The persecution of the Jews of the Netherlands began on May 10, 1940 with the Nazi occupation. Arthur Seyss-Inquart was placed in charge of the civil administration. Anti-Jewish legislation was rolled out with ruthless efficiency: Jews lost their professions and their homes, children their schools. Identifying yellow stars with the ominous script "Jood" became compulsory wear. Businesses and other assets had to be registered, and a Jewish council - the Joodse Raad - was established with Abraham Asscher and David Cohen in charge of implementing Nazi policy, with maximal compliance with respect to the Jews. Deportations to Westerbork internment camp and the Vught concentration camp commenced in July 1942, and thence Auschwitz and Sobibor extermination camps. Many Jews went into hiding, including Anne Frank and her family. Dutch police assisted the Nazi authorities in rounding up Jews, as did the so-called Henneicke Column, who were essentially Dutch bounty hunters paid for tracking down Jews.
Critically important in rounding up Jews was the work of Dutch civil servant J.L. Lentz, head of the Population Registration Office in the Hague. Lentz developed a population registration system, along with an identity card, which would effectively cover the entire population of the Netherlands. The German occupation authorities adapted Lentz's work to create a central register of Jews with links between the central register and the municipal registration offices. The registration record, the identity cards, and Lentz's 1942 report on the location of Jews in the Netherlands, culminating in so-called "dot maps" showing the population density of Jews by district, were used in the creation of transport lists by the Nazi SS. Ultimately these overlapping systems of identification, used to great effect by the Nazis, contributed to a survival rate of Jews in the Netherlands of only 27 percent.
The van Perlsteins were a prosperous family living in a vibrant Jewish community in pre-war Amsterdam whose lives were irrevocably changed under the German occupation. Philip Samuel (Sam) van Perlstein, had been an importer of Orientalia before expanding into other areas of profitability such as board games; his company, van Perlstein and Roeper Bosch, held the first license in the Netherlands to sell Monopoly. A copy of the stock market game Beursspel is displayed at the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam; Peter van Pels had received it as a 16th birthday present, four months after going into hiding with the Franks.
Sam van Perlstein had understood early the plight of the Jews of Holland. He and his son Gerard van Perlstein assisted in setting up a resistance network. They were able to establish a relationship with Werner Klemke, a German Wehrmacht soldier and talented artist who despised Nazism. Klemke risked his life forging documents for Dutch Jews - identity cards, baptismal and birth certificates, etc. - which enabled some Jews to leave Holland and others to go into hiding. Klemke’s documents ultimately saved the lives of many Jews during the occupation.
While Sam and Gerard survived the war, others in his family were less fortunate. Sam’s brother Herman was murdered in Auschwitz in November 1942. He had been a prominent member of the Amsterdam rowing club. Sam’s uncle Bernard, whom Sam was able to help establish a business trading yeast when his own business failed in the Great Depression, was to be arrested for not wearing his Jewish star, and subsequently deported to Vught concentration camp and ultimately Auschwitz where he perished in January 1944. Siegfried Herman van Perlstein, a prominent lawyer and prosecutor, also perished at Auschwitz in January 1943. And Sam’s mother, Sara van Perlstein-Hecht, who resided at 160 Van Breestraat in Amsterdam, took her own life in March 1943.
-- Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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SS - Standaardleider and Security Police Commander Wilhelm Harster Bans Publication and Circulation of Jewish Books
2019.2.3
Tan paper, black print, stamp in black ink at top, "203/205" written in blue in top right corner, back of letter includes three underlined rows and pink writing
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
In this memo, Wilhelm Harster has prohibited the publication and circulation of several noteworthy Jewish books including Lessing’s Nathan the Wise and Dr. H. Brugman and Dr. A. Frank’s Die Geschiedenis der Joden in Nederland (The History of the Jews in the Netherlands). Confiscation of these materials is imperative. The letter refers to measures that will be taken by the Security Police if there are violations of this order. Wilhelm Harster, by training a lawyer, was a high-ranking member of the SS, and Commander of the Security Police and Security Service in the Netherlands from 1940-1943. He worked closely with Hans Rauter, Highest SS and Police Leader in the Netherlands, reporting to both Himmler and Seyss-Inquart, who was the Nazi governor in the Netherlands during the German occupation. Harster was considered partially responsible for the deportation to extermination centers of over 100,000 Dutch Jews of the 140,000 living in the Netherlands. He was also held responsible for his role in the abuses and murder of inmates at the Amersfoort Concentration Camp in the central Netherlands.
