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
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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Postcard from Daughter Mizzi Kuhn in Epping, Austria to Father in Theresienstadt with Ghetto Receiving Cancel
2012.1.328
Tan postcard with red printed postcard lines addressed in black ink to Leopold Alois Kuhn from Mizzi Kuhn with a short handwritten message.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The receiving cancellation states “JUDISCHE SELBSTVERWALTUNG THERESIENSTADT” or “JEWISH SELF-GOVERNMENT THERESIENSTADT” with a date of 9/2/1944. This is a reference to the Judenrat or Council of Elders who were appointed to mediate the orders given by the Nazis to the prisoners in the Theresienstadt, i.e., they served at the pleasure of the Nazis. This card is written to a father, Leopold Kuhn, deported to Theresienstadt, by his daughter Mizzi Kuhn in Epping, Austria. Mizzi reports that after a long walk she is thinking of him with love and kisses.
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Theresienstadt Postcard
2012.1.330
Tan postcard with black printed postcard lines. Addressed to J.L. Sehaehtile from Hugo Weinmann. Includes message written in black ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
A postcard from Hugo Weinmann -- Theresienstadt to Ing. Mr. Schachtile (?) -- Aug. 21, 1944. Translation: "Dear friend: On behalf of my wife I am writing to you today and thank you for your concern. Because of the good care she has received the healing process is progressing quite well. She is expecting to leave the Hospital on the 15th of this month. How are all of you and hope that you had good news from your son. I am still employed at the Post office and like my work. Without my work life would be very difficult to bear. Now dear friend let me hear from you again and I send greeting to your dear wife. Greetings to you my dear old friend. Your old friend, Hugo.”
Censor cachet recto reads: “Response only to Postcards in German…”
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Package Acknowledgement from Theresienstadt Ghetto
2014.1.137
Front: A white postcard including black printed postcard lines, writing in purple pencil, two identitical stamps of Adolf Hitler in profile, and black and blue hand stamps.Back: A printed message with additions in pencil.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A package acknowledgement from Olga Hoffman, a Jewish woman interned in the Theresienstadt/Terezin Ghetto, noting the receipt of a package.
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Theresienstadt Package Receipt Acknowledgement to Vienna from Paul Ornstein
2019.2.80
Postcard with vertical line in center of postcard, stamped with "11b" in blue ink on left side, two brown postage stamps of Adolf Hitler in top right corner that are placed horizontally and crossed out with pencil, back marked "Theresienstadt, am 9/9 1944" in top right corner.
[Related items: 2015.2.54 and 2019.2.78]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Mr. Ornstein was originally from Vienna, and just days after writing this postcard on September 29, 1944, he was deported to Auschwitz, where he was eventually murdered. His wife, Elisabeth Rosa Ornstein, had already been deported to Auschwitz on June 10, 1944, where she too was murdered.
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Postcard from Prague Ghetto
2012.1.360
Tan postcard with printed purple postcard lines and decorative border. Addressed to Therese Hecht from Oskar Hecht in pencil. Includes message in pencil.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Postmarked in Prague and sent to Therese (Risa) Hecht: “Dearest Risa: Received your package in good condition yesterday and was overjoyed. Also the two cards from the 2nd and 3rd. As of today I received one letter, one note and two postcards. Risa in one letter you write that you will send me covers. I did not receive them. I wrote to the children but no reply today. Sorry about Frank. Were you [?] Mrs. Mayer? Tomorrow I will send the laundry. With love and longing. I miss you. Your Oskar." "Hope you are well. I am pretty well except for the wound. Please send me the cough medicine whenever it is convenient for you. Yours [?] and kisses, your Oskar."
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An Anxious Postcard from Olga Giblian in Theresienstat
2012.1.327
Tan postcard with black handwritten address to Otto Müeller from Olga Giblian. Includes message written in black ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Translation: "My dear ones: Due to the new postal regulations we are only permitted to write one time in 8 weeks. Although you are allowed to write one letter per month. We are anxiously awaiting news from you. Always send packages directly to the Theresienstadt. The last package that you sent arrived in good shape. Many thanks. What is with Ruda? Does he write? We are very concerned about him. Greetings to his former(?) and to his friends. Please write again soon and greetings to all. Your Olga Giblian (?)."
