The German Army established internment camps in World War II to hold Allied civilians captured in occupied territory. These civilians included American and British citizens caught in Europe as World War II began, as well as citizens of the Channel Islands. The Germans hoped to exchange civilians - including Jews - for German nationals who were held in Allied countries. They were interned in Laufen and Tittmoning in Bavaria, and Camp Vittel, which was located in the Vosges mountains in France. Most of the documents held by these aliens were eventually declared invalid by the Nazis toward the end of 1943, and many were transported to Drancy and Auschwitz in 1944 where they were murdered.
France had a great many internment camps holding political prisoners, Jews, and Romanies. Jews - both citizens of France and foreigners - became victims of the antisemitic policies of Petain's collaborationist Vichy regime. Camp de Gurs in the Pyrenees was created for Spanish refugees, but many German Jews who fled the Nazis were interned here as well. Jews were interned in des Milles, Recebedou, de Noe, Ferramonti di Tarsia, and Rivesaltes and many others. Recebedou was an Internment Camp created in February 1941 to hold Jewish refugees -many fleeing the occupied zone of France - and Spanish anti-fascists for deportation to Drancy transit camp and thence to the extermination camps: 349 Jews were deported to Drancy from here. Rivesaltes submitted more than 2200 Jews - including 110 children - to Auschwitz by way of Drancy in 1942: all were murdered.
The British government established internment camps throughout the British Empire to confine "enemy aliens;" for example, Tatura Internment Camp in Australia. Alexander Distler, a Jewish refugee from Austria, found himself dispatched to several camps for "enemy aliens" in Canada. There were camps in Mauritius, India, and the Isle of Man. Some refugees were allowed to enter the United States: Camp Oswego, New York; Bismark, North Dakota; and several in Texas. The British also established detention camps in Cyprus, Atilt, and Eritrea to prevent refugees from the Holocaust from entering Mandatory Palestine.
--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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Envelope from Argeles sur Mer Camp with Franchise Stamp
2014.1.294
Front: Green; Address handwritten in blue ink. One stamp with a woman in Greco-Roman attire holding a branch, worth 90c. Two black circular stamps, one over the stamp, one below it. Back: Return address written upside down on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Argeles sur Mer camp was established in February 1939 in Southern France to intern approximately 80-100,000 refugees, the remains of the Spanish Republican Army that had been forced to leave Spain after being defeated by Franco's fascists in the Spanish Civil War. Conditions in the camp were miserable and disease and lice were common, as the refugees were kept behind barbed wire guarded by French sentries.
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Censored Envelope from A.J.C. Huyton Internment Camp for Jewish Refugees
2014.1.50
Front: White envelope with censor sticker.Back: Address written in black ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
A 1940 censored cover without stamp to Mrs. Lea Frucht in London, sent by Dr. Leopold Frucht in A.J.C. Huyton, an early internment camp for German Jewish refugees.
Huyton was an internment camp near Liverpool holding Jewish refugee civilians from Austria or Germany who were considered possible enemy aliens and thus posed possible threats to security. They lived for a period of time behind barbed wire surrounding old council houses near Liverpool. Dr. Frucht had been interned here for a time, and sends this censored letter to his wife Lea in London in 1940.
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Envelope from Rieucros Internment Camp
2020.1.18
Envelope with two blue and green stamps as well as red ink stamp with French text inside. Address handwritten in black ink. Verso: more handwritten text in black ink as well as black ink stamp with date 20. Jan. 1940.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Cover from S. Goldschmidt in Rieucros Internment Camp. Rieucros was a French internment camp near Mende in Lozere and was in effect from 1939-1942. With the French increasingly restricting immigration from Fascist countries, fearful of being dragged into war, foreigners were interned in Rieucros; for example, members of the Spanish Republic and International Brigades. After the men were transferred to the camp at Vernet, Rieucros mainly interned women.