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Document from J.L. Lentz, Head of Population Registration Office in The Hague, Regarding Categories for Jews
2021.1.24
typewritten and stamped official document dated November 22, 1941.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Controversial Dutch civil servant J. L. Lentz was the consummate perfectionistic bureaucrat, working tirelessly as head of the Population Registration Office in The Hague to please his Nazi overlords in the effort to develop and redefine a population registration system, along with an identity card, which would effectively cover the entire population of the Netherlands. The German occupation authorities under Austrian Nazi Arthur Seyss-Inquart, adapted Lentz’s detailed work to create a central register of Jews with links between the central register and the municipal registration offices. The registration records, the identity cards, and Lentz’s 1942 report on location of Jews in the Netherlands, culminating in so-called “dot maps” showing population density of Jews by district, were ultimately used in the creation of transport lists by the SS, to better locate and apprehend Jews in order to facilitate deportation to extermination centers from the Netherlands. Ultimately, and perhaps unwittingly, the effect of Lentz’s obsessive diligence in developing these overlapping systems of identification, used to great effect by the Nazis, contributed to a survival rate of Jews in the Netherlands of only 27 percent.
This is an official document from Lentz as the head of the Population Registration Office in the Hague to the commissioners of the municipalities in the Netherlands dated 11/21/1941, referencing Nazi Occupation Regulation VO 6/1941, which is the requirement that all persons of Jewish blood, whole or part, must register within a specified period of time. Lentz had been tasked with creating and assembling the central register of all persons of Jewish blood, whole or part. He refers to the Personal Identification Card (Persoonsbewijs) which he has developed to the great pleasure of the Nazi Occupation Administration in the Netherlands: “If necessary, I hereby confirm that in the note in box 6 of the Personal Identification Card and the identification theron relating to the quality (J, GI or GI) as a person of Jewish blood, who, in accordance with Regulation 6/1941, may never be changed without my prior written permission. I will gladly receive a statement from you of any changes made so far without my prior knowledge.” In all probability Lentz was addressing here the Nuremberg Law breakdown of the degree of any Jewish individual’s Jewishness, i.e., whether the Jew is a full Jew or a Mischlinge. It was an accepted fact for the Nazi that a Jew was a Jew by race, thus a person’s “degree of Jewishness” would be determined by a number of factors. However, for the Nazis, to the extent that one grandparent is Jewish, the individual in question would be considered a Jew. Once an individual registered, they would receive a letter confirming their registration with the pertinent information necessary to put on the Identification Card. Lentz would be able to tell the German occupation administration the precise number of Jews and their category - Full, Half, or Quarter - living in the Netherlands.
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Dutch Yellow Star of David Jews Forced to Wear
2014.1.209
A Dutch, yellow Star of David with the word "Jood" [Jew] in the center.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
At the end of April 1942, Jews in the Netherlands were required to wear the yellow Star of David on their clothing.
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Cover to "Kommandant" of Amersfoort Durchgangslager
2019.2.291
Envelope with purple postage stamp marked “NEDERLAND 10 CENT” in top right corner, addressed to “Dem Herrn Kommandant.”
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Amersfoort in the Netherlands was considered a Durchgangslager or Police transit camp. Prisoners were eventually to be sent on to major extermination centers such as Auschwitz, Sobibor, or Mauthausen. Conditions were as appalling as the worst of concentration camps. Prisoners could be Dutch or Belgian political prisoners, Soviet prisoners of war, or Jews. Hunger, disease, poor hygiene, as well as cruelty and violence from the guards and administration were commonplace.
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Official Letter from The Hague: Jews Excluded from Phone Services
2019.2.297
Document includes “DIENST PTT” printed in black in top left corner, numbered “2308 2756 27” in center in blue.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Consistent with the systematic rolling out of anti-Jewish legislation by the German government, Jews in the Netherlands, with some exceptions, are no longer permitted phone services - or use of ancillary devices - during the occupation of the Netherlands.
