Jews would discover, however, that emigrating to the United States, Great Britain or Mandatory Palestine would not be easy. The wealth and assets of prospective emigrants would be expropriated by the German government. They had to rely on family or close relatives in-country to support their application by providing an affidavit that demonstrated they had the financial means to care for the applicant. In a world still reeling from the Great Depression no one would be admitted who needed to find a job and risk being a public charge. Furthermore, State Department diplomats’ requirement to hew to rigid and discriminatory quotas was a pretext for deeper lying antisemitism and the fear of alienating constituencies. Indeed, the strong criticism of Germany’s treatment of the Jews by other countries notwithstanding, Hitler would cynically claim that this vaunted concern for the Jews was insincere and hypocritical: the very nations that criticized Germany demonstrated by their own restrictive immigration policies that they did not want Jews any more than the Germans did. And in fact, the violence directed at Jews by Nazi Germany inspired antisemitic movements in many countries, including the United States and Great Britain.
The desperation to emigrate - often without loved ones - meant attempting alternative, more arduous routes to safety from the Nazi scourge. If the rigors of the journey itself weren’t enough for these emigrés, the need to adapt to cultural and climatic differences in those countries willing to provide conditional sanctuary to refugee Jews could prove a formidable challenge, especially during wartime. Living conditions could be crowded, developing a sense of community with other refugees difficult, and having a means of self-support limited. With few resources, the refugees had to set about attempting to recreate a livelihood. These problems notwithstanding, the refugees were at times able to obtain aid from local charities, or the “Joint,” the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Many had visas and passports signed by diplomats and consuls who risked their own lives and careers to help them escape a certain death.
Too many Jews would choose to remain in Germany, some because of the suffocating bureaucratic red tape, others because of family concerns like aging parents, and still others recalling the history of antisemitic pogroms in Europe punctuated by periods of relative stability. Many simply did not have the wherewithal to leave. Things would eventually improve, so they told themselves, just as they had in the past, and the Nazis would no longer be a menace. What was to ensue, however, could not have been foreseen by anyone.
For those who could not gather their resources in time before the borders were closed in 1941, the ghettos and camps would eradicate what little hope remained, as the vicious spiral of chronic overcrowding, malnourishment and disease took their toll. Jan Karski, the courier for the Polish underground, saw the Warsaw ghetto for the horror it was: entire families living in one room of a slum with no heating during the harsh Polish winters; desperately hungry, enervated mothers leaning against a wall pleading for a piece of bread; children barefoot begging in the streets for food; the dead strewn along sidewalks awaiting the burial carts; the stench of death everywhere…
--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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Postcards From German Citizen to American Family Friend
2021.1.4ab
[a]: postmarked 8.1.36; burgundy pre-printed lines and stamp; handwritten message on front and back
[b]: postmarked 8.1.37; green pre-printed lines and stamp along with added brown postage stamp; handwritten message on front and back
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Two postcards written by Carl Roeder on the same day one year apart during the early years of the Nazification of Germany. Mr. Roeder lives in Dresden, is an “old friend” of the recipient Walter Meyer of North Bergen, New Jersey, who is possibly a German émigré. He hopes Mr. Meyer had a “good time” over the holidays - Christmas and New Year’s. He keeps Mr. Meyer up to date about his family. He reminisces about the holidays they have celebrated together. He then states: “I cannot report any news. Life for us here always the same. But you can read the newspapers and you can understand all the better than if I would write it down. It is too long of a story for a letter, and may not do me any good, when I write too much, because I am getting now slowly an old man with a feeble hand so that I do not dare write too much. I hope you take notice of the circumstances, and you understand me and you will excuse me, that I send only this post card.”
Mr. Roeder continues with reporting the weather and wishing his best regards to his old friend Mr. Meyer and his wife. Finally, Ulrike Roeder sends her best wishes.
