you had nice company. We were very happy last week when we received the many cards from our dear parents and Erish. I was very sorry to hear that our dear mother and Erish were ill also. All of our friends now receive mail. One of them received a package with a letter and does not even know the sender. No return address. She does not know who to thank for it. Anyway she enjoyed eating the contents. We are glad to have the information re-Armost. Dear Lotte is still sick but is improving. Generally speaking we are pretty well including mother and others. Your friends send greetings. Write again soon and greet our friends. Your Ifar."