By May 1945 six million European Jews had been murdered by the Nazis and their allies. Much of Europe lay in ruins. Allied soldiers confronting the concentration camps for the first time found - amidst the scattered mounds of corpses and ash - “survivors” suffering from disease and starvation, many of whom would perish in the forthcoming days and months. Homeless and unable - or unwilling - to be repatriated to their countries of origin, many were housed in Displaced Persons camps throughout the Allied zones of occupation. These DP camps, often former military or even concentration camps, were themselves overcrowded, and just as often the Jews had to share space with their very persecutors. Many Jews attempted to emigrate to Palestine despite stringent quotas on immigration imposed by the British government attempting to mollify the Arabs. As a consequence, many emigrated “illegally” with the assistance of the Jewish Brigade and Haganah, through the underground Bricha Movement. A 1947 United Nations resolution to partition Palestine between Jews and Arabs was to be rejected by the Arabs. Britain would end its mandate and withdraw from Palestine in May 1948. Israel established its provisional government in the same month, giving Jews their own homeland and unrestricted immigration. President Truman himself loosened restrictions on quotas of displaced persons, and approximately 28,000 Jews were able to immigrate to the US. The Nuremberg trials were a consequence of Allied efforts to take legal action against Germany as a criminal state. The first tribunal consisted of eight judges, drawn from each of the Allied countries. Twenty-one former Nazi leaders stood trial. The Tribunal enshrined for the first time in jurisprudence and international law the concept of “genocide,” as well as a typology of war crimes to be utilized by the United Nations. In the ensuing years many courts - both international and domestic - would conduct trials of accused war criminals.
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Group Photograph of Youth in Displaced Persons Camp, Possibly Villa Panti, in Soriano Nel Cimino, Italy
2022.1.9
Black and white photograph of large group of youth sitting and standing at exterior of building.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Group photograph taken on the eve of Aliyah - the journey to the Promised Land - leaving for Israel 9/5/1948. On May 14, 1948, the British Mandate over Palestine expired, and the new State of Israel was born.
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Review of Refugee Scholars in America: Their Impact and Their Experiences by Lewis A. Coser
2022.1.13
Page from publication reviewing book by Lewis A. Coser
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Lewis Coser, an esteemed sociologist and a refugee from Nazi Germany, describes the lives of scholars who fled Nazi Germany and Austria in the early years of Hitler’s reign with a focus on their impact, accomplishments in their respective fields of social science and humanities, as well as their experience in their adopted country.
Below is a photograph that accompanied an article in the New York Times in 1933 of some of the German professors at the University in Exile at the New School for Social Research in New York City. The 14 professors were from esteemed German universities in Berlin, Frankfort, Hamburg and other cities. Together they pioneered the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science. October 1, 1933. [Related item: 2022.1.12ab]
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Henrietta Szold Typed Letter in Hebrew - Jewish Community of Palestine Letterhead
2015.2.78
Tan paper with Jewish Community of Palestine return address in left corner, Hebrew in the right. Both printed. Letter typewritten in Hebrew. Signature in lower left.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Szold was a Jewish Zionist from Baltimore, Maryland who founded the Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America. She immigrated to Palestine in 1933 where she helped run the Youth Aliyah, the organization founded by Recha Freier responsible for rescuing 30,000 Jewish children from Nazi Europe. She died in 1945 in the very hospital she helped build in Jerusalem.
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List of Displaced German Scholars and Supplementary List of Displaced German Scholars
2022.1.12ab
a: 125 page list printed in Great Britain by Speedee Press Services, London, Autumn 1936; cover - page 9 scanned
b: Supplemantary List,16 page, London, August 193; cover - page 7 scanned
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Within months of his appointment as chancellor in 1933, Hitler’s government issued the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service. Political opponents of the Nazi Party, and anyone in government positions with at least one Jewish grandparent were summarily dismissed from their jobs. University professors in Germany’s best universities, judges and police officers lost their positions. The so-called “Arian paragraph” would apply to lawyers, physicians, musicians and other civil servants. At every level of civil society and public life, Jews were persecuted through the gradual, methodical, yet inexorable rollout of laws and regulations restricting their civil and political liberties. As this noose of incremental persecution tightened, academicians began to emigrate. Stepping into the breach was the British Academic Assistance Council (AAC), giving needed support and assistance to the growing number of scholars and academicians whose plight only increased with the 1935 Nuremberg Laws; the 1938 Anschluss; and the devastation of the Kristallnacht pogrom shortly thereafter.