One year later, postmarked on the same day, Mr. Roeder writes Mr. Meyer again. He states that he does not want to be late in sending best wishes and hoping for a prosperous year for Mr. Meyer. He and Ulrike were happy to hear that Mr. Meyer and Katie were doing well. He then states: “The goddess of justice is blind, but in these hard times we must be content, if we can make an honest livelihood, even if it is a modest one…I do not come to Berlin, as I have no friends there anymore. One often thinks it could not be otherwise. Out fate and destiny then seems to be determined by another heart than our own...We did not expect such a great success for Mr. Roosevelt, but we consider him here always the next President. Sometimes we see a thing from a distance better from a near stand...I do not know yet when I will be able to make the trip to N.Y. because it depends on so many circumstances…”
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Postcard Airmail from Vienna to Palestine After Anschluss
2016.1.19
Front:Typewritten page beginning with "Liebste Hedy" and ends with handwritten "Lola"; Back: Four postage stamps, two red, 2 green, two "MIT FLUGPOST POST AVION" stamps
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Austria had been annexed by Nazi Germany in March 1938 - the so-called Anschluss - one month before this airmail postcard was written by Lola Feiner, living in Vienna, to her sister Hedy Finkelmann in Palestine. After the annexation, Jews were chased through the streets, compelled to wash sidewalks on their knees, humiliated and beaten. Jewish-owned businesses and residences were pillaged. Thousands of Austrians who opposed Nazi rule were sent to concentration camps. Statements of assets were required of all Jews. Germany’s Nuremberg Laws would be imposed upon the Jews of Austria. This is the political context for the postcard that Lola sends to Hedy expressing concern over the circumstances in which she is immersed, asking for financial assistance, as she has not received money from “Luschi”: “It has been three weeks now that we haven’t received anything, and you can probably imagine the situation…We don’t know what to live on.” Lola asks urgently to “send us something for maintenance by airmail or otherwise as quickly as possible…” She asks her sister not to send schillings as they would be confiscated. “Pounds arrive easily.” Assuring Hedy that she is healthy, Lola hopes that this is as well the case for her.
By May, Jews of Vienna had lost their civil liberties, and were forced to wear the yellow star. The Kristallnacht pogrom occurred in November. Synagogues were destroyed and many Jews were sent to Dachau concentration camp. Jewish owned property and assets were confiscated. Many Jews would attempt to flee to other countries.
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A Plea for Help. Letter Sent by Suria Kalb in Vienna to Relative in America Requesting Assistance Emigrating to America
2012.1.363ab
Envelope: Tan envelope addressed to Sam Wasserman in black ink. Includes return address from Sara Kalb on back flap.Letter: Letter in black ink written on grid paper.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Dear Cousin: Even though I was just a little girl when your dear cousin departed for America you will no doubt remember my mother from Tarnow. My mother was the sister to your mother who had gone to her eternal rest. Mindel Laufer was my mother’s name and my name is Suria and I live in Vienna. I am married by the name Kalb. We lived well and everything was OK. Now however a great change took place for every Jewish person. It is a situation in which we all find ourselves. No doubt you are familiar with it. I assume that people in America have very little understanding for it when one is caught in a situation like this. All the people who have relatives in America are leaving to go there. Everyone is willing to help whenever they can. I am thankful that I have you in America. Please be our savior in my problem. I do not know of anyone whom to ask for help. Will you send me the papers for me to emigrate to America? I am not the least concerned about my future over there. It simply cannot be more difficult to earn a living there comparing it to here. We are still young and not afraid to work hard. We need the necessary papers. You can make contact with the “HIAS Society” in New York Lafayette Street who will help you. I am very sincere regarding my coming to America. I want to save myself from being condemned to death. I plead with you dear cousin to provide the papers for me and my husband whose name is Mendel Kalb. Born August 9, 1903 in Tarnow. Our 8 ½ year old child is named Manfred Kalb born November 23, 1935 in Vienna. We are certain that you will do everything possible and will notify us that you will help us for it means life or death and it may be easy for you to help us. It is an opportunity once in a lifetime to do something good for people in need. We plead with you to help us and we thank you dear cousin in advance. We greet you heartily and remain as the family of Mendel and Suria Kalb. Vienna II Talen Str. 46/25.
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Postcard From Distraught Jewish Woman Alone in Vienna after Kristallnacht
2014.1.56
Front: Handwritten message in black ink.Back: Red printed postcard lines, black handwritten address and message, and red stamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Mailed by a Jewess named Schprinze, addressed to her family in Jerusalem, Palestine. German handwritten message addressed to Josef Pollak, a family member who managed to leave Nazi Germany in good time while Ms. Schprinze remained alone in Vienna. The text indicates her state of mind: her confusion, fear, and separation from reality. "One can only imagine the horrors these days: the sounds of broken glass everywhere, all the raging mobs looting shops, sights of wild fires burning old sacred synagogues. Above all the feeling that life is completely turned over..." She begins the card with family matters, asking for Morris's address which she has lost, then complains she has no luck (mazal). She continues, "Morris is not writing to me... I am worried for my life... I have no time to think... Please help me..." Signed in Hebrew letters "Schprinze." She mailed the card with surface rather than air mail and neglected to write her address. As no family name appears on the card, we know nothing of her fate.
