Philatelic and Numismatic Forms of Commemoration

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  International Day of Liberation Stamps

  2012.1.428a

  Blue and pink stamps with a shirtless man titled, "Zum tode Geführt und Siehe Wir Leben."

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

  On April 9, 1955, the German Democratic Government issued these stamps to commemorate the International Day of Liberation.

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  International Day of Liberation Commemorative Card

  2012.1.428b

  White sheet with blue and pink stamps with an illustration of a shirtless man. Titled, "Für den Aufbau Nationaler Gedenkstätten in Buchenwald, Ravensbrück, Sachsenhausen."

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: On April 9, 1955, the German Democratic Government issued these stamps to commemorate the International Day of Liberation.

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  First Day Cover: Israeli New Year 1955

  2012.1.142

  Off-white envelope with green and black illustration of women sitting on steps.

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Miriam Karoly’s 1955 Jewish Festival series of 4 stamps to celebrate the New Year of 1955 (5716) and 1956 (5717) depicting musicians playing ancient biblical musical instruments: in this case the cymbal and timbrel. The cover itself illustrates a group of mourners before the “eternal flame” of an oil lamp -the ner tamid- representing the abiding presence of God and his care of the Jewish people. As well the illustration on the cover contains the Hebrew words Yad Vashem, which refers to the verse in the Book of Isaiah wherein God says he will give the Jewish people a “memorial and a name” that will endure forever within his temple. (Isaiah 56:5) The stamp’s date of issue postmark in Haifa is to the left of a pictorial cancellation, showing the oil lamp representing the “eternal flame” and a reference to the victims and survivors of the Shoah and Yad Vashem- the Holocaust Remembrance Center in Israel- opened just two years before the printing of this first day cover, the “enduring memorial” and national depository for the names of the Jewish victims who have no one to carry their name after death.

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  Leo Baeck Commemorative Stamp

  2012.1.430b

  Stamp with brown background with a white illustration of a man with glasses.

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: West Germany issued this stamp on the first anniversary of the death of Dr. Leo Baeck, Rabbi of the Theresienstadt Ghetto. Baeck served on the Jewish Council and was the last Eldest of the Council. He was liberated by the Russians and lived in London after the war.

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  East German Holocaust Monument Stamps

  2012.1.429a-d

  Series of four stamps. First stamp is red and white and shows a tall monument on a plaza, titled, "Gedenkstätte Buchenwald." Second stamp has green illustration of a monument with a statue on top of it with a crowd below. Titled, "Mahnmal Ravensbrück." Third stamp has a red illustration of a monument jutting into a harbor. Titled, "Mahnmal Ravensbrück." Final stamp shows a white monument with triangles over a brick wall. Titled "Mahnmal Sachsenhausen."

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: To honor the dead and to remind those who continue to live, many monuments were constructed on the sites of concentration camps after the war. East Germany issued stamps with the surtax to ID construction of monuments at: Buchenwald, Ravensbruck, Sachsenhausen.

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  Poland Exermination Camps Commemorative Envelope

  2012.1.408

  White envelope with blue and black illustration of camp prisoners behind barbed wire. Includes black triangular stamps.

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: FDC from Poland, 1962, commemorating Auschwitz, Maidanek, and Treblinka extermination camps.

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  Israeli Commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Concentration Camps Envelope

  2012.1.410a

  White envelope with a brown illustration of a child in a concentration camp uniform and a man in military uniform. Includes a stamp with hands reaching upwards.

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: An Israeli commemoration of 20th anniversary of liberation of the concentration camps.

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  Israeli Nazi Victims Commemorative Envelope

  2012.1.410b

  White envelope with a brown illustration, and two stamps: one black with Hebrew letters in a flame, the other of candles.

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israel issued two stamps in honor of the victims of the Nazis, both on this first day issue envelope.

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  Stamp Commemorating Belgium Concentration Camp Victims

  2012.1.430a

  White stamp with blue background. Depicts hands reaching out of barbed wire.