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Identification Document Belonging to a Jew Who was Included in the “Barneveld Group” and was a Passenger on a Train to St. Gallen, Switzerland
2021.1.25
Stamped and typewritten identification card including picture and grid background
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
This identification document - Persoonbewij - was designed by J.L. Lentz, head of the Dutch Population Registration Office, and introduced in 1941. ID documents would include passport photos and fingerprints, along with the address, signature, and number of the issuing municipality. They were that much more difficult to forge or falsify for having three watermarks. Every Dutch citizen older than 15 had to carry this document as valid proof of identification. And for Jews, there was the required “J,” along with a second “J” stamped on it to make individuals even more recognizable during checks. All Jews - full or partial - were required to be registered. The Persoonsbewijs, in conjunction with the municipal and central registries, and the so-called “dot maps” which identified the geographical location of Jews by district, became a lethal instrument in the Nazi effort to round up Jews for deportation to transit and extermination camps where 107,000 Dutch Jews were ultimately murdered.
This ID belonged to Mozes van Leeven, born November 7, 1888 in The Hague, Netherlands. He was married to Rosa van Leeven (born van der Rhoer in 1896) at Venlo in the Netherlands in 1919. The marriage produced four children. Mr. van Leeven worked in the technical office of the department of public works as an engineer.
Remarkably, Mozes van Leeven was one of the so-called “Barneveld Group” of notable Dutch Jews, an exclusive group of “cultured” Jews which included doctors, scientists, professors, musicians and other “important” Jews whom the Nazi occupiers allowed to live in the Barneveld Castle and thus escape for the time being the fate of other Jews of the Netherlands: deportation to internment and concentration camps. Indeed, even when they were eventually transferred to the Westerbork internment camp in 1943 the “Barnevelders” took part in processing their co-religionists - including neighbors and relatives – for deportation to Auschwitz while still being shielded from deportation themselves.
Mozes van Leeven and his wife Rosa - who had worked in the kitchen in Westerbork - were ultimately deported to Theresienstadt, the concentration camp/ghetto near Prague in Bohemia-Moravia. Mozes’ son Aaron reported in his 13-page “memories” that Mr. van Leeven was allowed to work outside the ghetto, and that in all probability it was through his connection with the controversial Benjamin Mermelstein, an elder in the Council of Elders (Judenrat), and the latter’s connection to Karl Rahm, the SS Commandant of Theresienstadt, that Mozes was able to secure a place on a train holding 1200 Jews leaving Theresienstadt bound for Canton St. Gallen in Switzerland on February 5, 1945. Jean-Marie Musy, the former president of Switzerland, had acted on behalf of a number of Jewish groups including the Joint Distribution Committee and the Orthodox Vaad Hatzalah in Command to arrange with Heinrich Himmler an exchange of Jews for money.
With the end of the war Moses returned home to the Hague. He died March 7, 1963 in Utrecht, Netherlands at the age of 74.
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Censored Postcards to a German-Jewish Refugee, Dr. Gerhard Kohn, Living in Amsterdam on Gaaspstraat 67, from a Relative in Berlin
2021.1.28ab
Handwritten postcards stamped four times including a stamp in the upper right hand corner depicting Adolf Hitler
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
During the 1930s many German Jewish refugees fled to the Netherlands to escape the Nazis. Dr. Kohn resided in an area of the city near the Amstel - the so-called Rivierenbuurt - that housed many German Jewish refugees, including the family of Anne Frank, who lived on Merwedeplein before going into hiding on Prinsengracht 263. By the time these postcards were written in June 1942, Jews in the Netherlands were already subject to a relentless rollout of regulations and measures issued by the Germans every month. They were required to wear the Star of David. They were concentrated in Amsterdam itself. There was a ban on all Jewish magazines apart from the Joodsche Raad’s Het Joodsche Weekblad, the official channel for anti-Jewish measures handed down by the Nazi occupiers. Jewish children were only allowed to attend Jewish schools. The playground on Gaaspstraat, Dr. Kohn’s street, was off limits to Jewish children. Jews were forbidden from visiting parks, zoos, cafes, and restaurants; and hotels, theatres, cabarets were off limits as were sports facilities, concerts, public libraries, and museums.
As of April 1941, all Dutch nationals aged fourteen and older were required to have an identity card. For Jews, the identity card was also printed on the front and back with a large black J.
Of the 17,000 Jews living in the Rivierenbuurt area of Amsterdam, 13,000 would not survive the war.
