This section provides another point of entry into the troubled landscape of Holocaust memory. It samples the post-war stamps and first day covers issued by many nations to commemorate the victims, resisters, partisans, the liberators, the hidden and the ones who sheltered, the diplomatic heroes and others, as well as highlights some of the essential themes and signal events of the genocide of the European Jews and its aftermath. Interspersed among these is a selection of other, older, philatelic and numismatic items: stamps, labels, Notgeld, ghetto scrip, and coins, that were utilized both prior to and during the Third Reich and the Holocaust and tell another story.
--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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Commemorative Stamp Collage
2012.1.160
Collage of four different kinds of commemorative stamps having to do with World War II and the Holocaust.
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Raoul Wallenberg Commemorative Envelope
2012.1.437
White envelope with a stamp of a man in profile, titled "Raoul Wallenberg" in English and Hebrew.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Stamp issued in 1983 to honor the humanitarian achievements of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.
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First Day Cover: Israeli commemoration of Babi Yar
2012.1.112
White envelope with illustrative stamp depicting people walking. Titled, "Babi Yar" in English.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli First Day Cover commemorating the slaughter of Jews at Baba Yar with stamp of painting by Yosef Kuzkovski.
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Holocaust and Resistance Commemorative Envelope
2012.1.407
White envelope. Left side is titled, "Holocaust & Resistance" in Hebrew and English and has a pink illustration of a "Destroyed Synagogue at Ghetto Warsaw." Right side has a large black stamp showing ruins.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Envelope issued in Israel in 1983 on the 40th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to commemorate Jewish resistance in the ghettos and the underground movements of occupied Europe. Pictured are Mordecai Anilewicz, one of the leaders of the Warsaw Uprising, and Yosef Glazman of Lithuania, organizer of the PPA in the Vilna Ghetto. The middle stamp reads "for the ghetto rebels, for the partisans in the forests, for the rebels in the camps, for the members of the underground, for the soldiers in the various armies."
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First Day Cover: British Commemoration of D-Day, June 6, 1944
2012.1.130
White envelope with a black and grey illustration of soldiers on D-Day.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: British envelope commemorating D-Day.
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40th Anniversary of Dachau and Mauthausen Envelope
2012.1.439a
White envelope with black and white illustration of people marching into Nazi gas chambers with Nazi soldier above it. Includes several stamps.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A cachet cover issued to commemorate the 40th anniversary of liberation of Dachau & Mauthausen death camps. The cover was designed by the German war criminals hunter Simon Wiesenthal. Franked with special overprinted Austrian stamp & cancelled with special cachet first day cover.
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40th Anniversary of Dachau and Mauthausen Envelope
2012.1.439b
White envelope with an illustration of a red skull in a Nazi uniform holding Hitler's features in a mask.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A cachet cover issued to commemorate the 40th anniversary of liberation of Dachau & Mauthausen death camps. The cover was designed by the German war criminals hunter Simon Wiesenthal. Franked with special overprinted Austrian stamp & cancelled with special cachet first day cover.
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Maximum Postcard Commemorating the February 1941 Dockworkers Strike Against the Nazi Persecution of the Jews of the Netherlands
2019.2.294
Postcard of black and white image of statue with postage stamp of statue in top left corner marked “NEDERLAND 15.” Back includes “Amsterdam J.D. Meyerplein” printed in top right corner.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Maximum postcard real photograph with commemorative stamp of the Dockworker strike of February 22 and 23, 1942. The first major German roundup of the Jews of Amsterdam occurred at Jonas Daniël Meijerplein square. Here, 425 Jewish men were driven together to the square and deported to Mauthausen and Buchenwald concentration camps. These raids inspired the February dockworkers strike. Queen Juliana unveiled this statue in 1952 to commemorate the strike.
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First Day Cover: Israeli Commemorating 40 Years since the defeat of Nazi Germany and Itzhak and Zivia (Lubetkin) Zuckerman
2012.1.137
White envelope with grey stamp showing two faces. Titled, "1945-1985: 40 Years Since the Defeat of Nazi Germany" in English and Hebrew.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli First Day Cover commemorating Itzhak and Zivia (Lubetkin) Zuckerman, heroes and survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto.
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Maximum Postcard Commemorating the Persecution of Jews in the Netherlands During WWII
2019.2.295
Postcard with black and white image of Star of David patch being sewn on coat, stamp in upper right corner marked “ONRECHT/VERZET NEDERLAND 50 CT.”
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Photograph of person sewing Star of David with word “Jood” on coat as was required after the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in 1940.
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1986 First Day Cover Commemorating 50th Anniversary of Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
2016.1.51
Image of two men shaking hands with faint image of orchestra behind them.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Photographic image of both Huberman, founder of Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and Arturo Toscanini, its first conductor, with commemorative stamp from 1986.
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First Day Cover: Celebration of Havivah Reik
2012.1.140
White envelope with wooden Star of David and stamp of Havivah Reik.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: First Day Cover commemorating Havivah Reik.