Faced with the loss of their careers and livelihoods, fearful of losing their lives, and concerned for the welfare of their families, Jewish scholars became increasingly resigned to their fate in Germany, and the exodus of Jewish scholars increased. The AAC would eventually evolve into the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning (SPSL), but its mission would continue: to help refugee scholars-based on their specific curriculum vitae- find employment in the UK, the USA, and other countries. Several of the more than 1500 academic refugees from Germany and Austria would win Nobel Prizes. Several refugees had already earned them. Many of these emigres would make important contributions to the scholarship and the culture of their adopted countries and have an enormous influence in their respective fields. For example, the current New School for Social Research in New York, had been the home in the 1930’s to the University in Exile -a haven for over 180 scholar-refugees and their families. Though a number of these refugees would find positions in other universities, many would remain as permanent faculty after the University in Exile had been incorporated into the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science in 1934.
The remarkable role played by the AAC academics in rescuing Jewish emigre academicians imperiled by the Nazis and helping them find new homes and institutions where they could continue their careers, would stand in stark contrast to the lack of support- and frank betrayal -on the part of their academic colleagues in the Reich who were either afraid of reprisals or given to “Gleischsaltung”;i.e., “working toward the Fuhrer” in establishing totalitarian control over Germany. A notorious example of this duplicity was that of Martin Heidegger, a world-renowned philosopher, author of Sein und Zeit (Being and Time), and rector of the University of Freiberg, given to sporting a Hitler-style mustache and proudly wearing his Nazi pin. Heidegger signed every letter dismissing Jewish faculty members, including that of his own mentor Edmund Husserl - the renowned phenomenologist who had been Heidegger’s most important advocate: born a Jew but later in life baptized into the Lutheran faith. Some of Heidegger’s most eminent students were forced to leave Germany and find positions elsewhere, including Herbert Marcuse and Hanna Arendt. Heidegger would remain unrepentant for the rest of his life.
[Related item: 2022.1.13]
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Refugees on Deck of S.S. Atratto
2014.1.368
Front: Many men on deck of the Atratto. Back: Associated Press release attached.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Associated Press release attached to wire photo verso: "From London. 200 ton steamer arrested off Palestine with 400 refugees aboard after a month at sea. With 401 Men, women and children huddled on the upper deck with cattle and poultry, the Greek-manned Panama steamer Atratto was arrested inside territorial waters off Jaffa, Palestine, on July 17, by the Minesweeper H.M.S. Sutton. She was escorted into Haiffa where the captain and cr[ew] are awaiting trial for attempting to smuggle refugees into Palestine. Though crow[d]ed in misery on the open deck 25 pounds was the cost of the passage into Palestine, the fee not including bedding or food. Associated Press photo shows: the crowded decks of the S.S. Atratto, showing that even the lifeboat (Ventre) was displaced with the great crowd on the steamers' decks. These 'berths' cost 25 pounds a head."
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Anne Frank
2012.1.401
Black and white photograph of Anne Frank with accompanying text in German and English.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Press photograph of Anne Frank from the 1960s with numerous subsequent date stamps verso. Her written statement in Dutch comes from her diary and is translated below.
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Former Jewish Quarter in Berlin
2014.1.80
Front: Image of a woman pulling a cart down Dragoner Street in Berlin flying Allied flags. Verso: Typewritten information about the image and International News Photo stamp.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
International News Photos wire photo with following information verso: "This is Dragoner Street, former Jewish Quarter of Berlin. The Nazis cleared all the Jews out of this sector and confiscated their businesses. The street is now decorated with the flags of the Allied nations. (v) 9-25-1945.
