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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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  Refugees on Decks 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 1960’s 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. 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 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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  Kwiaty Oświęcimia [Flowers of Auschwitz] by Zinowij Tołkaczew

  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” dates 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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  Provisional ID for Civilian Internee of Buchenwald Jacob 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: 2012.1.2, 2012.1.505, 2014.1.446ab, 2016.1.44]

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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 published in both German and Czech, from May 6th, 1945, 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 the 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 order 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 and 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 testimoy from a German political leader through interrogation by the Allies. 12. 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'.

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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.

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  Communique Addressed to Colonel Paul A. Roy from Former Prisoners of the Now Liberated Camp Dachau

  2021.1.35

  Typewritten letter in English addressed to “Colonel Roy Coo. Camp Dachau” and signed and stamped by five organizations

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: The Dachau concentration camp, located ten miles from Munich was liberated on April 29, 1945 by the U.S. Seventh Army, 45th Infantry Division. Established in 1933, Dachau had been Nazi Germany’s longest running concentration camp, holding political prisoners, homosexuals, Roma and Sinti and Jehovah’s Witnesses as well as Jews. Under Commandant Theodor Eicke’s brutal administration, Dachau became the training center for SS guards and the model for all other concentration camps in the Third Reich.

  In the waning days of the war, as the Allies were closing in on the Germans, Dachau became a depository of prisoners form other camps. Prisoners endured marches or were piled into freight trains, their ranks attenuated by starvation, exhaustion, and hypothermia. By the time the survivors arrived in Dachau, the overcrowding conduced to outbreaks of typhus. Just days before the Americans arrived, thousands of prisoners from Dachau’s main camp were forcibly evacuated on a death march southward to Tegernsee. When American forces finally arrived, they discovered railroad cards filled with decomposing bodies, and more than 30,000 starving survivors.

  During the summer of 1945, Colonel Paul A. Roy became Allied commander of the liberated Dachau. In this communique of July 11, 1945 addressed to Colonel Roy, three months after liberation and just beginning the long road to recovery, the former prisoners are responding to receiving an order that they would be evacuated to other camps, an order that was met with swift anger and disbelief. Representatives of the various national groups of former prisoners importune Colonel Roy to understand their plight, to “enter our minds for a moment and think and feel with us?,,, It took much to live through the tyranny that was our lot…liberation was a disappointment. The barbed wires remain and the guard at the gate still plays an important role in our lives…And now we are on the move again. To another camp! And what then?... another stopping place on this dreadful road to freedom…It is the story of sudden movement, indifferent authorities, pleadings, interventions and disappointments…We refuse to move… we are tired and broken and are with little hope- we can not (sic) comply with this order. Give us our homes and we will gladly leave, until then give us a bit of peace.”

  The document is signed by representatives of the various national “prisoners” groups: Hungarians, Romanians, Greeks, Poles, and other groups not organized by nationality and addresses.

  Colonel Roy was in fact acutely sensitive to what these former prisoners had experienced at the hands of the Germans. He had written that they were “degraded and depressed and systematically starved”… were “suffering from deficiency diseases, tuberculosis, typhus”…”those charged with helping them had to have the utmost patience and understanding.”

  Dachau may indeed have been liberated, but prisoners were still to be housed here for some months afterwards. The black typhus epidemic took a major toll on the population. Soon, however prisoners would be moved to “displaced persons” camps in Germany, Austria, and Italy, or released. Dachau would be used to confine war criminals, and it would host the Dachau trials for prisoners-military and civilian- accused of war crimes.

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  Auschwitz Narrative of Katharina Lorbeer

  2019.2.27a-h

  "PROTOKOLL" in black print and underlined in upper left corner, eight pages, two holes punched in left side, "NR. 13. VII. 1945" in black print and underlined in upper right corner.