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Ruins of Warsaw Ghetto: Wirephoto
2014.1.113
Front: A photo of a church standing amongst the ruins of a town. Includes typewritten information on the left side.Back: Several pasted newspaper clips.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
AP Wirephoto of Catholic Church rising above the ashes of the former Warsaw ghetto. Catholic Church left standing in this 1945 photo of Warsaw ghetto where 20,000 Polish Jews lost their lives in uprising against Nazis in 1943. In 1940, more than 400,000 Jews had been herded inside its walled-off confines.
Verso: Thirty years later the Polish government conducted a ceremony to those who perished at a monument in the former ghetto.
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Theresienstadt Ghetto Postcard from Gestapo Prison 'Kleine Festung'
2014.1.131
Front: Tan postcard with printed message on left side, writing in purple pencil, a purple Adolf Hitler stamp, and black hand stamp.Back: A message in purple pencil.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A Theresienstadt Ghetto postcard from the Gestapo Prison in 'Kline Festung,' 1945. The Gestapo used the "Small Fortress" as a prison, the largest in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The first inmates arrived in June, 1940. By the end of the war, 32,000 prisoners, of whom 5,000 were female, passed through the "Small Fortress," which was separate from the Jewish ghetto in the main fortress. An estimated 32,000 people were taken to the prison; most were later deported to a concentration camp. Some 2,600 people were executed, starved, or succumbed to disease in the Small Fortress.
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Krakow Ghetto Postcard
2019.2.76
Postcard marked "POSTKARTE" in purple, vertical line in center of postcard, purple postage stamp of Adolf Hitler in top right corner, "KRAKAU" stamped in black ink over postage stamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Rare postcard from a physician in the ghetto established in Krakow, Poland with “JUDENRAT KRAKOW” stamp. Krakow had been a thriving center of Jewish life and learning since the Middle Ages. More than 68,000 Jews were living there when the Germans occupied it in September 1939. Under the orders of Hans Frank, the Governor of the occupied territories, most of the Jews of Krakow were resettled in 1940, with only 15,000 remaining in the city. The ghetto was established in 1941 in the Podgorze district. In May 1942, Jews able to work were systematically deported to Plaszow, the slave labor camp administered by the notorious Amon Goeth. The rest were deported to extermination centers of Belzec or Auschwitz. Some 2,000 Jews were murdered in the streets of the ghetto.
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Theresienstadt Postcard
2012.1.329
Tan postcard with decorative purple border and postcard lines. Addressed in black ink to Dr. Robert Ornstein from Elisabeth Reitzer. Includes message written in black ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Postcard addressed to Dr. Robert Ornstein. A.O. 933. Theresienstadt Main, Sr 2. Translation: "Kladno, March 9, 1945. My dear one, I received the Permit -- mail at once. I hope that the package will arrive in time for Names day. Everything here is in order -- Greetings from Olga Birga. With my arms around you and a kiss” (signed).
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Theresienstadt Postcard Between Mother and Daughter
2012.1.331
Green postcard addressed to Anna Chvala from Eva Chvalova with typewritten message.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
No 2 -- greenish card sent from Mrs. Eva Chvalova to Anna Chvala in Theresienstadt, Post Bauschowitz. Sender: Eva Chavlova -- Borau by Primslau. Translation: "Dear mother, I received the permit to mail a package to you today. Please inform me when received. Eva." Notice on card that this is to be forwarded only through the Judenrat in Prague Dept. G.
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Correspondence Between Otto Seidlic in Theresienstadt and Blasa Seidlicova
2012.1.345c
Tan postcard with purple border addressed to Otto Leidlic from Blarenka Seidlicove in black ink. Includes message written in black ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Part of a series of correspondence between Otto Seidlic and Blasa Seidlicova (2012.1.345a-e).
Translation: "Dearest Otto: Am waiting daily for permission and further information from you. Who were the relatives that you talked to? Was it Aunt Emilka? Are all healthy. Jui wonders what father does when he works in the garden. Kisses, Blasa, Jui."
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Envelope Addressed to "Ältestenrat der Juden" (Eldest of the Jews) from Theresienstadt Survivor
2012.1.364
White envelope addressed to the "Ältestenrat der Juden" (Eldest of the Jews) in Prague.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Letter addressed to the Judenrat, apparently from a Jewish survivor as Theresienstadt Ghetto was transferred to the Red Cross Authorities on May 3, 1945; hence OLMUTZ was freed just 2-3 days before this cover was mailed.
