By staff
Title: Ed Victor Papers, 1933-1972
Predominant Dates:1939 -- 1946
ID: RG-72/RG-72
Primary Creator: Victor, Ed (1960s -- 1990s)
Extent: 1800.0 Items
Arrangement: The arrangement scheme for the record group was imposed during processing in the absence of an original order. Materials are arranged by subjects, themes and creators.
Subjects: Auschwitz complex of Nazi - German extermination and concentration camps, Buchenwald, German-Nazi concentration camp, Concentration camps, German, Flossenburg, German Concentration camp, German Labor Service, labor in Germany, 1940 -- 1945, Gross Rosen, German concentration camp, Gusen German concentration camp, Hamburg-Neuengamme, German concentration camp, Holocaust, Jewish (1939 -- 1945), Identification documents, German issued, 1933 -- 1945, Jasenovac, Croatian Concentration camp, Jewish ghettos in German-occupied and controlled Europe, Judenrat, Jewish council in ghettos, Lodz ghetto, 1940 -- 1944, Majdanek, German concentration camp, Mauthausen, German Concentration camp, Oranienburg-Sachsenhausen, German Concentration Camp, Postcards, political images, German, prisoner correspondence, 1933 -- 1945, Proofs of incarcerations under German-Nazi and Axis regimes, Ravensbrueck, German concentration camp, Red Cross, International, 1933 -- 1946, Stutthof, German Concentration camp, Synagogues, religious temples
Languages: German, Czech, Polish, Yiddish, Ukrainian, Russian, French, Spanish;Castilian, Portuguese, Slovak, English, Hungarian, Serbian, Croatian, Romanian, Greek,Modern(1453-), Hebrew
In October 2011, Mr. Edward Victor, former lawyer and philanthropist, donated to the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust his Collection of the Second World War era documents and artifacts. Owing to this generous donation, our Archive acquired highly valuable historic materials. Being multivectorial by content and form, these documents and artifacts mirror various facets of the Holocaust and in a broader sense, they emanate from the war realities.
Mr. Victor’s Papers also include a special collection of postcards and photographs depicting largely bygone synagogues of Europe, Northern Africa and Middle East.
Mr. Victor started his collection guided primarily by philatelic interest. He collected letters, envelopes, postcards and other documents bearing a postal stamp or institutional stamps of the respective authorities and agencies. At a certain point, he realizes that the fate of the people, reflected in the short narratives, is of eternal historic value and shall not be measured only in a philatelic dimension. The content of various wartime correspondences reveals a historic enormity of victimization, dehumanization and personal tragedies on one side and a cold blood calmness of perpetrators on the other.
Reading correspondences sent from concentration camps, prisons, ghettos and German labor service open up a microcosm of tragic stories. Other groups of documents, such as official correspondences of National Socialist authorities, inquiries submitted by the relatives of incarcerated people, antisemitic and propaganda materials, rationing coupons also broaden our understanding of the Holocaust and about the structure of the Nazi regime. Ed Victor Papers, as a corpus of wartime documents, historicize the Holocaust in the context of the 20th century History. They shed light on the earlier, lesser known and often under researched pages of the Holocaust Experience, especially when it comes to the fate of individuals. At a certain point, multiple micro-histories become qualitatively intrinsic to the macro-history of the Holocaust.
Auschwitz complex of Nazi - German extermination and concentration camps
Buchenwald, German-Nazi concentration camp
Concentration camps, German
Flossenburg, German Concentration camp
German Labor Service, labor in Germany, 1940 -- 1945
Gross Rosen, German concentration camp
Gusen German concentration camp
Hamburg-Neuengamme, German concentration camp
Holocaust, Jewish (1939 -- 1945)
Identification documents, German issued, 1933 -- 1945
Jasenovac, Croatian Concentration camp
Jewish ghettos in German-occupied and controlled Europe
Judenrat, Jewish council in ghettos
Lodz ghetto, 1940 -- 1944
Majdanek, German concentration camp
Mauthausen, German Concentration camp
Oranienburg-Sachsenhausen, German Concentration Camp
Postcards, political images, German
prisoner correspondence, 1933 -- 1945
Proofs of incarcerations under German-Nazi and Axis regimes
Ravensbrueck, German concentration camp
Red Cross, International, 1933 -- 1946
Stutthof, German Concentration camp
Synagogues, religious temples
In 1939, Lodz was Poland’s second largest city after Warsaw. One-third of its residents, more than 233,000 people were Jews.