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Letter from Lancut, Poland to Officer POW
2014.1.259ab
Note written on off-color, hole-punched notebook paper in pencil. A red German stamp on the upper left. Envelope: Off-white, coffee-stained envelope written in Polish in blue ink with a black stamp. A red checkmark next to the prisoner's number.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
A POW letter sent from Lancut, Poland to a Polish Officer POW in an OFLAG Camp near Lubec, Germany. After Germany invaded Poland, the Polish army surrendered four weeks later. Captured Polish officers were imprisoned in Offizierlager Camps or Oflags. Enlisted men were imprisoned in Mannschaftsstammlager camps or Stalags. Dr. Naworol is a medical POW in OFLAG XC. Officers in these camps were typically treated humanely, as opposed to Soviet prisoners – officers as well as soldiers. Germany was generally willing to treat Allied prisoners according to provisions of the Geneva Convention. In a letter written in May 1940 to the Camp Command he asks for suspenders because the pair that he has are useless.
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Postcard from Jewish Inmate at Internment Camp Campagna Near Salerno, Italy to Trieste Family Member
2021.1.17
Postcard written in green ink. Panoramic view of Campagna is seen on front.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Mr. Lescheziner, here writing to a relative with the same surname, may have been among the first interns of the men captured in Italy. Most were Jews from Germany and Austria, Poland and Czechoslovakia; however, there were as well Italian and French Jews. In any case the number of inmates at Campagna was small. Importantly, unlike camps in France, Germany or Poland - or for that matter other puppet states such as Slovakia, Romania, Croatia or Hungary, inmates had no restrictions on mail, and dd not experience threat of deportation. Hitler’s exhortations to the contrary notwithstanding, prisoners were able to keep their cultural and religious commitments alive. They moved freely through the town and socialized with the local inhabitants, who befriended them. The mayor and bishop themselves were instrumental in protecting Jews from deportation to concentration camps as were local Fascist groups. When the allies invaded southern Italy, and the Germans invaded from the North, locals helped the inmates to escape into the mountains.
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Correspondence from Franziska Distler in Vienna to Alexander Distler, Interned in Camp I, Ottawa, Canada
2019.2.314ab
a: Envelope addressed to “Aleksander Distler No. 234,” “Internment Camp “I” written in center, “internment underlined twice, “I” circled in blue. b: Small letter dated “22. 12. 940” in upper right corner, stamped with “CENSORED CANADA IN.T.O.P. 27” in red in upper left corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Mrs. Franziska Distler, Aleksander’s mother, is living in Vienna, at this time part of the “Greater Germany” subsequent to the Anschluss of March 12, 1938 which is indicated in her return address. Her letter to Aleksander, internee number 234 at Camp “I,” is postmarked in Vienna with a double-ring cancellation and censored in Austria and Canada with sealing tape and red hand stamp.
[Related items 2019.2.310 - 2019.2.323]
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Censored Envelope from Camp De Gurs in Vichy, France
2014.1.140
Front: A white envelope with two pasted stamps in blue and pink, black and purple hand stamps, and an address written in black cursive ink.Back: Return address written in black cursive ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
This double oval Camp de Gurs censured letter was sent by Regine Wolf in Camp de Gurs to Sally Levy in New York City. It is postmarked 1941. Camp de Gurs was in southern France and had originally interned Spanish Civil War refugees fleeing the Nationalist Franco regime. After the Germans defeated France it became an internment camp in the Vichy government-controlled region for Jews many of whom were to be deported to extermination centers such as Auschwitz and Sobibor.
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Envelope from Camp de Rivesaltes, France
2014.1.158
Front: Pale envelope with address handwritten in black ink. Includes three pasted blue psotage stamps, one pasted pink postage stamp, as well as two other pasted stamps, as well as one pink and two black hand stamps.Back: Address written in black ink. Includes red, purple and black hand stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Like Drancy, the Camp de Rivesaltes was a transit camp for deportees ultimately shipped to extermination centers. Regular airmail cover to New York, camp censor and markings tying properly franked cover.
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Postcard from Slovakia to Ferramonti di Tarsia Internment Camp
2014.1.359
Front: Green border; two indecipherable circular hand stamps; typed text; hole punch at top right corner. Back: Typed text filling up entirety of back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Postcard from Julius Janovitz from Slovakia to family member Izabela Janovitz, who had been a passenger on the ill-fated Pentcho and, having been on the island of Rhodes, under Italian control, quartered in a stadium, has by the time of this writing been moved, along with most of the passengers, to the Ferramonti di Tarsia internment camp.