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First Day Cover: Israeli Celebration of Enzo Sereni
2012.1.141
Off-white envelope with illustration of a shield with a gold Star of David. Titled, "Célebration des Volontaires, 1955."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli First Day Cover celebrating Enzo Sereni.
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Austrian Commemoration of Anne Frank First Day Cover
2012.1.157
White envelope with two Anne Frank postage stamps and one Anne Frank hand stamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: An Austrian commemorative First Day Cover of Anne Frank from 1988.
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Edith Stein and Rupert Mayer Commemorative Sheet
2012.1.433
Flier titled, "Sonderpostwertzeichen Seligsprechung von Edith Stein und Rupert Mayer." Includes stamp with a nun and a priest.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Commemorative Sheet from German postal authorities in memory of Edith Stein and Rupert Mayer. Stein was one of the most controversial victims of the Holocaust. The German occupation authority in the Netherlands deported her and other Jewish converts to Catholicism who became members of the priesthood during 1943. The Vatican has taken the position that she died as a Catholic and has been made a Saint. Jewish organizations and scholars believe she died because of her Jewish roots -- according to the Nazi Race Law of September 15, 1935.
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First Day Cover: Celebration of Anne Frank along with stamps honoring the end of the Holocaust
2012.1.131
White envelope with five postage stamps, including a long one with pictures of Anne Frank. Includes illustration of the Anne Frank Huis in blue and black.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli First Day Cover celebrating Anne Frank along with stamps honoring the end of the Holocaust.
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First Day Cover: Celebration of Anne Frank
2012.1.134
White envelope with a postage stamp with photos of Anne Frank, as well as black and blue illustrations of the Anne Frank Huis.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli First Day Cover commemorating Anne Frank.
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Kristallnacht Commemorative Flier and Stamp
2012.1.427a
Flier titled, "Ersttagsblatt der Deutschen Bundespost." Includes a grey postage stamp in middle with illustration of a synagogue. Back includes text in German.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A commemoration of Kristallnacht, "The night of broken glass," which occurred in Germany on November 9/10th, 1938.
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Kristallnacht Commemorative Stamp
2012.1.427b
Stamp with purple background and illustration of a burning synagogue. Titled, "Das Gehelmnis der Erlösung heisst Erinnerung."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A commemoration of Kristallnacht, "The night of broken glass," which occurred in Germany on November 9/10th, 1938.
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First Day Cover: Israeli Commemoration of Heroes and Martyrs Day
2012.1.132
White envelope with a black and white illustration of a young man behind barbed wire with his hands raised.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Israeli First Day Cover for Heroes and Martyrs Day, 1973, with an iconic image of a child in the Warsaw Ghetto with his hands raised.
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50th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Envelope
2012.1.436
White envelope with blue illustration of a synagogue. Titled, "50 Rocznica Powstania Żydów w Getcie Warszawskim."
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Poland first day release envelope from the 50th anniversary of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
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Italian Commemoration for National Congress Postcard
2012.1.153
Silver front with an illustration of a dead body laying near barbed wire. Back includes blank postcard lines.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A commemorative postcard for the National Congress in the city of Genova, Italy, by the Associazione Nazionale Ex Deportati.
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First Day Cover: German Commemoration of Felix Nussbaum
2012.1.110
Envelope with illustration of a man in a fedora with a yellow Star of David on his jacket.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
First Day Cover with self-portrait of Felix Nussbaum, brilliant surrealist Jewish painter, wearing Jewish star and holding up required identification. Nussbaum would ultimately perish in Auschwitz.
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Vel D'Hiv Roundup Commemoration Envelope
2014.1.159
Front: White envelope with a color illustration of many people crowding into a small area, two black hand stamps, one blue pasted postage stamp, and a line of printed text.Back: Printed black circular seal and printed black text in French.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The Vel D'Hiv roundup began July 16, 1942. Over the next two days, 12,884 Jews from the Paris region, including over 4,000 children, were taken into custody in an operation planned and implemented by French police and auxiliaries. It would become the largest mass arrest in France during World War II. 7,000 of these Jewish victims were packed into the Veldrome d'Hiver, an indoor sports stadium. In increasingly desperate conditions -- no working lavatories, extreme summer heat, and absence of ventilation, no fresh water -- they awaited shipment to transit camps before being transported to Auschwitz. The Vel d'Hiv roundup would become a symbol of French guilt and complicity with the Germans during the Holocaust.
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Heroes and Martyrs Remembrance Day Leaflet
2012.1.405
Front: Black and white photograph of children in a concentration camp. Titled, "Souvenir Leaf, Heroes and Martyrs Remembrance Day, 52 Years Since the Uprisings in the Ghettos and Camps, 50th Anniversary of the Defeat of Nazi Germany and Liberation of the Camps 1945-1995" in English and Hebrew.Back: White background with a black illustration of a building. Titled, "Beit Lohame Haghetaot Ghetto Fighters' House" in English and Hebrew.