Before the end of 1939, 70,000 of the city’s Jews had been deported to labor camps in the General Government or had fled to the Soviet Union. By May 1, 1940, the remaining Jews were forced into a sealed ghetto to face starvation, uncertainty and misery.
The phenomenon of Lodz ghetto can be viewed as a multifactorial discourse. Multiple phenomena, such as of Nazi-German inconsistency in the pursuing of the Final Solution, of Chaim Mordechaj Rumkowski as an authoritarian leader of the ghetto and of the industrial mobility of Jewish population in Lodz, all in all induced and maintained an extraordinary existence of the hierarchically ruled and secluded from outside world ghetto.
The social structure in the Lodz Ghetto had the form of a pyramid that narrowed very swiftly in the direction of its apex. At the very pinnacle stood the Eldest of the Jews, Chaim Mordechaj Rumkowski.
The system of personal rule of the Jewish Eldest was established in the ghetto from the very beginning. The entire internal ghetto regime with its division into different groups and segments was narrowly linked with this person and with the Nazi policy that he realized in the ghetto. His personal defects and qualities, his convictions and ideas and his character and temperament had a decisive influence on the formation of the inner conditions in the ghetto.
Rumkowski surely considered the danger connected with his office. In the first weeks, he experienced on his own body the quality of Nazi brutality, when he came to intervene on behalf of the Jewish community secretary Sh. Nadler who had been seized for forced labor. The lust to rule, however, overcame him, particularly since he was by nature not a coward and showed courage and self-control when he stood face to face with a death threat.
In the areas of ghetto life, where the German supervisory authority over the ghetto left the Jews free hands, Rumkowski’s powers were like those of an absolute ruler. He truly became the master of life and death for over 150,000 Jews within the ghetto.
September 1, 1939 – May 1, 1940
On January 19, 1940, the German chief of police in Lodz, Schäffer, issued a warning to non-Jews not to enter the Jewish quarter because it had become a nest of infectious diseases (a common practice of the Nazis in all occupied territories). On February 8, 1940, the establishment of the ghetto was ordered. On March 1, 1940, the Eldest of the Jews, Chaim Rumkowski, issued his Announcement No. 1, the Jews who live in the “Jewish quarter” are to remain there or face reprisals for living illegally. In Announcement No. 4 (March 1940) he further informed “the Jewish population of Lodsch” that he had been instructed by the authorities to “regulate the transfer of Jews to the new quarter.” In April 1940, the ghetto area was enclosed with a wire fence, and on April 19, 1940, Rumkowski was ordered by the German police to have the Ordungsdienst (the Jewish police) guard the fence inside the ghetto. On April 30, 1940, Schäffer ordered the closing of the ghetto. On May 1, 1940, the ghetto was sealed off from the outside world.
May 1, 1940 – January 5, 1942
This period is characterized by the consolidation of Rumkowski’s power over the ghetto and the development of the internal ghetto administration. Rumkowski’s tasks and prerogatives as the Eldest of the ghetto were outlined in a letter from the Oberbürgmeister (signed by city commissioner Schiffer) on April 30, 1940. Rumkowski was to organize and maintain “orderly community life” with respect to economy, provisioning, labor, health and welfare; to submit to the German administration weekly statistics of all ghetto inhabitants; to list and secure all Jewish assets for the purpose of confiscation except for vitally needed clothes, food and dwellings. In return, he was authorized to organize his own police, to confiscate and distribute all food and to enforce work without pay. All ghetto contacts with the German authorities were to be maintained exclusively by Rumkowski or his deputy.