Ferramonti, near Tarsia in Southern Italy, was the largest Italian concentration camp. Opened in June 1940, Ferramonti held almost 4000 Jewish prisoners, most of whom were refugees from Germany. It was neither a slave labor camp nor an extermination center along the lines of German and Polish camps. Indeed, inmates were treated well, and there were organized cultural activities, a library, and a synagogue. After Mussolini’s downfall in 1943, many internees at Ferramonti either joined the Allied war effort or were transferred to Camp Oswego in New York.
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Postcard from Slovakia to Ferramonti di Tarsia Internment Camp
2014.1.360
Front: Green border; red 'Slovensko' postage stamp in top right; three circular hand stamps; typed text. Back: Typed text filling up entirety of page.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Julius Janovitz from Zvolen, Slovakia here corresponds with Fridrich Kohn, another internee of the Ferramonti di Tarsia Italian internment camp who was possibly a passenger on the Pentcho.
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Cover from Jewish Prisoner in French Internment Camp Recebedou
2019.2.123
Green postage stamp below two red postage stamps in upper right corner, “CAMP DE RECEBEDOU” in blue ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
French cover from a German Jewish inmate in the French internment camp Recebedou. It was initially created in 1941 to house both Spanish anti-fascists and Jews fleeing occupied France. It became a so-called “hospital camp” managed by the collaborationist Vichy regime under Petain. Prisoners were deprived of basic necessities including medicine and food. Of those prisoners that perished here, most were Jews. And many more Jews interned here were ultimately deported via Drancy to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
This cover was sent to the Israeli Community Council or Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde in Zurich. The cover states that contents of letter are written in German. Double oval Recebedou censor and French stamps.
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Cover from Internment Camp Les Milles, France. From M.M. Gottfried to Rosa Gottfried in Hartford, Connecticut
2019.2.128
Envelope with red, white, and blue border with three black and white postage stamps and red postage stamp, “AVION” stamped in purple ink. Back includes “35725” stamped in red.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Les Milles was one of three main internment camps in southern France, along with Camp de Gurs and Rivesaltes. Les Milles had interned many German and Austrian intellectuals, musicians, and artists fleeing Nazi Germany. The camp was known for its rich intellectual and cultural life. Through the efforts of Varian Fry, many Jews were able to obtain release from here. Jewish aid organizations such as HICEM would also help some inmates to emigrate overseas. However, by 1942, Les Milles essentially became an assembly point for deporting Jews to the Drancy transit camp, after which they would be sent to extermination centers such as Auschwitz. Over 2,000 men, women, and children were ultimately deported from Les Milles to Auschwitz.
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Onchan Internment Camp, Isle of Man, Censored Letter Sheet from Alien Intern K.W. Maurer
2019.2.124
Front includes torn label with “EXAMINER 7054” in black ink in center and a second torn label with “OPENED…” at top, marked near top with “SENDER’S NAME:- Onchan Camp, Douglas, I.o.M. K.W. MAURER.”
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Onchan Camp, Isle of Man, opened in June 1940 to house “enemy aliens,” Jews who were able to escape Nazi Germany or Austria but were a concern to a British government fearful of enemy spies in its midst on the eve of war with Germany. Onchan camp held mainly German and Austrian internees until 1942 when Italians were admitted. Like Hutchinson or P Camp, also on the Isle of Man, Onchan, despite overcrowding, had a multitude of cultural events including a “university” offering lectures in a variety of disciplines taught by the internees.
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Postcard from Internment-Concentration Detention Camp in Rivesaltes, France
2014.1.157
Front: A white postcard with printed red postcard lines and stamps. Includes text written in blue ink, a pasted pink postage stamp, as well as purple and black hand stamps.Back: Message written in blue ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Postcard written by Jewish prisoner in Rivesaltes with oval Rivesaltes censor mark. Serge Klarsfeld called the Rivesaltes Camp "the Drancy of the Free Zone." From September 4 to October 22, Rivesaltes played the same role as the Drancy camp in the occupied zone: a transit camp for the deportees whose ultimate destination was the Nazi extermination camps. Rivesaltes was, during that time, the camp where Jews arrested in the so-called "free zone" were gathered, and from which many of them (about 1,700) were sent to Drancy itself.
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Camp de Gurs Air Mail Envelope to New York
2012.1.33
Tan envelope addressed in black ink, including four postage stamps and multiple hand stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Camp de Gurs air mail cover with double oval censor mark. Camp de Gurs was an internment and refugee camp constructed by the French Government in 1939. After the Vichy government signed an armistice with the Nazis in 1940, it became an internment camp for Jews of any nationality except French, as well as people considered dangerous by the government.