A statue of Anne Frank stands in the Merwedeplein park.
Dr. Kohn’s fate is uncertain.
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Postcard with Censor Markings from Rosa Cohen in Spain to Sara Van Perlstein-Hecht in Amsterdam
2019.2.273
Postcard labelled “Tarjeta” and numbered “B7045306” near top, purple and brown postage stamps marked “ESPAÑA” in top right corner, “31” stamped in blue in bottom right corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Jews were often allowed to go through Spain to Portugal on the way to Portugal on the way to other destinations.
The van Perlsteins were a prosperous family living in a vibrant Jewish community in pre-war Amsterdam whose lives were irrevocably changed under the German occupation. Philip Samuel (Sam) van Perlstein, had been an importer of Orientalia before expanding into other areas of profitability such as board games; his company, van Perlstein and Roeper Bosch, held the first license in the Netherlands to sell Monopoly. A copy of the stock market game Beursspel is displayed at the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam: Peter van Pels had received it as a 16th birthday present, four months after going into hiding with the Franks.
Sam van Perlstein had understood early the plight of the Jews of Holland. He and his son Gerard van Perlstein assisted in setting up a resistance network. They were able to establish a relationship with Werner Klemke, a German Wehrmacht soldier and talented artist who despised Nazism. Klemke risked his life forging documents for Dutch Jews - identity cards, baptismal and birth certificates, etc. - which enabled some Jews to leave Holland and others to go into hiding. Klemke’s documents ultimately saved the lives of many Jews during the occupation.
While Sam and Gerard survived the war, others in his family were less fortunate. Sam’s brother Herman was murdered in Auschwitz in November 1942. He had been a prominent member of the Amsterdam rowing club. Sam’s uncle Bernard, whom Sam was able to help establish a business trading yeast when his own business failed in the Great Depression, was to be arrested for not wearing his Jewish star, and subsequently deported to Vught concentration camp and ultimately Auschwitz where he perished in January 1944. Siegfried Herman van Perlstein, a prominent lawyer and prosecutor, also perished at Auschwitz in January 1943. And Sam’s mother, Sara van Perlstein-Hecht, who resided at 160 Van Breestraat in Amsterdam, took her own life in March 1943.
[Related items: 2019.2.273-.278]
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Dutch Announcement that Jews Must Wear Star of David
2014.1.208
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Original announcement by Amsterdam Judenrat on April 29, 1942, that the star of David (mogen david) [2014.1.209] had to be worn by every Jewish person in the Netherlands during the Nazi occupation. Signed by A. Asscher and Dr. D. Cohen of the Dutch Joodsche Raad in Amsterdam.
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Registered and Censored Postcard from Gustav Polak in Occupied Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Krause in Halle, Germany
2019.2.285
Postcard with color image of two children passing flowers over fence, “Droolijk Dinksterfest” printed a bottom. Back has blue “Nederland” postage stamp and green “Nederland” postage stamp in upper right corner, writing on left side.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Mr. Egbert Gustav Polak was an engineer, born in Dutch Guyana in 1872, who had lived in Amsterdam. He perished at the Westerbork transit camp on June 20, 1943 according to his Yad Vashem Page of Testimony.
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Anti-Jewish Measures in The Netherlands: Document Concerning Jews and Their Bicycles
2019.2.4
Printed Title "DE GEVOLMACHTIGDE VOOR DE REORGANISATIE VAN DE NEDERLANDSCHE POLITIE" and two dashed lines in top left, two holes punched in left side, "St. 77." in bottom right corner, black print, tan paper
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Document from The Hague in 1942 from the department handling domestic affairs, requiring all Jews - Dutch and stateless - to deliver their bicycles to the German occupiers who would be confiscating them. This is merely one of many measures enacted slowly and methodically between 1940 and 1944 fragmenting Jewish life and cumulatively depriving Jews of their basic civil and human rights and their basic freedoms. Jews would be prohibited from even riding bicycles. Of course, the Dutch are known for their love of bicycles; for many it is their preferred means of transportation. However, the overarching intent of these measures was to restrict movement, to limit the ability to escape, and ultimately to facilitate eventual capture for deportation to extermination centers. Indeed, in July, in just a few weeks from this regulation, the first transports to Westerbork transit camp would commence.