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Arthur Seyss-Inquart at Nuremberg
2012.1.391
Black and white photograph of a man in glasses addressing a crowd of men in suits, with guards in uniform behind them.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Arthur Seyss-Inquart (1892-1946), here photographed at the Nuremberg trial, was Reich Governor of Austria, Deputy Governor to Hans Frank in the General Government of occupied Poland, and Reich Commissioner for the German-occupied Netherlands. In the latter capacity, Seyss-Inquart shared responsibility for the deportation of Dutch Jews and the shooting of hostages. At Nuremberg he was found guilty of crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and subsequently sentenced to death.
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Post-War Denazification Initiative: Notarized Exculpatory Statement for a German High School Teacher Given to U.S. Military Authorities by Austrian Botanist
2019.2.30
"Beglaubigte Abschrift" tamped in purple at top of page, round emblem stamped at bottom page in purple, white page, black print, underlined title, "Elise Hoffman" printed in upper left corner, accompanying translation.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Statement given by an Austrian botanist and professor Elise Hofmann regarding German high school teacher Alfons Schneckenburger, with English translation. Mentioned in the statement are Bishops Johannes Sproll and Theophil Wurm, prominent opponent of the Nazi regime. Ms. Hofmann states at the end of the letter that she herself was not a member of the Nazi party or any of its affiliated organizations.
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Post-WWII American Occupation Broadside Dissolving and Declaring Illegal Nazi Party and Related Organizations
2019.2.236
Large broadside with black, vertical line down middle, left half of page in English, “MILITARY GOVERNMENT – GERMANY SUPREME COMMANDER’S AREA OF CONTROL LAW NO. 5 DISSOLUTION OF NAZI PARTY” printed in bold, black print at top of left side, translated in German on right side.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Broadside is printed in both English and German, distributed by the Office of Military Government, United States, in the “Supreme Commander’s Area of Control,” proclaiming the “Dissolution of the Nazi Party…” and other organizations and institutions that are listed. There are 52 organizations that are listed herein, including the Reich Chancellery, the Gestapo, the SA and SS, Hitler Youth, Organization Todt, etc. The stated purpose of this edict, referred to as “Law. No. 5,” is to “end the regime of lawlessness, terror, and inhumanity established by the Nazi Party.” The announcement goes on to order the confiscation of the “funds, property, equipment…. and records,” of these organizations, and states that anyone “violating any provisions of this law” will be subjected to trial by a Military Government Court and if convicted, punishment may include death.
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Anklageschrift gegen 24 deutsche Haupt-Kriegsverbrecher: Rudolf Aschenauer Signed and Stamped Copy of Nuremberg Trials Indictments
2019.2.240
Small book with “Anklageschrift gegen 24 deutsche Haupt-Kriegsverbrecher” in black print in center below “Rudolf Aschenauer” stamped in blue ink, 112 pages.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:Rudolf Aschenauer signed and stamped copy of Nuremberg International Military Tribunal summary of Indictments brought against the major war criminals at Nuremberg, 1945. Aschenauer became known as a defense lawyer in war crime trials and Nazi trials after the end of the World War II.
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![<i>Kwiaty Oświęcimia</i> [<i>Flowers of Auschwitz</i>] by Zinowij Tolkaczew](https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/2568/thumbnail.jpg "<i>Kwiaty Oświęcimia</i> [<i>Flowers of Auschwitz</i>] by Zinowij Tolkaczew")
Kwiaty Oświęcimia [Flowers of Auschwitz] by Zinowij Tolkaczew
2019.2.242
Blue booklet with square, black illustration in center of cover, 63 pages.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
This booklet is the first edition of Tolkaczew’s illustrated reporting on Auschwitz and its liberation, and one of the earliest illustrated books about the Holocaust. Zinowij Tołkaczew (1903-1977) was a Soviet-Jewish graphic artist and painter who participated as a Red Army volunteer in the liberation of the concentration camps Majdanek and Auschwitz. His writing and drawings drew from his experiences with former prisoners in these camps.
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Wire Photo of Robert H. Jackson, U.S. Chief Prosecutor at Nuremberg Tribunal
2019.2.248
Black and white photograph of man in a suit (Robert H. Jackson) sitting at a desk, white border. Back marked “ACME PHOTO.”