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Atlit Detention Camp "Illegal" Jewish Immigrant Enquiry Letter from Manela Lustiger to Nitsch Family in Prague, Czechoslovakia
2019.2.120
Numbered 61 in top right corner, titled “DEMANDEUR – ANFRAGESTELLER – ENQUIRER” at top of page in black print, back titled “RESPONSE ANTWORT REPLY”
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
The Lustigers, refugees from Nazi- occupied Europe, have been detained at Atlit camp, south of Haifa, Palestine, by British authorities. Atlit was established to prevent Jewish immigrants from entering Palestine in accordance with the 1939 White Paper. Mrs. Lustiger writes that Mr. Lustiger “would like to hear from you. He is doing fine and in good health. Please write through the Red Cross in Geneva. Verso, reply to Mr. Lustiger: “We are healthy and doing fine. Father does not work anymore; he is too old. Letters are received in two months’ time. Nitsch-Zamanek.”
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Canadian Internment Camp "N" Post from Alexander Nowak, Ottawa, Canada
2019.2.116
Folding letter/envelope combination. Red postal stamp in top right corner of the cover with lines printed on top of it. A circular ink stamp to the left of the postal stamp reads, "1941, may 31 Canada".
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Many Jewish refugees having fled Nazi Germany and Austria for England in the 1930s were, with the growing fear of a German invasion of Britain on the horizon, deported to Canada as possible enemy aliens and confined to internment camps. The eight internment camps throughout Canada bore an alphabetical designation. Camp “N”, also known as “Sherbrooke” was found by the deportees to have particularly poor accommodation; however, the internees made the best of things and put together a rich cultural and educational life during the period of time they were interned. Letter written in English, with censor markings sent to New York.
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Isle of Man Internment Camp Censored Letter from Adolphe Malinow, House 11, P Camp
2019.2.125
“EXAMINER 4484” in black ink in center and a second torn label with “OPENED…” at top, marked near top with “SENDER’S NAME:- ADOLPHE MALINOW HOUSE II P CAMP I.O.M”
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Many Jewish refugees fleeing Austria and Germany were classified as enemy aliens and were interned on the Isle of Man. P Camp, originally named Hutchinson Camp, was composed of 33 houses and was located in Douglas. It is often referred to as “the artists’ camp” because of its abundance of artistic and creative talent and many internees who were in possession of advanced degrees in medicine and science. Indeed, many could also speak English.
Adolphe Malinow came from Germany and lived with his wife in Whitehaven. However, due to the rampant fear of enemy sabotage, Mr. Malinow was interned in P Camp Hutchinson.
Letter, written in German to Mrs. Malinow, was censored in Liverpool.
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Envelope from Dr. Hans Grossman, Jewish Group Leader in Dehra Dun, to Jewish Relief Association in Bombay
2021.1.18
Blue envelope with “Service of Prisoners of War” typed in blue ink on front.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Letter sent in 1942 to Secretary of Ladies Committee to Jewish Relief Association in Bombay, India. Dehra Dun was one of the internment camps set up in India for “enemy aliens” who might pose a serious threat to Britain in World War II. Dr. Grossman was part of the Anti-Nazi Wing Unit - refugees from Nazi Germany - in contradistinction to true enemy aliens. Octagonal British Censor with number DHN/4 and straight line DHN/4 marking in violet.
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Tatura Jewish Internment Camp Letter Sheet from David Krieger, No.2 Camp, Tatura, Victoria, Australia
2019.2.126
Front of envelope addressed to “Mr. S.J. KRIEGER,” stamped “3 PASSED BY CENSOR 389” and “SERVICES BY PRISONER OF WAR” in blue ink, top stamped “8 JUL 1942,” letter on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Tatura was one of the two internment camps in Australia established for confining German-speaking refugees, due to concern that there may be enemy aliens amongst the refugee population. Tatura consisted of four camps and, as was true in other internment camps that housed Jewish refugees, schools and other cultural activities were established.
This letter sheet is handstamped “Services of Prisoner of War” along with Australian censor tape.