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Copy of a post WWII narrative given in German by a Slovakian woman Katharina Lorbeer to the Hungarian National Committee for Attending Deportees, describing her deportation to Auschwitz, and her experiences there. She is transported to Auschwitz by railcar in April 1942. Beaten by SS guards as the prisoners exit the train, Lorbeer and fellow prisoners are marched across the men’s section of the camp to the women’s barracks. All belongings are confiscated save one dress and underwear. Along with other women from Slovakia, she is tattooed, her hair is shorn, and her remaining clothes confiscated. She receives lice-ridden uniforms taken from executed Russian soldiers along with wooden shoes. They are taken out to the central yard for roll call, which lasts until past midnight. Lorbeer and her fellow inmates are put to work loading sand onto railcars. She does this for six months, guarded by Jewish “kapos” from the Ravensbruck concentration camp. Rumors persist that they will soon be sent to brothels at the front for German soldiers. In December, they are tasked with carrying bricks for the construction of a new crematorium. She describes a visit by SS chief Heinrich Himmler in December of 1942, in whose honor 50 randomly selected male prisoners are hanged. Lorbeer states that while the camp commander had allowed the prisoners to wear shoes to protect against the bitter cold, Himmler stated that “there is no good or bad weather for inmates,” and decreed that prisoners are to always work shoeless regardless of weather conditions. Moved to the subcamp of Birkenau, Lorbeer finds no latrines, dirt floors in the barracks, and miserable conditions in general. She is in “sumpfkommand” (“swamp commando”) draining the surrounding marshlands. With no access to drinking water, she is forced to rely on water from the swamp, into which the SS guards regularly dump truckloads of ash from the crematorium. Such conditions make diseases such a typhus common. Lorbeer describes the selection of prisoners to be executed in the gas chambers, early in 1943 as 35,000 women in the camp are gathered in the courtyard at two in the morning, as SS doctors Mengele, and others gather by the gate. The prisoners are made to pass through the gate with their hands outstretched, and any prisoner with reddened palms or demonstrating any kind of limp is selected for immediate execution. Only 5,000 women pass muster. Such selections continue daily, although Birkenau is slowly expanded and gains a proper sewer system, leading to improved hygiene. By this time, however, Lorbeer reports that veteran inmates like herself have become apathetic and sluggish, and would be happy to be selected to put an end to their misery. Lorbeer recounts the rumors of horrific medical experiments being performed in Block 10 of Auschwitz, especially on new arrivals. With the advance on the Soviet Army in January 1945, the prisoners are evacuated on a forced march to Ravensbruck, during which hundreds of prisoners starve to death or are shot by guards. From Ravensbruck, they are transported to the subcamp of Retzow. Lorbeer and her companions hide from a further transport from Retzow, and are eventually liberated by Red Army soldiers on May 1st, 1945. Of the 15,000 Slovakian women transported in 1942, only 300 survive.

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  Postwar Plight of Berlin Jewish Family

  2014.1.306

  Front: Black and white photograph. A man is on the left side putting on his shoes. Six daughters spread out through the rest of the picture, several helping each other get dressed. One makes the bed. Back:Taped on press release, 'Berlin, Germany ...... An early morning scene in the attic quarters in the Jewish sector of Berlin where the Weber family live, eat and sleep. The father, 54-year-old Alexander Weber, is not a Jew, but he married a Jewess. The look of stark tragedy is clearly marked on his face as he dresses. His wife helped some Jewish friends from the Nazis ans was taken off to the dreaded camp at Auschwitz where she was put to death in the gas chamber on December 1, 1943. Weber lives here with his six daughter [sic] and 17-year-old son who has already departed for work. (v) 9-25-45'.

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  Pierre Laval at Trial

  2014.1.364

  Front: Image of Laval with his arms outstreched. Paragraph of text below reads, '(NY15-Oct.4) LAVAL AT TRIAL --Former French Prime Premier Pierre Laval (above) addresses teh court in Paris where he is on trial for his life on charges of attacking the security of the state and having intelligence with the enemy. Photo by Associated Press photographer B.I. Sanders. (See wire story) (AP Wirephoto via radio from Paris today)'. Back: Associated Press stamp.

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  Envelope from Concentration Camp Survivor to Nuremberg Tribunal

  2021.1.31

  Red handwritten envelope with many stamps and a red “x” crossing over the cover

  Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Rare registered cover sent from the hospital of the St. Ottilien displaced persons’ camp, in all probability from a concentration camp survivor, to the International Tribunal in Nuremberg. From cancels on the cover, the enclosed letter was sent to Nuremberg on Nov. 21, 1945, and received at the Nuremberg Court or International Tribunal the next day. Letters from concentration camp survivors typically contained personal experiences of Nazi atrocities which were utilized in the prosecution of Nazi officials for war crimes.