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Correspondence Between Otto Seidlic in Theresienstadt and Blasa Blarenka Seidlicova
2012.1.345d
Tan postcard with black printed postcard lines. Addressed to Blarenka Leidlic from Otto Leidlic. Includes message written in black ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Part of a series of correspondence between Otto Seidlic and Blarenka Seidlicova (2012.1.345a-e).
Translation: "My dear ones: I am well and with relatives. I am working like I did before. Hope that both of you are well. Write often, more frequent. In the event that you receive permission mail the package but no laundry. I am well. Greetings and kisses. Otto."
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Maladie de Famine
2012.1.545
Book with tan cover with title, "Maladie de Famine: Recherches Cliniques sur la Famine Exécutées dans le Ghetto de Varsovie en 1942." Published by the American Joint Distribution Committee.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Warsaw Ghetto Jewish physicians kept records of the effects of famine on patients admitted to the only hospital in the ghetto. This work, edited by Dr.Israel Maleikovski, who himself was deported to the death camps in 1943, was discovered among the ruins of the ghetto after the war.
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Post-WWII Temporary Travel Document in Lieu of Passport Issued by the Military Government of Germany to Israel and Helena Elbaum Dorembus
2019.2.244
Booklet with print and lines in green, “MILITARY GOVERNMENT FOR GERMANY” printed at top of cover, “IZRAEL DOREMBUS” written near bottom below “00908” printed in black ink, 25 pages. [Page 10-23 blank]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israel and Helena Elbaum Dorembus were originally from Poland. Helena is known for her diary, “Through Helpless Eyes: A Survivor’s Diary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising” about her life in hiding during the Holocaust. She had been sheltered by Polish Christians in Warsaw. She describes, for example, “…neighbors returning from town…tell(ing) of hundreds of dead Germans, wrecked tanks and wounded, frightened soldiers being taken to hospitals. Mrs. Zaleski seems to gloat as she praises the Jews for their heroism.” Dorembus describes a scene on the ‘Aryan’ side after the Germans had set the ghetto on fire. “A Jewish mother is seen leaping to her death from the third-story window of a burning building holding her little son. A Polish woman among the crowd cries out: ‘Jesus, Jesus, have mercy. After all, they are human beings.’ The woman covers her eyes with her hands.”
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Censored, Not Permitted Postcard from Abraham Schiller to Markus Schiller in Yiddish
2014.1.237
Front: A 'Karte Pocztowa.' Includes a letter written in Yiddish with red handstamp, "Hebräische Schrift nicht zulässig" [Hebrew writing not allowed], black postal stamp and black Reich mailing stamp with the Reichsadler. Back: Continuation of Yiddish letter. Further information: A postcard sent from Occupied Poland on Rosh Hashana Eve by Abraham Schiller. It was censored due to the Yiddish writing.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
German writing only. Postcard sent from occupied Poland, Yiddish text written on Rosh Hashana Eve by Abraham Schiller. Card was not posted due to three-line red cachet in German “Hebrew writing not allowed” on front and back, address hand-crossed in red crayon.
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Sign "Jewish Settlement Area. Loitering Forbidden!"
2014.1.448
A porcelain sign that reads "JEWISH SETTLEMENT AREA. LOITERING FORBIDDEN!" that hung in a Ghetto.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Porcelain sign bearing the printed message: "JEWISH SETTLEMENT AREA. LOITERING FORBIDDEN!" Just as Jews were shunned if not banished from many towns and cities in Nazi-controlled areas, gentiles were not allowed in ghettos.
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Postcard from Rzeszow, Lvov District, Poland
2015.2.119
Front: Tan paper with black printed text and dotted lines, filled in with blue cursive ink. Includes purple and black hand stamps on the top, and a long red line through the card.
Back: Printed black postcard lines and address. Includes blue writing on lefthand side, as well as purple, black and red hand stamps, a purple pasted stamp of Hitler in profile on top right, and pencil markings on the bottom of the page.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
RELICO card to Geneva, General Gouvernement 30 pfg tied Rzeszow cds, bearing small boxed Judenrat Reichshof along with Nazi censor. Rzeszow’s name was changed to Reichshof when it fell to Nazi occupation. Rzeszow's Jews maintained prominence in the cultural and economic life of the city for more than 400 years. They were businessmen and artisans, with a growing population into the twentieth century. With the German occupation in 1939, Jewish property was expropriated, evictions from apartments and homes occurred, businesses "aryanised." A Judenrat was organized, many more refugees from Western Poland arrived, forced labor occurred, and with the establishment of the ghetto in 1942, many thousands of Jews were murdered in the ghetto, along with the deportations that occurred to the Belzec death camp.