The ghetto, which Rumkowski took over, was confined to an area of 4.3 square kilometers (in February 1941, after the Germans cut off several blocks of the ghetto, the diminished area equaled 3.8 square kilometers). The ghetto was located in the poorest neighborhood of prewar Lodz, the Baluty and Old Town (Stare Miasto), where basic accommodations were generally lacking and sanitary conditions were dismal. In this enclosed and tightly guarded place there lived 160,423 Jews according to a census taken on June 6, 1940. In the overcrowded dwellings there were an average of 3.5 persons per room. Most of the ghetto inhabitants lost all or most of their property when they left their city homes in panic. The economy was nonexistent. The community welfare system, heavily burdened even before the creation of the ghetto, was in shambles.
Rumkowski entered the ghetto with an ideology of survival, which entailed making the ghetto productive and thus useful to the Nazis, especially to the German war industry. On April 5, 1940, he submitted to the Oberbürgmeister a plan to organize industries in the ghetto that would serve the economic needs of the Nazis. Later he would allude in his speeches to this plan as giving the Nazis a virtual “gold mine” – meaning thousands of cheap Jewish laborers. The first tailoring workshop with 300 workers opened on April 20 and on May 13 Rumkowski reported to the Oberbürgmeister that 14,850 tailors and seamstresses registered for work, and he asked for production orders. From these beginning, an industrial complex developed in the ghetto with 117 enterprises and 73,782 workers by the end of 1943.
Meanwhile, a ruthless campaign to confiscate work tools and raw materials was conducted in order to open other workshops and force people to work in ghetto industries rather than on their own. In time, private enterprise in the ghetto was completely eradicated, and Rumkowski became the sole employer for the entire ghetto population.
The system of food rationing (except for the bread) was introduced in the ghetto on June 2, 1940 and from this day ration cards regulated life in the ghetto. In 1940, the population tried to resist. Hunger demonstration and disturbances marked the first year of the ghetto. Demonstrators took the streets on August 10 and 11 and again during the first week of October. The last known disturbance occurred on January 11 and 12, 1941. They were put down by the Jewish Ordungsdienst and German police.
Trying to stabilize the situation in the ghetto, Rumkowski appealed to the German administration, and on September 19 received a loan on 2,000,000 Reichsmarks. He used the loan for relief payments to over 70,000 destitute ghetto inmates. At the same time he was moving fast towards the total rationing of provisions. This was announced on December 15, 1940, with rationing of bread as well. On December 27, 1940, Rumkowski announced the takeover of all private food stores, restaurants and home kitchens and assigned the distribution of food to his own stores. By 1941, the rationing system was firmly in place, and provisioning was fully regulated.
In 1940 and in 1941, the ghetto communal, cultural and social institutions and organizations were still active. The school system was fully operative, childcare was provided by a network of children’s homes, orphanages, summer camps and a free meals program, religion and religious institutions enjoyed a temporary reprieve from Nazi persecutions. There were important social programs for ghetto youth such as haksharas and kibbutzim in Marysin. Theater performances, literary and musical events were arranged in the Culture House and in halls and kitchens maintained by various political groups.
For a while the Nazis seemed content with this situation and interfered little in the ghetto’s internal affairs. Reckless killing did not stop altogether, to be sure and many took place at the ghetto fence where the Schutzolizei (Protective Police) guards would open fire at anyone who came to close. An insane asylum in the ghetto was liquidated and over one hundred of its patients were killed. A sedative, Scopolamin, was administered to them before execution.
The general situation in the ghetto changed radically in the fall of 1941, when a mass of almost 20,000 Jews from Bohemia, Moravia, Austria, Germany and Luxemburg (including the district of Leslau-Leszno in the Wartheland) – generally called “Western Jews” – was deported and resettled in the ghetto.
