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.
-
Gestapo Report on Confiscation of Counterfeit Money from Adolf Abraham
2012.1.74
Half sheet with German text printed and handwritten. Titled, "Einlieferungsanzeige Beschlangnahmeanzeige."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A confiscation report by the Gestapo. They confiscated ninety-one faked money bills from a Jew, Adolf Abraham. The document is stamped by SS and Litzmannstadt Ghetto administration. Mr. Abraham died at Litzmannstadt on May 11, 1942.
-
Resident Registration Form for Jews
2012.1.82
Form with black printed text and information filled in with black ink. Titled, "Anmeldung zur polizeilichen Einwohnererfassung." Includes a red "Jude" stamp at top with two Stars of David. Back consists of printed text.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: An Anmeldung was a resident registration form. This document was used to register Jews and their possessions in occupied Poland. Handstamped "Jude" by Nazi police and flanked by two Mogen Davids. A bilingual form was created enabling Nazis to register Jews and their belongings. Questions six and seven related to religion and ethnicity; question eleven asked for details of any business owned; question twelve pertained to home ownership. After blitzkrieg against Poland, Himmler ordered the registration of all Jews and other declared enemies of the state.
-
Real Photo Polish Postcards of Nazi Atrocities
2012.1.100j
Black and white photograph of children lined up with printed postcard lines and caption on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Children in Lodz ghetto, under the watchful eye of their elders, being loaded on trains for transport to death camps.
-
Censored Postcard Litzmannstadt Ghetto with "INHALT UNZULASSIG" Cachet and Erased Content from Israel Beidermann
2012.1.311
Tan postcard with printed purple postcard lines with handwritten address to Kurt Schaffer from Israel Biedrmann with handwritten message including one censored portion.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Postcard returned not posted due to inadmissible contents. Litzmannstadt Ghetto prisoner Mr. Biedermann’s postcard was ineligible to be posted due to German censor discovering content that would be too provocative to mail. Hence the stamped censor mark “INHALT UNZULASSIG”. These decisions were quite arbitrary and ensured that prisoners were cut off from the outside world.
-
Litzmannstadt Ghetto Postcard Returned Due to Inadmissible Contents
2012.1.315
Tan postcard with printed purple postcard lines. Includes handwritten address to J. Rosenblum from Shw. Berek and handwritten message.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
"Censored postcard from Litzmannstadt Ghetto prisoner to Jewish resident of Warsaw with red lined censor markings and hand- stamped ""INHALT UNZULASSIG"" meaning that some of the contents were inadmissible. Hence this postcard not sent.
Dear Parents and Grandparents, We received your letter dear father and the card -- On the first I shall give you an answer to the card that you sent. I am sorry that I cannot take care of the package that Regine sent. I have some debts now since I took shoes to the shoemaker. That is the way it is where you have limited funds. However that is not all of it. Regine wrote to me that she will receive money from you. I understand how difficult it is to pay for that and it concerns me -- You wrote how much Regine demands. I do not know if that is too much or not. Here people pay the price if they can afford it. My dear ones, please do not be angry with me but I will do my best to take care of it. Dear Father, you asked if I wear the hat that was sent to me. Of course, I wear it. I pray to God that I can return it to mother some time. I laughed when I saw the furs. I am not that crazy yet that I should wear a coat like that. I need a wide one and had to make it but I cannot write why. It is very cold now and it will keep me warmer. [Something stated here is not legible or understandable.] I can imagine how cold it is where you are. In my home it is as cold indoors as outside. We have a lot of frost -- The little wife has not visited us since last winter. I shall write another card to her now. Mina.
-
Litzmannstadt Ghetto Postcard
2012.1.316
Tan postcard with green printed postcard lines. Includes handwritten address in blue to Rev. Leon Rosenberg with return address from Hermann Pfamensh Rosenberg. Includes a message written in blue ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Litzmannstadt Ghetto postcard sent from one brother Hermann Rosenberg to another, Rev. Leon Rosenberg, possibly converted to Christianity and living in the U.S.A. Purple handstamp of Rumkowski and Judenrat (Jewish Elders), German censor markings.