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Envelope from Krakow Ghetto
2015.2.132
Front: Green envelope with typewritten address. Includes several purple and black hand stamps, some writing in pencil, and a pasted brown stamp depicting a buildling in upper right corner.Back: Address written in black cursive ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Envelope franked General Government 6 pfg. tied Krakow cds, from Zydowska Samopomoc Spoleczna (Jewish Self-Help Society) in Krakow Ghetto to Rada Zydowska (Jewish Aid Society) in Wadlew, Poland. One of the five major metropolitan ghettos in the General Government territory created by the Nazis, Krakow was surrounded by barbed wire and brick walls shaped as tombstones. 18,000 Jews were forced to live in execrable sanitary conditions in an area of just 600 by 400 meters. Krakow was ultimately liquidated between June 1942 and March 1943. The Jews of Krakow were sent to nearby Plaszow slave labor camp (commanded by the infamous Amon Goeth) if deemed capable of working, slaughtered in the streets by police auxiliaries, or deported to Belzec or Auschwitz.
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Postcard from Belzyce Ghetto
2015.2.137
Front: Tan postcard with message written in purple pencil.Back: Printed postcard lines in brown with writing in pencil. Includes black and purple hand stamps, a green pasted stamp of a man in profile facing left, and a red arrow.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Polish postcard bearing scarce small boxed BELZYCE alongside of German franking, addressed in pencil to Berlin. Belzyce, a small town in the province of Lublin, Poland, was overcome by Germany in September, 1939. A ghetto was established 1940 which housed Jews from Belzyce as well as other towns in Poland. The liquidation of the ghetto began in earnest in the spring of 1942. 3000 Jews were exterminated at Sobibor. The residents of the small concentration camp established in Belzyce were liquidated in May, 1943. Women and children were shot, and others were sent to Benzin, where only a few survived.
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Transfer of Farm Property to True Germans Document
2014.1.106
Front: White paper with printed black writing and lines. Includes written information and several purple hand stamps.Back: Includes several stamps and a purple signature.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Probate court ensures only true Germans own farms. Legal folio, Cologne August 8, 1942, an 'Anerbengerichts' or inheritance court document approving the transfer of a farm to another party. The 'Anerben' laws were specifically established by the Nazis to ensure that German farms would be sold, inherited, or otherwise transferred only to those with pure German blood and that they would not be split up. The law actually saw farms as the "wellspring of German Blood" in fulfillment of Himmler's dream.
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Jewish Terror in Warsaw
2014.1.110
Front: A black and white photograph of Jewish men in heavy jackets being escorted by the military.Back: Several hand stamps and various writing. Includes source as International New Photo
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: News wire photo of Jews in Warsaw Ghetto. Verso: "Jewish terror in Warsaw" and "Jews in Warsaw" with a date stamp of November 7, 1941. The Warsaw Ghetto had been the largest ghetto in occupied Poland in the General Government with more than 400,000 residents. While there is no further information on this photo, these men are possibly being marched to a work camp. Deportations to Treblinka began in November of the following year.
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Ukrainian Document Acknowledging Laws That State Who Must Be Considered Jewish
2014.1.211
Front: Light brown paper with columns of printed text in German, Ukrainian and Polish.Back: Continuation of text.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Document issued in Ukrainian, Polish and German languages. One side states the infamous laws saying who must be considered Jewish. The second part is to be signed and states that the signer is acquainted with the laws and is not Jewish. Either the paper had to be signed to join the Ukrainian SS Division "Galichina" or that all Ukrainians working for the Germans had to sign it.
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Grim Barbed Wire in Poland
2014.1.235
Front: A black and white photo of barbed wire and brick buildings. Back: Tribune Cut Order information about the photo.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Wire photo identifying the photo as occurring in Poland, probably of a ghetto street, at the forefront of which is a sign that reads "VORSICHT Hochspannung Lebensgefahr" ["DANGER! High voltage will cause death"].