In the letter sent to a nephew in Haifa, Palestine, Mr. Krieger reports that he is happy to hear from his Aunt Chaje who has safely arrived in the “Land of Freedom.” He also corrects that record that he is not a “prisoner of war” but a “civilian internee” caught up in the “general uprounding” of aliens in May 1940 and unwillingly evacuated to Australia.” He hopes to “transmigrate to U.S.A.” but explains the impediments to his dream. He wishes a Happy Jewish New Years to family.
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Censored Postcard Sent by David Levy from Borgo Val Di Taro (Borgotaro) to DELASEM Leader Septimus Sorani in Rome
2019.2.129
Tan postcard, “VINCEREMO” printed across left side, titled “CARTOLINA POSTALE” in brown print at top, brown postage stamp on right side above “CENSURA 3” stamped in blue.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Sorani was a Jewish delegate of the Rome office of DELASEM (DELEGAZIONE PER L’ASSISTENZA EMIGRANTI EBREI), the Jewish resistance organization in Italy aiding Jews - both Italian and foreign - who fell beneath the Axis boot. DELASEM provided money, housing, and if necessary, false documents to assist refugees interned in Italian camps. Support for DELASEM came from international organizations such as AJDC and HIAS, as well as elements of the Catholic Church and the Swiss.
David Levy may have been related to Giuseppe Levi of the Rome office. He is clearly appreciative of funds sent his way. He could be part of the network of internees who worked for DELASEM, especially given the proximity of Borgotaro to Parma, a hotbed of partisan resistance to the Nazis and the Italian puppet state, which would not be liberated from German occupation until the end of April 1945.
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Postcard from Hungarian KLV Camp
2014.1.130
Front: Tan postcard with green printed postcard lines, writing in blue ink, as well as red and purple hand stamps.Back: Message written in blue ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
1943 German censored postcard with "KLV LAGER (Ung.142)" cachet in purple from Karl Birnbaum to his father Johann in Vienna. Children would be evacuated from areas of Allied bombing raids and placed in KLV camps. In Karl's case he was in a KLV camp in Hungary (Palanka).
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Envelope from Ferramonti di Tarsia Concentration Camp to Red Cross in Switzerland
2014.1.199
Front: A blue envelope with writing in black ink, five green postage stamps and a purple hand stamp.Back: Includes writing in black ink, a strip of white censor tape and several black and purple hand stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Includes a camp handstamp, an Italian censor and undated postmarks. Sent by a Czech Jew, Ladislav Rosinger. The largest of the internment camps established by Mussolini between June and September 1940. Ferramonti in southern Italy held more than 3,800 Jews as well as political prisoners. The majority of prisoners were foreign-born. Prisoners were able to establish a library, school, and synagogue. Prisoners were eventually freed after Mussolini's downfall in September 1943. About 1,000 refugees were shipped to the United States and interned at Camp Oswego in New York.
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Censored Postcard from French Internment Camp Nexon to St. Gallen
2020.1.17
Postcard with red printed text and red stamp at top right as well as purple ink stamp. Address handwritten in pencil. Message handwritten in pencil on opposite side.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Camp Nexon was a French internment camp in the Haute-Vienne region of France. It was established in 1940 to house mainly political prisoners. Approximately 1200 internees were housed there. In 1942, some 450 Jews – among them 68 children – were gathered in Nexon and deported to Auschwitz by the Nazis.
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Postcard to "Ingenieur" Alexander Distler in Jewish Refugee Camp 41 Ile-aux-Noix, Quebec from Carl Radlmesser in Toronto
2019.2.317
Postcard with color image of city street, labelled “FRONT STREET, POST OFFICE, UNION DEPOT AND ROYAL HOTEL, TORONTO, CAN.” Back has two green postage stamps in upper right corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Due to Great Britain’s concern about the infiltration of “enemy aliens” among Jewish refugees, Alexander Distler had been sent to internment camps in Canada. At some point after 1940 the name of Camp I was changed to Camp 41, on Ile-aux-Noix, an island in Quebec. Distler may have known Radlmesser from Austria, but most certainly knew him from his time at Camp Kitchener in Richborough, Kent, as both names appear on a list of “residents.” Radlmesser reports that he is doing well, working on a farm near Toronto, and hopes to hear from Distler.
[Related items 2019.2.310 - 2019.2.323]