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Ghetto Deportation Order in Amsterdam
2015.2.50
Front: Tan paper with black printed text [Het Joodsche Weekblad]. Font changes several times. Assher and Cohen's names appear on bottom right.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Broadside printed by Amsterdam Jewish Ghetto newspaper, extra edition dated 10 July 1942 (Tamuz 5702-Hebrew calendar). It proclaims that German security police have arrested 700 Jews in Amsterdam. If 4,000 selected Jews chosen that week do not depart to labor camps in Germany, the 700 arrested Jews will be sent to German concentration camps. This may refer to the first group of Jews deported from Holland.
Translation: New Edition: 2nd annual No. 14a July 10, 1942. The Jewish Weekly. Published by the Jewish Council for Amsterdam headed by A. Asscher and Prof. Dr. D. Cohen --- EXTRA EDITION Amsterdam, July 1942. The German Security Police made the following announcement: About 700 Jews were arrested today in Amsterdam. If the 4000 Jews selected for this week, won't depart for the labor camps in Germany, the 700 arrested Jews will be transferred to a concentration camp in Germany. (Signed by the chairmen of the Jewish Council for Amsterdam, A. Asscher and Prof. Dr. D. Cohen.)
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Amsterdam Deportation Order
2014.1.193
A white newsletter with black text.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
An extra edition of the Jewish weekly published July 14, 1942, stating that if the 4,000 Jews selected that week for labor camps in Germany failed to report, 700 Jews would be arrested in Amsterdam and sent to a concentration camp in Germany. On June 26th, the Nazis informed David Cohen that "the Jews of the Netherlands will be employed by the police in labor camps in Germany -- men, women, and entire families." The removal of entire families left no doubt that the term "employed by the police" was no more than an effort to camouflage what was really the deportation and destruction of the Dutch Jewry.
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Request from “Aurora” Company to Van Perlstein and Roeper Bosch
2019.2.278
Envelope with green “NEDERLAND” postage stamp, “Aurora” in orange print, addressed to “Van Perlstein & Roeper Bosch.” Back stamped with “ONTVANGEN 01 SEP. 1942” in black ink near bottom.
[Related items 2019.2.273-.278]
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Request for 24 games of Monopoly. Van Perlstein is the licensee in the Netherlands for the popular game.
The van Perlsteins were a prosperous family living in a vibrant Jewish community in pre-war Amsterdam whose lives were irrevocably changed under the German occupation. Philip Samuel (Sam) van Perlstein, had been an importer of Orientalia before expanding into other areas of profitability such as board games; his company, van Perlstein and Roeper Bosch, held the first license in the Netherlands to sell Monopoly. A copy of the stock market game Beursspel is displayed at the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam; Peter van Pels had received it as a 16th birthday present, four months after going into hiding with the Franks.
Sam van Perlstein had understood early the plight of the Jews of Holland. He and his son Gerard van Perlstein assisted in setting up a resistance network. They were able to establish a relationship with Werner Klemke, a German Wehrmacht soldier and talented artist who despised Nazism. Klemke risked his life forging documents for Dutch Jews - identity cards, baptismal and birth certificates, etc. - which enabled some Jews to leave Holland and others to go into hiding. Klemke’s documents ultimately saved the lives of many Jews during the occupation.
While Sam and Gerard survived the war, others in his family were less fortunate. Sam’s brother Herman was murdered in Auschwitz in November 1942. He had been a prominent member of the Amsterdam rowing club. Sam’s uncle Bernard, whom Sam was able to help establish a business trading yeast when his own business failed in the Great Depression, was to be arrested for not wearing his Jewish star, and subsequently deported to Vught concentration camp and ultimately Auschwitz where he perished in January 1944. Siegfried Herman van Perlstein, a prominent lawyer and prosecutor, also perished at Auschwitz in January 1943. And Sam’s mother, Sara van Perlstein-Hecht, who resided at 160 Van Breestraat in Amsterdam, took her own life in March 1943.