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Postcard from a Jewish Refugee in Germany Trapped in France en Route to England
2015.2.63
Front: Tan postcard with neat blue ink cursive script vertically across the page. Some water damage on the lower left side. Back: Printed red postcard lines. Continuation of message in blue cursive ink on left side. The right side includes the address written in blue and black ink on the printed lines. Printed red stamp of a woman in classical garments holding a torch in the upper righthand corner. Black stamps across the top of the page.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Postcard sent to Dr. Martin Nathan in Tel Aviv, Palestine. Alice describes her situation calmly, with a sense of humor, but eminently realistically. She is understandably fearful, worried about the immediate future. She reports having received her Visa to England on September 1, on the outbreak of war, and left Germany on September 2nd. But she is stuck and cannot continue on her journey to England, in all probability because in wartime with a German Visa she would not be permitted to enter England as an alien of an enemy country. She reports that her stay in France is not so pleasant but that she cannot complain because the times are so serious. She is being taken care of by the local Jewish committee and has been provided with shelter. All of her belongings are in England, she thinks. Nevertheless, there is no place where she is staying to put her things. She states that no one knows what will be. She thinks that her mother was not able to escape. News from Italy arrived after Alice left. She states that an enormous sum of money is required to bring her mother to Alice, and the Committee is not able to help. She asks how Dr. Nathan is, and whether they will ever see one another again. She is afraid that this will not happen. Write me, she says, stating that she is so alone, completely dependent on the good will of strangers. One meets people who help but "there are many unpleasant matters." She concludes, "Well, we must go on. Regards to you all. Yours, Alice."
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Postcard from Deborah Lifchitz
2014.1.104
Front: Tan postcard with printed blue postcard lines, including a message and address written in purple ink. Above the message are five postage stamps of varying colors, as well as several hand stamps.Back: Message continues in purple ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Deborah (Deba) Lifchitz was a French Jewish linguist, a student of Oriental languages, and expert on the Semitic languages of Ethiopia. She worked at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris in the Africa Department. She authored important works on the Ethiopian language. Born in Russia, Deba obtained French citizenship in 1937. With the Nazi occupation of France, she lost her position at the museum. Though taken in by writer and ethnologist Michel Leiris, Deborah was eventually arrested by the French police, sent to a French internment camp, and deported to Auschwitz where she was murdered in 1943.
Deborah (Deba) Lifchitz. 1939 French 70C. post card airmailed from Paris 23.11.1939 by Deba to her mother Henrietta Lifchitz, Hadera, Palestine. Message in French handwritten to her, addressed in Hebrew and written two-and-a-half months after the outbreak of WWII: "My dear ones, Your postcard received, I am pleased to learn that you also got my postcards even though it was delayed. The Tubman's are also here, you may write to them at the address. How is mother? How are you? How do you feel? And your work? Lately we are very busy at the museum in preparation of several exhibition halls, especially the Salle de L'Afrique. Very fortunately the opening is tomorrow and I will be able to return to my work... I embrace you and send my love, yours Deba." Her return address is given as "Musée de L'Homme." Hexagonal Palestine censor mark.
[Related item: 2014.1.105]
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Postcards Sent by Family to Jewish Child Rita Goldstein Sheltered by OSE
2021.1.46a-e
Five postcards written in blue and black ink. All bearing blue french stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
The OSE (L'Œuvre de Secours aux Enfants) was a humanitarian children’s aid organization providing social and medical assistance to Jewish families in need. After 1933, OSE’s main office was moved from Berlin to Paris, where Jewish children - refugees from Nazi Germany and Austria - were placed in OSE children’s homes in the area. By 1939 more than 200 children had been placed in one of these homes in Paris. OSE also provided social services to foreign Jews living in internment camps such as Gurs and Rivesaltes. OSE attempted to relocate Jewish children from these camps to homes in the unoccupied Vichy region of France where they would be cared for. With the German occupation of the Vichy region in 1942, the OSE mission changed to more clandestine activities: the development of hiding places, the creation of false documents, and smuggling children across the border to Switzerland and Spain. Through the heroic efforts of the OSE, more than 5000 Jewish children were saved from Nazi extermination. OSE’s work continued post-liberation assisting surviving children from Buchenwald find placements in French rehabilitation facilities.