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
In 1945, President Harry S. Truman appointed Supreme Court Justice Jackson United States Chief of Counsel for the prosecution of Nazi war criminals at the international Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany. The “Acme Photo” dated 5/3/1945 states (verso) that Jackson “already has assembled a staff from the War, Navy, and other departments, which have started work on war crimes cases. The appointment will be in addition to his duties on the Supreme Court.”
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Konzentrationslager Dokument F321 by Eugene Aroneanu Report for International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg
2019.2.303
Book titled “KONZENTRATIONS-LAGER” in red print, 153 pages.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
135-page publication presents evidentiary material used at the Nuremberg Military Tribunal, detailing crimes committed against humanity, and was given to each participant in the tribunal to become acquainted with the evidence to be presented. Report includes photographs, witness lists, and sections on deportation, detention, concentration camps and camp life, punishments and tortures, sanitary conditions, illnesses, medical experimentation on human prisoners, sterilization and castration, vivisection, execution and gassing, and incineration.
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Buchenwald Concentration Camp Liberation
2012.1.578
Black and white photograph of men in a mishmosh of prisoner's clothes and heavy jackets standing behind barbed wire. Most look directly at the camera. The man in the middle is holding onto the wire.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Iconic photograph - a Time-Life Pictures reprint - taken by Margaret Bourke-White for Life Magazine of recently liberated male prisoners of Buchenwald concentration camp. Bourke-White was one of four female photojournalists to cover World War II. Clearly posed for the camera, the men, some leaning against the barbed-wire fence, look directly at the camera with an expression that seems to be saying say “Look closely - how could you let this happen.”
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Liberation of Buchenwald
2012.1.583
Black and white photograph depicting a crowded bunk of male prisoners on the right, and some standing on the left.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Men on wooden pallets - their beds - in the barracks of Buchenwald oncentration amp post liberation. A photograph - a Time-Life Pictures reprint - taken by Margaret Bourke-White for Life Magazine of recently liberated male prisoners. Bourke-White had been one of four female photojournalists to cover the War and its aftermath. Elie Wiesel, author and winner of the Nobel Prize, is seventh from left in the middle row.
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Provisional ID for Civilian Internee of Buchenwald Jakob Machat
2012.1.506
Small booklet titled, "Ausweis - Certification." Includes typewritten biographic information about Jakob Machat, as well as his fingerprint and signature.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Provisional identification card for a civilian internee of Buchenwald, Jakob Machat. Card stamped by the Allied forces on the camp liberation day.
[Related items: 2012.1.505]
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Letter from Chief Surgeon of U.S. Army Paul Hawley to Dr. K.H. Bauer, University of Heidelberg
2015.2.11
Typewritten letter on white paper to Surgeon Dr. K.H. Bauer regarding the latter's earlier pleas to retain hospital beds following the war at the University of Heidelberg. Doctors at the University of Heidelberg performed T-4 euthanasia practices during the Holocaust.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Copy of angry letter to surgeon Dr. K.H. Bauer of University of Heidelberg where T-4 euthanasia practices had occurred, calling out his hypocrisy. Bauer would later become a leading oncologist.
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The War is Over for Remaining Inmates of Theresienstadt: An Announcement from Leo Baeck and Others
2019.2.29
Tan paper with red, double-lined border, black print, titled "Manner und Frauen von Theresienstadt!"
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Rabbi Baeck, author of The Essence of Judaism, was an important spokesperson for the Jewish community after the Nazi rise to power in his role as president of the Jewish umbrella organization Reichsvertretung. When the latter was summarily disbanded by the Nazis and replaced with the Reichsvereinigung, Rabbi Baeck remained president. On January 27th, 1943, Rabbi Baeck was deported to Theresienstadt. Here he held a prominent place as honorary head of the Judenrat, which afforded him privileges unattainable by other inmates; yet he continued to serve the ghetto community and refused to abandon it, opportunities to emigrate to the U.S. notwithstanding. While Rabbi Baeck survived Theresienstadt, three sisters perished. When it was finally liberated, Rabbi Baeck continued to attend to the sick and dying.
On May 5th, 1945, the SS had withdrawn from Theresienstadt. The Commandant, Karl Rahm, was last seen on the morning of May 6th, after which he fled.
