In response to the relentless persecution and oppression of Jews in Nazi Germany, and the concomitant rise of extreme nationalism and antisemitism in Eastern European countries, many Jews considered immigration to Palestine, then under British mandate. However, in attempting to appease Palestinian Arabs, the British White Paper of 1939 severely restricted the immigration of Jews, adhering to unrealistic quotas at a time when Jews were desperate to escape certain death in their respective countries and had nowhere else to go, most countries having refused to accept more than a limited number of refugees. They would thus be considered "illegal aliens" but had no alternative but to attempt immigration to Palestine.
The Pentcho, an old malfunctioning Danube paddle-steamer, left Bratislava, Slovakia on May 18, 1940 with 400 refugee Slovakian and German Jews-including some former inmates of Buchenwald - bound for Palestine, attempting to escape Nazi persecution. The voyage was organized by Betar, the right-wing Revisionist Zionists, as part of the Aliyah Bet. The Pentcho wheezed and clanked down the Danube, picking up 100 more refugee Austrian Jews along the way, and continued on to Palestine. Delays and diversions occurred, and during the arduous journey the ship's boiler exploded in Italian territory causing the Pentcho to split in two. The passengers, marooned on the deserted island of Kamilanisi, were nevertheless able to get their supplies ashore. Having been spotted by a plane, they were eventually picked up by Italian authorities and brought to the island of Rhodes - during the war under Italian control - where they lived for the next 15 months in "concentration camp" San Giovanni, a sports stadium on the island of Rhodes, guarded by Italian soldiers but aided by members of the indigenous Rhodes Jewish community who brought them food and supplies. They were transferred in January 1942 to Ferramonti internment camp in southern Italy, living among other "enemy aliens," until they were liberated by the British army in 1943 after the Allies captured Italy. Most of the refugees successfully emigrated to Palestine, although a number were sent to the Fort Ontario refugee center in New York State.
The Jewish community of Rhodes were to take an entirely different journey. More than 1600 were to be herded onto three cargo vessels and wagons and transported to Auschwitz in the summer of 1944. Of the 2000 Jews living on the island before the war, only 150 survived the Holocaust.
--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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Josef Tiso Postcard
2012.1.373
Postcard with black and white photograph of Josef Tito, an older man wearing black. Includes blank postcard lines on back.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Josef Tiso (1887-1947) was a Slovak politician and priest, head of the Nazi satellite Slovak state and involved in the deportation and massacre of Jews. He was convicted and hanged at war's end.
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Letter From Josef Tiso
2012.1.372
Tan paper with "Prezident Slovenskej Republiky" (President of the Slovak Republic) letterhead. Includes typewritten message and signature in faint ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Josef Tiso (1887-1947) was a Slovak politician and priest, head of the Nazi satellite Slovak state and involved in the deportation and massacre of Jews. He was convicted and hanged at war's end. This letter was written on Presidential letterhead to General Lieutenant Franz Barackhausen, German General of Artillery, in part "... Please accept my heartfelt thanks for your friendly new year's wishes which I sincerely reciprocate..." At the time of this letter, Franz Barackhausen was serving as head of the German military mission in Slovakia.
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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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Censored Airmail Postcard from Bratislava, Slovakia to Alfred Grunsfeld at “Concentration Camp” San Giovanni on the Island of Rhodes
2019.2.357
Front: floral burgundy border, purple 'C5' handstamp, addressed to Alfred Grunsfeld. Verso: handwritten message with purple 'C5' handstamp in center
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
This camp is in an old sports stadium on the island of Rhodes for interned civilians during wartime. Sent by relative in Bratislava, Slovakia.
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Postcard from Slovakia to Rhodes
2014.1.361
Front: 'Trapa' repeated along edge to create a border; drawing of Star of David in upper left corner. Back: Handwritten text, Large black ink blot on top.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Postcard from Julius Janovitz to Bella Janovitz, whom he refers to as a civilian intern of war, and as a former passenger on the ill-fated Pentcho, is now in the “concentration camp” on the island of Rhodes. Interesting is the drawing of the Star of David recto. Julius, who was perhaps Bella’s father, perished in the war. Bella was ultimately to be relocated to the Italian internment camp of Ferramonti di Tarsia and survived the war.