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: This stamp was released by Belgium in memory of the victims of Nazi Concentration Camps in World War II. The design was by Belgian sculptor Lanchelevici, and marks the 21st anniversary of the first contingent of Belgian martyrs from the death camp at Neuengamme. Of 120 men who departed, only nine later returned to three families.

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  First Day Cover: Polish Commemoration of Janusz Korczak

  2012.1.135

  White envelope with an illustration of an orange buildling and two faces, as well as three stamps with illustrations of women.

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Janusz Korczak was a Polish physician, author of children’s books and pedagogical works, and director of the orphanage in the Warsaw ghetto where he lived with his children. In spite of repeated offers of sanctuary by the Polish underground, Korczak refused to abandon his children when they were deported to Treblinka. In August 1942 Germans came for the 200 children between ages of two and thirteen in the orphanage who, dressed in their best clothing, marched two by two together in a procession with Korczak to the gathering place for the trains taking them to Treblinka where they would all perish.

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  First Day Cover: Polish Commemoration of Janusz Korczak

  2012.1.136

  White envelope with a grey illustration of Janusz Korczak.

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Janusz Korczak was a Polish physician, author of children’s books and pedagogical works, and director of the orphanage in the Warsaw ghetto where he lived with his children. In spite of repeated offers of sanctuary by the Polish underground, Korczak refused to abandon his children when they were deported to Treblinka. In August 1942 Germans came for the 200 children between ages of two and thirteen in the orphanage who, dressed in their best clothing, marched two by two together in a procession with Korczak to the gathering place for the trains taking them to Treblinka where they would all perish.

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  First Day Cover: Israeli Celebration of Janusz Korczak

  2012.1.126

  White envelope with an illustration of a book with Hebrew text and a stamp with facial hair.

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli First Day Cover commemorating the life of Janusz Korczak.

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  First Day Cover: Commemoration of Immigrant Ships

  2012.1.124

  White envelope with quote from Deuteronomy in Hebrew.

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A commemoration of immigrant ships that would bring "illegal aliens", the surviving remnant of the Holocaust with no homeland-part of the Aliyah Bet- to the shores of Palestine then under British mandate.

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  Czechoslovakian Commemorative Art of Children at Terezin First Day Cover

  2012.1.156

  Off-white envelope with illustration of children holding each other, and three stamps with children's drawings.

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A Czechoslovakian envelope commemorating the art of children at Terezin Concentration Camp.

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  Creation of the Israeli State Commemorative Envelope

  2012.1.438

  Tan envelope with text in Hebrew, German and English. Includes an illustration of the Star of David. Titled, "Resolution of the General Assembly of the UNO to Establish a Jewish State in Palestine."

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

  Israeli Provisional cover used during interim period between the end of the British mandate and beginning of Jewish state with postmark of Ramat Gan on the JNF stamp/label honoring the Warsaw Ghetto fighters and first stamps of Israel, the Doar Ivri, postmarked in Tel Aviv with date 1 May 1949. The UN General Assembly had resolved to recognize the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine 11-29-1947.

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  First Day Cover: 25th Anniversary of Liberation of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp

  2012.1.111

  Illustration of Jews "on the way to be slaughtered by the Nazis."

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: 25th Anniversary of Liberation of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. Israeli, 1970, with painting by Yosef Kuzkovski entitled "On the way to be slaughtered by the Nazis."

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  First Day Cover: Czechoslovakian commemoration of the Destruction of the Village of Lidice

  2012.1.109

  Off-white envelope with illustration of hand and barbed wire on left, yellow stamp with architecutral buildling and hand on right. Beneath circular black hand stamp with barbed wire.

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Czechoslavokian commemoration of the destruction of the village of Lidice in 1942. Hitler ordered brutal reprisals following Reinhard Heydrich’s assassination. Karl Hermann Frank carried out these reprisals against the entire village of Lidice, which was razed to the ground, its male residents executed, and its women and children deported to Ravensbruck where most were murdered. A similar massacre occurred in the village of Lezaky.