In this newsletter dated May 6th, 1945, published in both German and Czech, Rabbi Baeck, Dr. Alfred Meissner, Dr. Heinrich Klang and Dr. Eduard Meijer - all members of the Council of Elders - announce to the “Men and Women of Theresienstadt” that Theresienstadt is now under the protective custody of the International Red Cross, that the war is not yet over and that the remaining inhabitants of the Ghetto are safe as long as they remain in Theresienstadt. Anyone who leaves the camp can be exposed to all the risks of the war. Theresienstadt has taken over the care of “the martyrs” in the small fortress (Kleine Festung). The survivors are exhorted to maintain calm and orderly and help with the work.
This announcement appears in H.G. Adler’s Theresienstadt 1941-1945. A copy appears as well in the Central European University in Hungary.
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Postcard from Serviceman to his Spouse on V-E Day
2019.2.234
Postcard with black and white image of a garden, bottom left corner marked “Bad Pyrmont,” bottom right corner marked “Palmengarten.” Back stamped by U.S. Army postal Service with date “May 8 1945.”
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Army Sergeant Charles Witham, 334th Infantry Regiment Stationed in Germany, sends an Army-censored postcard - US Army Postal Service 84 - from Bad Pyrmont to his wife in Kansas on V-E Day, May 8, 1945. This postcard is one of a number he sent, obviously in celebration of the end of the war in the European theatre. Interestingly, the postcard carries no message: the date says it all.
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Printed Letter of Russian Tanks on Attack Waving Flag Three Days After Germany Surrenders
2014.1.303
Front: Tan paper, folded horizontally. Top half has printed picture of three Russian armymen standing on top of a tank. One holds a red flag with the hammer and sickle on it. Airplanes in the background. Back: Black-lined paper with a handwritten note in Russian. Some damage at the bottom.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: By this date of 5/10/45, the German army had surrendered just 3 days before.
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Interrogation of Nazi at War’s End
2012.1.12ab
White papers with typewritten message.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
A testimony from a German political leader through interrogation by the Allies. Here, he describes his actions as a Nazi member of the NSDAP. As a cell leader he claims he conveyed NSDAP ideas to other party members. He claims that he led a clean and honest life, never committing crimes against Jews nor was he present at riots against them. "Crimes happen," he states, "because someone is born a criminal." He asks his interrogators to question other people about his character who have known him since 1933. He tries to assure his interrogators that he never committed acts against his morals and customs, and thus is not aware of any guilt.
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Dr. George Landauer Letter
2014.1.382
Typed letter in Hebrew, typewritten date, '13.6.45' at top left.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Dr. Landauer was an ardent Zionist, playing an active role in the Zionist movement in Germany and Palestine. He was one of the founders of the Youth Aliyah in 1935. After World War II he was head of the Jewish Agency office in Munich.
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Marshal Henri Philippe Petain
2014.1.363
Front: Photo of Petain seated, in uniform; paragraph of text reads,'NY9-June 30) Petain's Friend Named in Plot -- A former officer and friend of former Marshal Henri Philippe Petain (above) was named as the "soul of the plot" to overthrow the French Republic in a report today by the government-operated news agency, Agence Francaise de Presse. This photo of Petain was made during his trial in July, 1945. (See Wire Story) (APWirephoto) gww20940fls)1947. Back: Hand stamp date 'JUN 30 1947'.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Henri Philippe Petain had been considered a hero of World War I as commander of the French army and hero of Verdun. He was Marshal of France and head of the unoccupied Vichy French government after the German conquest of France in June 1940. Petain and Prime Minister Pierre Laval collaborated with the German military government in the persecution of Jews: implementing antisemitic laws, deporting Jews to death camps, and handing over Jews to the Nazis. He was tried after the war for treason, convicted and sentenced to death; however, Charles de Gaulle commuted his sentence to life in prison.
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Yugoslavian Refugee to Switzerland Booklet
2014.1.44
Front: Swiss Cross emblem on green paper. Interior: Photograph, biographical and travel information for Attias Rafael of Yugoslavia.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Rafael Attias from Sarajevo, Yugoslavia is granted a Swiss identification booklet as a refugee immediately after the war.