The Goldstein family had lived in a flat on Bismarck Street in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The parents, David and Frida, did well in the family business: a smoker’s shop. Oscar, then an adolescent, has stated in reminiscing about the OSE and his own experiences as a refugee, that his parents decided to emigrate after Kristallnacht when the store was destroyed. By that time, however, it was not possible for them to obtain visas. They left for Belgium, first the father and then Oscar and his sister Rita and mother. Escape was difficult, they went back to Cologne, and this time were successfully smuggled into Belgium. The family received aid from the Jewish humanitarian organization AJJDC or “Joint” and were able to stay in a hotel until the Germans invaded Belgium in May 1940. At this point the family left for France on foot. Oscar would eventually be interned through the OSE at the Rivesaltes camp, while his sister Rita was placed by OSE in Hotel d’Angers in Le Mans early in the German occupation. Father David Goldstein would be deported to Auschwitz where he was murdered.
These 5 postcards appear to be written by several family members living at the Villa des Tourelles, an OSE “safe house” located in the Paris region at 113 Rue de Paris, Soisy-sous-Montmorency, France, all addressed to daughter Rita Goldstein placed by the OSE at the Hotel d’Angers in Le Mans. The postcards are somewhat illegible but appear to be written just before the German occupation of France.
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Georg and Hedwig Hirschfeld Letter
2012.1.510
White letter with title, "Gemeinnükige Kleingärtner = Genossenschaft m. b. h., Quedlinburg a Harz." Includes a typewritten message.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
One of two documents (2012.1.510 & 2012.1.511) relating to German Jewish couple Georg and Hedwig Hirschfeld. Georg Hirschfeld was a well-known author who lived in Munich. The couple sold their house to a German named Gottschalk. After the house was sold, the Hirschfelds were unable to find a flat due to the Nazi law involving "tenancies with Jews." Mrs. Hirschfeld tried everything to get an accommodation for herself and her husband. She finally tried to get an accommodation in a summer house through a German allotment club.
This first letter is a very kind response by a German to Mrs. Hirschfeld. A translation follows: "Dear Mrs. Hirschfeld! We received your letter from 12.2.1940 and unfortunately have to inform you that we are not able to bestow upon you an accommodation in our allotment club. Due to the law Tenancies with Jews from 30.4.1939 it is against the law for German nationals to live together with Jews. The common housing shortage and actual war situation make it impossible to accommodate you and your husband in a Jewish house. Perhaps you should seek to talk again with SS-Hauptsturmführer Berg and ask him if there is a possibility to accommodate you at the newly established Ghetto at Litzmannstadt. Dear Mrs. Hirschfeld, we are so sorry that we cannot give you a more positive response. With best regards and Heil Hitler.”
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Georg and Hedwig Hirschfeld Letter
2012.1.511
A typewritten letter on thin paper. Includes several underlined lines and handwritten notes.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
One of two documents (2012.1.510 & 2012.1.511) relating to German Jewish couple: Georg and Hedwig Hirschfeld. Georg Hirschfeld was a well-known author who lived in Munich. The couple sold their house to a German named Gottschalk. After the house was sold, the Hirschfelds were unable to find a flat due to the Nazi law involving "tenancies with Jews." Mrs. Hirschfeld tried everything to get an accommodation for herself and her husband. She finally tried to get an accommodation in a summer house through a German allotment club. The first letter (2012.1.510) was a very kind response by a German to Mrs. Hirschfeld.
This second letter was written by Mrs. Hirschfeld to Gottschalk. A translation follows: Dear Mrs. Gottschalk, Dear Mr. Gottschalk, Herewith I send you the letters which I received by the allotment club. I couldn't send them earlier. Because I was pretty sick and it is even difficult for me to move or do any physical work. Unfortunately, it is totally hopeless to get one or two empty rooms. So I have to continue to search. My husband is already signed out from here, because they will keep him at the hospital. He is not able to live outside, because of his sick heart. My self I have no change to come into question with the Jewish Housing Agency, because due to the law, I do not belong to the Jewish Unit of Germany. Therefore I also don't have maternity rights. This law changed, because of the marital law. It is not allowed to get homeless and I don't want to dump my furniture. I don't understand why you avoided an open debate before the war with me and my husband. I tell you that, because you lowered the price for the house and you ruined us totally. Unfortunately, I more and more don't understand the people of my environment. Since one year now, we get chased around and all agitate against us. How to take responsibility for this in front of God--I don't know it! Hedwig Hirschfeld Hassel.