"Dear Brother: Again the Lord has brought us great joy that we received your letter for which we thank you very much. We are very happy to hear that the Lord helped you and gave you the strength for the Mission Work "Bethel" and gives you the vision to carry the burden. We have already started with the Love Service since last August however to a very limited extent. We were only able to continue that Service until Christmas. Since December we have been without the help of the American Express Co. We renewed our connections with the Bank and hope the help will be reinstated. When the Lord gives us the work to do, he also gives the necessary means to do it with. In as much as the Lord has helped us so far, we believe that he will continue it. At the present time we count 136 souls. To this count also belongs "Kamiohher"?? who on the last evening of the year developed this faith in the Lord announced. He wrote a card to you. We meet regular at home and further our fellowship like we did for times ago and experience the goodness of our lord and savior Jesus Christ also his presence. As far as dividing packages for the children is concerned it would be better to address them as "Haros." Last July I received a wire package from Maria for my birthday. It was a great help and joy for us. Greetings to Aunt Lisa. Greetings to all yours (not legible)."
-
Litzmannstadt Ghetto Postcard Returned
2012.1.322
Tan postcard with purple printed postcard lines with handwritten address to S. Hirowska and return address from S. Hajskopf with message written in ink. Message has red markings over it.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Postcard addressed to S. Hirowska in Warsaw, return address from S. Hajskopf in Lidzmannstadt Ghetto with message written in ink. Postcard returned unsent. The notations "unclean", "Yiddish and Jewish language forbidden" and "Returned" were applied by German censor. Return address: S. Hajskopf, Litzmannstadt Ghetto , "Litzmannstadt Ghetto, Dec 25. Translation: "Dear Aunt, Uncle, and Emek, Grandmother and I received your card and it made us very happy -- we are satisfied to know that you have work and that Emek is in Moridzeszyn. I am certain that you know that I live with grandmother. The 10 Reuten Mark that you gave Mrs. Blass has been received by grandmother. She thanks you very much because she was in great need of it. Today she received the second Reuten Mark. We are pretty well and I am working. Grandmother sends all of you greetings and kisses - Greetings and kisses from me and all our friends. Over Felek. At another time I will send greetings together with Mama. -- Ewa Goldberg."
-
Litzmannstadt Ghetto Postcard Returned Not Sent
2012.1.324
Tan postcard with purple printed postcard lines. Handwritten address to Mina Baum from Amalia Fisch. Includes message written in black ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Litzmannstadt Ghetto postcard addressed to Mina Baum in Lublin from Amalia Fisch in Litzmannstadt. Postcard returned by German censor, never mailed. A card from Litzmanndstadt to Lublin, Poland. Returned by censor for apparent violations-"INHALT UNZULASSIG" ("CONTENTS INADMISSIBLE") due to mentioning: "Life is extremely difficult." "As long as we have a little money we can exist." "What lies ahead only our dear God knows." "My dying would be more peaceful and I will be reunited with my son." "Money can be sent, writing is not possible." A full translation: "Dear Mrs. Baum - I received your dear letter dated on the 12th and 22nd. You cannot possibly imagine how happy it made me. We are glad that our Sabine writes to you. We are without any information for the past two months. Dear Mrs. Baum, what shall I write? Life is extremely difficult here. As long as we have a little money we can exist. What lies ahead only our dear God knows. As long as I know that my Bertili is with Grete and Josef my dying would be more peaceful and I will be reunited with my son. Dear Mrs. Baum, money can be sent, writing is not possible [this is underlined in red]. We live with one other family in one room. How are you and your sister? How are my brothers and sisters? And Mrs. Leiduer? My husband and I send greetings to you and your sister. Hearty good wishes, A. Fisch.”
-
Government Notice of Typhus in Radom, Poland Poster
2012.1.571
Tan poster with text in German and Polish. The German side is titled, "Anordnung" and the Polish side is titled, "Zarządzenie."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Poster order in Radom District forbidding beggars to go house to house due to the danger of Typhus, with severe penalties for anyone violating the order. From the General Government in Poland.
-
Litzmannstadt Ghetto Metal Department Pass
2019.2.70
First line is handwritten "Cukier Mondka" in green followed by black Hebrew print. Handwritten green "66:" in top right corner. Purple stamp in center of the page read “Der Aelteste der Juden in Litzmannstadt Arbeits-Ressort Metall-Abteilung HOHENSTEINERSTR N 56.”
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
This small pass, issued to Mondka Cukier, with text written in Hebrew, is stamped by the Judenrat in the ghetto.
-
Litzmannstadt Ghetto Ration Card for Bread "Brot-Karte"
2019.2.71
Blue sheet with German on the right side with "Der Aelteste Der Juden" on the top, printed in black. In purple, stamped on the right is "Gestorben" (Deceased). On the left side of the page are numbers ascending 1 though 60, from left to right and bottom to top, with squares 1 and 2 cut out at the top left corner of the page.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Chaim Rumkowski printed signature and Judenrat (Der Aelteste der Juden) stamp at bottom.