In order to accommodate them, Rumkowski ordered the closing of ghetto schools and the conversion of school building into reception centers. The schools were never to open again. For the deportees the reality of the Lodz ghetto was a shattering experience from which most never recovered. They felt foreign among the Lodz Jews, they could not adapt to the horrid living conditions and could not comprehend the purpose of this resettlement. Many of them readily went to their final deportation in 1942 to the death camp in Chelmno, convinced that nothing worse than their life in the ghetto could happen to them.
On December 7, 1941, the first Nazi death camp located in Chelmno, some seventy kilometers from Lodz, began its experimental run. Several Jewish communities from the neighboring towns were annihilated there between December 7 and January 14, 1942 – altogether some 6,400 people. The killing vans in which the victims were suffocated by means of exhaust fumes replaced the execution squads of the Einsatzgruppen as both more efficient and less “disturbing”. Even when supplanted by the gas chambers of other death camps, the vans remained in use until July 1944. Over 250,000 Jews from Wartheland were annihilated in Chelmno. Of this number over 70,000 came from the Lodz ghetto.
January 5, 1941 – September 12, 1942
Deportation to and from the Lodz ghetto in 1942 were in step with the Nazi policy of disposing of all unproductive groups including children and old people. The Lodz ghetto was to become a labor camp where nothing mattered but work. Those few survivors of the destroyed communities who were deported to the Lodz ghetto in 1942 had been spared because they were skilled workers.
The first hint of impeding deportation came in a speech by Rumkowski on December 20, 1941, when he announced that a contingent of 10,000 persons had been requested by the Germans for deportation. He further stated that this contingent would be filled with criminal elements, welfare recipients who did not participate in the public works program and black marketeers. On December 30, 1941, an announcement was issued that until further notice all ghetto residents were strictly forbidden to shelter strangers or relatives not registered as members of the household. Finally, on January 5, 1942, the Resettlement Commission nominated by Rumkowski began compiling lists of deportees.
The first transport left Lodz for Chelmno on January 16, 1942. From this day the ghetto was obliged to deliver a contingent of 1,000 persons daily until the quota set by the Nazis was filled. The deportations were halted on January 29 after 10,103 people had left the ghetto.
The process resumed with an even greater intensity on February 22, 1942 and lasted until April 2, 1942. During this phase of deportations, 34,073 lives were extinguished.
Finally, on May 4 the deportation of the “Western” Jews was announced, notwithstanding the fact that they had come to the ghetto only six months earlier. Excluded from this deportation were the former recipients of German or Austrian military awards earned during the First World War and a number of professionals employed in the ghetto administration. By May 15, 1942, 10,161 persons had been deported from the ghetto.
The total number of deportees between January and May 1942 was 54,990 persons, more than one-third of the ghetto population.
To force deportees to come to the transport point the Nazis used the weapon of hunger, curtailing deliveries of food to the ghetto and at the same time providing meals for those who came to the train. This tactic was repeated in all subsequent deportations.
In the middle of it all Rumkowski urged prospective deportees time and again to sell furniture and other property to his “purchasing agencies,” to deposit their belonging until they returned. Nor did he forget to demand that the families of the deported surrender their ration cards.
The next wave of deportation from Lodz was directed against children, the aged and the infirm. This time the ghetto Jews had information of what was to happen and an attempt was made to hide some of the children among the ghetto work force in the summer months of 1942. By July 20 there were about 13,000 children and adolescents employed in the workshops and factories. However, younger children and old people left defenseless.
The deportation began on September 1, 1942 with the removal of the sick from five ghetto hospitals and two preventoriums. On this day, 374 adult and 320 children were deported to the death camp.
On September 5, 1942, a general curfew (Gesperre in German, sphere in Yiddish) was announced until further notice. The residents of old age homes and orphanages were the first to be taken to the train. After that, the Ordnungsienst (Jewish police) had to make house searches in order to find children and take them away from their parents. The results of the first day’s searches were so meager that the German ghetto administration and the Gestapo decided to take matters into their own hands, and the ghetto became the scene of a vicious manhunt. By September 12, it was all over. There were 600 dead in ghetto streets and homes. 15,859 victims had been taken to transports.