[Related items: 2019.2.273-.278]
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Het Joodsche Weekblad
2019.2.271
Newspaper titled “Het Joodsche Weekblad,” dated “4 DECEMBER 1942,”12 pages.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
The Jewish Council published the Joodsche Weekblad for the first time on April 11, 1941. The council, headed by Abraham Asscher and David Cohen, hoped to reach as many members of the Jewish community as possible. The magazine would contain important announcements and news items, supervised by and filtered through the German occupation administration, such as on new edicts and policies. There were articles on the Jewish religion in general: customs and traditions, Jewish science and culture, along with advertisements for aid available to members of the Jewish community. Any real news would be sanitized. The magazine clearly attempts to create an aura of normality and a sense of community, to assuage fear and foreboding with respect to what the occupation government ultimately had in store for the Jews of the Netherlands.
The final issue if the Joodsche Weekblad appeared in September 1943. By that date, most of the Dutch Jewish community were either deported to the extermination centers or were in hiding.
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![An die Wirtschaftsprufstelle [At the Wirtschaftsprufstelle]](https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/2400/thumbnail.jpg "An die Wirtschaftsprufstelle [At the Wirtschaftsprufstelle]")
An die Wirtschaftsprufstelle [At the Wirtschaftsprufstelle]
2014.1.97a-d
Letters regarding a factory in Amsterdam. One initial document with numbers and three accompanying letters. A: October 18, 1943; numbers and tables, director's stamp. B: October 19, 1943; diagonal handstamp in top left corner. C: October 19, 1943; - 2 - at top of text, penciled in bracket with exclamation point in right margin. D: October 19, 1943; - 3 - at top of text
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:About a firm founded in 1854 and owned by Jews in Amsterdam. Document reports that it is in Aryan possession and that there is no Jewish influence, either directly or indirectly, in the business, since it was sold to A. Frederik Plankeel.
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Signed Attestation from the Netherlands Stating that Individual and Family are not Jewish
2019.2.282
Black printed writing on thin paper with green ink handwriting filling the the blanks. “06o4” is written in red pencil on the top left corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Following the rollout of similar measures in April 1933 in Germany, the Dutch Ministry of the Interior were instructed by the German occupation authority to purge the government and public bureaucracies of Jews. An individual of aryan origin would be defined by having no Jewish blood among his or her grandparents (two sets) or historical membership in a Jewish community. Marrying an individual fully or partially of Jewish blood could also constitute grounds for loss of a job or reason for not being suitable for one. These forms would be a means of establishing one’s racial identity in the Nazi-controlled Netherlands.
In January 1941, Jews themselves were required to register as Jews. Almost 160,000 Jews registered, including 25,000 from Germany.
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Censored Postcard from Gerrid de Haas in Hertogenbosch to Judenrat (Joodsche Raad) in Amsterdam, Netherlands
2019.2.290
Postcard with two holes punched near top, “DRUKWERK” printed in bold, black print at top, addressed to “Gerrid de Haas. Back includes “Regu” in center.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Mr. Gerrid de Haas, prisoner at Hertogenbosch, acknowledges receipt of package. Hertogenbosch censor marking.
Hertogenbosch, also known as Vught, was a concentration camp located in Vught in the Netherlands. Vught and Natzweiler were the only two concentration camps run by the SS in Western Europe. Hertogenbosch was first utilized in 1943 to supplement the transit camps of Westerbork and Amersfoort before prisoners’ ultimate deportation to extermination centers such as Auschwitz and Sobibor, presuming they had not already perished due to hunger, physical abuse, illness, or murder.
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Censored Lettersheet from Jehovah’s Witness, Johanna Groen-van der Vijgh, in Ravensbruck Concentration Camp
2021.1.27
Lettersheet with green typewritten text and black handwritten script and a black mark slashing through the text
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Censored letter sheet from 1943 with both red censor stamp and green chemical censor from Johanna Groen-van der Vijgh to her father, Albert Hendrik van der Vijgh, in Amsterdam. The six-line letter sheet is clearly specific for Jehovah’s Witnesses, referred to derisively on reverse in green German script as “Bibelforscher” or “earnest bible researcher.” Johanna had been married to Aron Groen, a bicycle repairman from a Dutch Jewish family who had been deported to Auschwitz in 1942 and perished. Johanna would survive the war. Johanna’s sister Hendrika had been imprisoned in Ravensbruck as well, but was deported to Auschwitz in 1942 where, during that year, she perished.
[Related item: 2019.2.111]
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Postcard Sent from Westerbork Camp
2014.1.161
Front: Tan postcard with green printed postcard lines and stamp. Includes writing in black ink and black hand stamps.Back: Message written in black ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Postcard from Westerbork, a transit camp in the Netherlands from which Jews were typically deported to death camps such as Auschwitz. Among the many prisoners who passed through this camp were Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum, both diarists who were eventually deported to Auschwitz.