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  Czechoslovakian Commemoration of Children from Terezin Ghetto Envelope

  2012.1.158

  An off-white envelope with an illustration of a child in rags in a circle of barbed wire. Titled "Ghetto Terezín 1942."

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A Czechoslovakian envelope commemorating Terezin children.

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  First Day Cover: Israeli Commemoration of 30th Anniversary of Rescue of Jews in Denmark

  2012.1.122

  White envelope with red and blue illustration of the Star of David and Swedish flag. Titled, "30th Anniversary of the rescue of the Jews in Denmark.

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of the most remarkable events in the annals of the Holocaust is the rescue of Jews by Danes. Danish boats ferried some 7,300 Jews across a waterway to neutral Sweden to avert a Nazi deportation, an unprecedented feat carried out by Danes to protect Danish citizens. After the German occupation of Denmark in April, 1940, the Danish government was granted some autonomy in running domestic affairs. The Nazis were reluctant to make a major issue of the “Jewish Question” at that time, in great part because they saw the Danes as fellow “Aryans”. Thus the standard measures reproduced in occupied countries to humiliate and subjugate Jews did not occur in Denmark, such as having to wear the yellow star, register property and other assets, give up homes and businesses, etc. The Jewish community was even able to go to synagogue and hold services. More remarkably, King Christian was outspoken in his support of a Jewish community integrated into Danish society and consequently opposed their persecution. In 1943, however, the Nazi military government of Denmark declared martial law, a state of emergency was declared, and citizen arrests occurred. Danish military and police were taken over by the Nazi authorities. Hitler approved a proposal to commence deportation of the Danish Jews. Ferdinand Duckwith, a German naval attache-and Nazi-warned non-Jewish Danes of the planned deportations. The response was swift, if uncoordinated, and involved the combined efforts of Jewish community leaders, Danish authorities and citizens. On October 1, 1943 operations occurred to move the Jewish population of Denmark in fishing boats, rowboats and kayaks to Sweden. Jews were hidden in cars on ferries to Sweden. In consequence, 99 per cent of Danish Jews were saved from persecution and certain death. Only 470 Jews were seized by the Nazis-most of whom were not Danish citizens- and deported to the Thesienstadt ghetto. Only 120 Danish Jew died during the Holocaust.

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  First Day Cover: Israeli Celebration of Yad Vashem

  2012.1.123

  White envelope with quote in English and Hebrew, "He who saves a single life is like one who saves a whole world."

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli First Day Cover commemorating the Righteous Among Nations of Yad Vashem with Hebrew quotation, "He who saves a single life is like one who saves a whole world."

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  Israeli Holocaust Memorial Day Sticker

  2012.1.442

  Sticker in green and yellow with an illustration of a flower. Includes text in Hebrew and English. In part: "We Remember the Fire... and so We Plant."

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli 1980s KKL Holocaust Memorial Day Sticker.

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  First Day Cover: Israeli 35th Anniversary of Liberation of Auschwitz Concentration Camp

  2012.1.143

  White envelope with black and orange illustration of three figures standing by barbed wire.

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli First Day Cover celebrating the anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz.

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  First Day Cover: Israeli Commemoration of World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors in Jerusalem

  2012.1.146

  White envelope with illustration of a yellow Star of David with barbed wire. Titled "World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors Jerusalem."

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli First Day Cover commemorating World Gathering of Holocaust Survivors in Jerusalem.

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  First Day Envelope: Dachau Commemoration of Liberation

  2012.1.107

  Envelope with image of Hitler with barbed wire, skulls, Nazi flag, and Jewish family in foreground.

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: 1982 Commemoration of liberation of Dachau Concentration Camp .

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  Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Commemorative Stamp

  2012.1.423b

  Stamps on serated paper. One depicts a gun by a brick wall. The other shows people standing together and is titled, "Polska."

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Poland 40th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising monument by Natan Rappaport.