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Postcard from Arthur Cohn in Shanghai to Dr. Siegfried Walter in Gleiwitz, Germany
2015.2.2
Front: Typewritten message. Back: 'Carte Postale - Chine.' Includes orange Chinese characters, and a printed stamp in orange on upper right corner showing a man with a black circular Shanghai handstamp over it. In upper left are two pasted stamps: one blue, and one green, each depicting a man with Chinese characters in the upper corners. Another black circular Shanghai handstamp over them. Beneath is a typewritten message. Below the message is a pencil signature. Return address typed horizontally in middle, with red Nazi eagle stamp over it.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
“Dear Doctor, A few days ago, I received your letter of February 1st of this year, which I have already confirmed to my brother-in-law in Beuthen these days. After several days of effort, I am now able to see your file at Hicem here. The last one available is a letter from Hicem to the Reich Association dated December 11, 1939. (Case 1154/4523) telling you that they can't do anything for you and that you should contact friends about work permits. I assume that this prompted your letter of 2/1/40. I am now trying to use my connections here to get you an employment contract, but unfortunately, I must tell you right now that this is very difficult…”
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A Cry For Help from Nazi Germany
2014.1.100
Front: White postcard with message and address written in blue ink. Includes two green postage stamps, one blue stamp, and several hand stamps. Back: Continuation of message.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Postcard (with Nazi censor mark at upper right) airmailed from Mannheim to New York; sent by Dr. Siegfried Israel Basnizki and his wife Margrete to relatives in the U.S. "We are fine, why do we not hear from you? People here are being invited to the immigration office, why are we not among them? Have you transferred the funds that we sent you to use as financial guarantee funds? L. Jonnah of the Leipzig office said that the $500 required as insurance for immigration has not been received. In case you transferred it, please ask for confirmation to be sent to us... We do not want to lose more time." Thus, Seigfried and his wife urged the family to assist them as time was rapidly running out. Margrete added the following: "I am miserable from your silence. We do not ask for much. Just do it and we will be successful. Do not forsake us." At this time, the Nazis allowed and indeed encouraged emigration of German Jews. The Zentralstelle Fur Judische Auswanderung (Central Office of Jewish Emigration) assisted in this process. The office provided passports and arranged legal and procedural matters. The sum of $500 was required as financial assurance that the person would be leaving the country. Sadly, Dr. Basnizki and Margrete failed to get the appropriate papers for their rescue. They both perished the same day in Auschwitz, three years after sending this postcard.
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Kindertransport Correspondence: International Red Cross from Walter Herz, United Kingdom, to Marie Herz, Bohemia-Moravia
2012.1.36
Document with Red Cross at top, titled, "War Organisation of the British Red Cross and Order of St. John. Includes typewritten and printed information in English and German.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Red Cross correspondence. An official "War Organisation of the British Red Cross..." inquiry filed by Walter Herz ("Relationship of enquirer to addressee: Son"), a young Czech Jew, sent by his parents to Great Britain prior to WWII. His parents remained in Bohemia-Moravia. Form has official 4-line boxed hand stamped address at top: "Red Cross Message Bureau 22, 37 Sutherland Avenue, Paddington, London W9." Limited message (no more than 25 words) reads in German: "Dear Mommy, Do not worry about me, I am very fine. I have everything I need. Kisses, Walter." Addressed to his mother, Marie Herz, in Bohemia-Moravia. Form has a red double circle of the International Red Cross, Geneva. It was received in Nazi Germany on October 14, 1940 (per the red boxed hand stamp at top). His mother's reply, also in German: "My very dear Walter, Do not worry about me. I am healthy & fine, too. Thousand kisses from your Mama." The form was hand stamped by the International Red Cross in Geneva. Kindertransport (also Refugee Children Movement or RCM) is the name given to the rescue mission that took place nine months prior to the outbreak of World War II. The United Kingdom took in nearly 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Nazi Germany and the occupied territories of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the Free City of Danzig. The children were placed in British foster homes, hostels, and farms.