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Information Card for Ester de Wolf of Rotterdam, Netherlands
2019.2.272
Document includes “Gemeente ROTTERDAM” in black print in upper left corner, dated “21 Januari 1943” in bottom right corner, “GEMEENTE ROTTER” stamped in red near bottom.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Population Register on Ester de Wolf, born in 1850, highlighting that she is Jewish.
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Official Netherlands Postcard with Reply, Referencing Jews Forbidden to have Postal Accounts
2019.2.266
Postcard marked “POSTCHEQUE EN GIRODIENST” in black print in upper left corner. Back dated “15 FEB. 1943” stamped in purple.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
One of the many edicts that came from German occupation headquarters in the Netherlands meant to deprive Jews of their civil rights are those regulating Jewish assets. This official postcard references the ruling that “With regard to the treatment of Jewish financial assets, it is no longer permitted, on the instructions of the competent authorities, to hold postal account… It is necessary…to investigate whether the holders of postal accounts are Jewish…” The person receiving the card acknowledges that he is or is not a Jew and has been informed of this matter and the relevant ordinances.
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Censored Letter from Prisoner in Hertogenbosch Concentration Camp, Saartje Turksma-Cohen, to Dieren, Netherlands
2019.2.292
Letter includes “CONCENTRATIEKAMP ‘S HERTOGENBOSCH AUFFANGLAGER” printed in upper left corner, “K.L. ‘S HERTOGENBOSCH AUFFANGLAGER” printed and underlined at bottom of right side.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Three-page censored letter from Jewish prisoner Saartje Turksma-Cohen, from Doesburg, Netherlands. She was to be transported with her husband Mozes - four months after writing this letter - to Auschwitz, where she perished September 17, 1943 at the age of 45.
Hertogenbosch, also known as Vught, was a concentration camp located in Vught in the Netherlands. Vught and Natzweiler were the only two concentration camps run by the SS in Western Europe. Hertogenbosch was first utilized in 1943 to supplement the transit camps of Westerbork and Amersfoort before prisoners’ ultimate deportation to extermination centers such as Auschwitz and Sobibor, presuming they had not already perished due to hunger, physical abuse, illness, or murder.
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Censored Cover from Gerardus Toen in Amsterdam to Dr. Arthur Wiederkehr, Mediator for Visas in Switzerland
2019.2.289
Envelope with two green postage stamps marked “NEDERLAND” in upper right corner, addressed to “Herrn Rechtsanwalt Dr. ARTHUR WIEDERKEHR” printed in center, “Zürich” underlined.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Wiederkehr was a somewhat controversial figure, an attorney who was in a position to help Jews in distressed circumstances in Europe arrange for emigration to Switzerland. To some in the American legation in Switzerland, however, he was more than just a well-connected, virtuous benefactor helping Jews escape the clutches of the Nazis; rather, he was considered a mercenary, an opportunistic middleman between the Nazis and Jews, ensuring his cut of a sizeable ransom paid for his services irrespective of the ultimate fate of the Jews he claimed to assist. Wiederkehr and his colleague Anna Hochberg, both Swiss nationals, were thought of as trolling for ransom money and essentially trading with the enemy. [Conquest and Redemption: A History of Jewish Assets from the Holocaust by Gregg Rickman]
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Postcard from Theodor Zirker in Westerbork Transit Camp to Dr. Lotte Hurwitz in Belgium
2021.1.23
Postcard dated 8/23/1943 with writing in green ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Mr. Zirker was born March 6, 1890 in Tirschtiegel, Poland. He was known as a manufacturer or merchant, with intentions to marry an office clerk, Clara van der Kaars. However, before the wedding could take place, Mr. Zirker was deported to Westerbork, and placed in Barak 41. Westerbork was initially a refugee camp established by the Dutch government for German and Austrian Jews fleeing Nazi persecution. However, German SS took control of the camp in 1943. This postcard to Dr. Hurwitz in Brussels was written 8-30-1943 and censored with a chemical censor and handstamped by the Commando unit of the Wehrmacht. Deported to Bergen-Belsen, Mr. Zirker perished February 9, 1944.