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Censored Postcard to Bella Janowitz Interned in “Concentration Camp” on Island of Rhodes
2014.1.356a
Front: Image of a large estate at the base of mountains with 'Lubochna - Spa' caption below; handwritten address with red and black circular hand stamps, 'Slovenska Posta' postage stamp with figure in profile. Back: Handwritten note dated July 10, 1941.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Postcard sent by relative in Slovakia.
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Censored Letter from Margit Heitlinger, a Former Passenger on the Steamer Pentcho
2019.2.302
Lined letter written in purple with large “C 1” stamped in purple in top right corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Censored letter written by a 20-year-old Jewish refugee, Margit Heitlinger, about her experiences on the island of Rhodes, assuring her aunt in Tel Aviv, Palestine that having survived the shipwreck, she is in the “fortunate area” of the island (probably the Rhodes soccer stadium).
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Censored Postcard to Bella Janowitz, Civilian Intern in “Concentration Camp” on Island of Rhodes,
2014.1.356b
Front: handwritten note, typed address to Bella Janowitz, black circular hand stamp. Back: Handwritten note.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Postcard sent by relative in Zvolen, Slovakia.
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Postcard to Man Interned at Ferramonti di Tarsia Internment Camp
2014.1.358
Front: Orange 'Slovensko' and black 'Slovenska Posta' postage stamps in top right corner, blue stamp 'Lietadlom/Par Avion' stamp, typed text on left hand side. Back: Typed text filling up entirety of page.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Ferramonti was the largest internment camp established by Mussolini in 1940. Over 3,800 Jews were imprisoned there, most of whom were foreign-born. Prisoners were released six weeks after Mussolini's downfall in September 1943.
Postcard from Bratislava, Slovakia to Fridrich (Fritz) Kohn, a Jewish internee originally from Czechoslovakia, on the island of Rhodes in 1940 subsequent to the Pentcho debacle. As of this writing he has been transferred along with other survivors of the Pentcho to Ferramonti di Tarsia internment camp near Cosenza in Calabria, Italy in January 1942.
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Postcard to Man Interned at Ferramonti di Tarsia Internment Camp
2014.1.357
Front: Purple 'generalgouvernement' printed postage stamp in right corner; J.U.S. hand stamp on left side with eagle symbol hand stamp below. Back: Typed note, purple J.U.S. hand stamp at bottom center.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Ferramonti was the largest internment camp established by Mussolini in 1940. Over 3,800 Jews were imprisoned there, most of whom were foreign-born. Prisoners were released six weeks after Mussolini's downfall in September 1943.
Postcard from the J.U.S. Jewish Support Team (Judische Unterstutzungsstelle fur das Generalgouvernement) in Krakow, 1943, to internee Friedrich Kohn in Ferramonti di Tarsia, Cosenza. Mr. Kohn who had been on the ill-fated Pentcho, had been rescued and taken to the island of Rhodes along with other survivors of the shipwreck. This postcard - censored - was sent several months after the final Nazi assault commenced on the Jewish ghetto at Krakow, the capital of the General Government. Hans Frank was the Governor General of the region and was headquartered there. Oskar Schindler’s enamel factory was located here as well.
Subject: search operation.
Your letter of 10.11.1.to the J.U.S. which was handed to us recently, could not be answered because the J.U.S. was inactive from December last year because of the new regulations of the Jewish camps and the Jewish residential districts in the General Government.
J.U.S. has now been allowed to resume her activities with the approval of the relevant authorities. For the time being, this extends to the mediation of gifts from neutral and friendly foreign countries for the Jews in the G.G. The investigations into the whereabouts of Jews in the G.G. are outside our area of activity, so we regret not being able to serve you with the desired information.
Sincerely, Dr. Weichert.