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Red Cross Correspondence from Franziska Distler in Nazi-Occupied Vienna to Alexander Distler, Interned in Camp I, Ottawa, Canada
2019.2.312ab
a: Envelope “COMITÉ INTERNATIONAL DE LA CROIX-ROUGE-GENÈVE” addressed to “Mr. Alexander DISLER.” B: Document with Red Cross symbol in upper left corner, marked “Deutsches Rotes Kreuz,” stamped with date “10 AUG 1940” near top.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Alexander Distler, Polish-born civil engineer and architect residing in Vienna, fled to Great Britain after Kristallnacht and was placed with other refugees in Kitchener Camp in Richborough Kent. Distler was one of 6,000 refugees to escape Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia for Great Britain. Britain’s fear of a war with Germany, however, meant that many of the refugees would be treated as possible “enemy aliens”. Distler would be deported to Canada and confined to Camp I. He had been in contact with his mother Franziska Distler in Vienna who was apparently unaware that “Aleksander” had relocated and was concerned that she had not heard from him. In one letter eventually reaching him in Camp I she expresses her sadness over the lack of communication and hopes he is well (2019.2.321ab). She asks him to be “lighthearted.” Messages within the Greater Germany (including Austria) were sent by way of the Red Cross and forwarded to their respective destinations. Only 25 words were allowed both front and back, and the mail was censored.
[Related items 2019.2.310 - 2019.2.323]
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Letter and Envelope to Elice Raoux, Montfort, France Regarding Jewish Citizens of Rouen, France
2012.1.25ab
White envelope and letter handwritten in blue ink.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Partial translation: "Just a word in a hurry to inform you that all the Jewish people of Rouen have been arrested in the night from Friday to Saturday. Men, women and children have all been taken away and they came to Drancy Saturday morning. I think that "the Tigress" [an unknown individual] is among them. Deportations to the East are envisaged. Try to send news of yourself to Camille because you are the only person who connects him to the civilized people. I am not sure, but there is a great probability that Holstein would be among the prisoners, seeing as Levy Risle and his whole family have been arrested a preceding night..."
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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]
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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.
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Postcard From Belgian Survivor Felice Grossman Describing Her Wartime Experiences
2012.1.24
Postcard with red printed postcard lines and message written in black ink. Addressed to the Bronx in New York City.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
11 Fr. Belgian stationery card written by Felice Grossmann to Herta Schwarzstein, her family member in New York. Felice reveals her whereabouts during the war years: "I am finally allowed to write... I have been hiding, for almost two years, in a Monastery... You can not imagine the horror, fear, misery and persecutions we suffered in the last four years... All we think about is how to reach you [in the United States] and when... We are disgusted with Europe... I always look for Egon whenever I see American soldiers... With heart full of yearning, your Lissy." The letter is written in German and has Belgian and American censor marks at front. Belgium was liberated by US troops in September 1944.
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Israel Kultusgemeinde Wien Response Concerning Fate of Mrs. Franziska Distler, Mother of Alexander Distler
2019.2.321ab
a: Green envelope with a purple ink stamp in the center with “508” and a purple purple stamp in the top right corner. b: Typed letter dated “18. Februar 1948” in the top right corner and the same purple “508” ink stamp as the envelope.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
An official reply from the Israel Kultusgemeinde Wien (Jewish Community Organization of Vienna) to an enquiry by Alexander Distler, now living in London, about his mother Mrs. Franziska Distler of Vienna, Austria. The agency reports that Mrs. Distler was deported to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia on June 28, 1942 “and to our greatest regret” does not appear to have returned. Records indicate that Mrs. Distler was born in 1864 and had been deported on Transport 29. Signed with official handstamp of organization.
[Related items: 2019.2.310 - 2019.2.323]
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Letter Sent to Dr. Alexander Distler at Netherne Hospital in Surrey, England from June Engel in Atlantic City, New Jersey
2019.2.322
Blue folding letter/envelope, black handwriting, with a blue and red striped border around the address panel. Addressed to “Mr Alexander Distler” and stamped with the date “August 8 1952”.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Distler received mail from both June Engel and Dr. Alexander Bramson who were married after the war in 1946. Bramson was the Polish representative to the United Nations “Committee 17,” which established a legal definition of genocide.
This particular letter, from June Engel, written in German, was sent to Netherne Hospital in Surrey, England, a psychiatric facility where Distler was a patient for a time after the war.
[Related items 2019.2.310 - 2019.2.323]