On September 12, 1942, the curfew was lifted. Rumkowski announced the opening of all kitchens on September 13 and promised an improvement in the food situation.
September 13, 1942 – June 14, 1944
After the deportation of 1942 there were almost two years of relative stability in the Lodz ghetto. At a time when there were no more ghettos in the Wartheland and all the ghettos in the General Government were being liquidated one after another, the Lodz ghetto continued to exist as a giant labor camp. During 1942 and 1943 its usefulness to the Nazi war machine was beyond doubt, so much so that all attempts by Himmler and the SS to liquidate the ghetto were successfully frustrated by the manpower-starved Nazi armament authorities. Himmler’s plan to convert the ghetto into a concentration camp (which would bring it under the control of the SS) and transfer its much diminished population to the Lublin district, where they would become part of the slave labor complex under Odilo Globocnik, was never materialized.
This situation inside the ghetto was different from previous years. By 1943 there were 87,000 Jews in the ghetto, and eighty-five percent of this total number were working in the ghetto plants of offices. Many communal services were discontinued. There were no schools, orphanages or summer camps. Relief activities were discontinued. The Rabbinate and all religious institutions were liquidated. The Sabbath and religious holidays were abolished. There were few children and almost no old people in the ghetto.
Nazi supervision of the ghetto was now even more evident than ever. Many of Rumkowski’s prerogatives were gradually taken from him. The most important instrument of his power, the distribution of food, was personally taken over by Hans Biebow, the chief of the German ghetto administration, in October 1943. The administration offices were reduced or altogether liquidated and their employees transferred to the ghetto plants. The Sonderkommando – a special unit of the Ordnungsdienst that was in charge of expropriations, operations against the black market and political espionage – now gained strength because of their close ties to the Germans. Rumkowski now had to share much of his power with the managers of labor workshops and plants, whose role in the ghetto increased immensely.
June 15, 1944 – January 19, 1945
On June 10, 1944, Himmler ordered the Nazi chief of the Wartheland, Arthur Greiser to begin liquidation of the ghetto without further delay. In view of the Allies’ continuing military offensives and victories, the usefulness of this labor force became debatable and thus the fate of the ghetto was sealed. On June 15, the Gestapo chief in Lodz, Bradfisch, informed Rumkowski that workers were needed inside Germany to repair the damages inflicted by the Allied bombings. He demanded a weekly contingent of 3,000 persons. The next day Rumkowski announced the new deportations and appealed for voluntary sign-ups. The Inter-Division Commission, which included top ghetto officials, was to draft the deportation lists. The deportees were allowed to take along 15 kg of luggage and were to receive food rations for three days.
The first transport in this wave of deportations left ghetto on June 23, 1944. By July 15, 1944, 7,196 people were deported. The destination was, as before, Chelmno.
On July 15, the deportations were suddenly halted. At that time, the Soviet Red Army was already advancing through ethnic Polish territories in an offensive, which eventually brought it the banks of Vistula. The Nazis had decided to liquidate the death camp in Chelmno and obliterated its traces.
After two weeks the deportations from the ghetto were resumed. This much time had been needed to re-direct the transport traffic to Auschwitz where the remaining Jewish population of Lodz was to perish during the month of August. The Soviet offensive was halted some 130 km east of Lodz and was not resumed until January 1945.
On August 2, 1944, Rumkowski made public, in Announcement No. 417, that “on the instructions of the Mayor of Litzmannstadt” the ghetto would be evacuated to an undisclosed location. “The plant crews will go together as units and the families of workers will join them.” Five thousand ghetto residents were to show up daily at the processing centers.
During this month of the Lodz ghetto, Rumkowski wrote a total of twenty-six announcements and warnings in order to ensure an orderly deportation. As his appeals for voluntary submission fell on deaf ears, he resorted to threats of reprisal, should the Germans “take the course of the deportation into their own hands.” After a week of almost futile efforts of persuading the ghetto Jews to come to the trains, several German police units entered the ghetto on August 8, 1944 and began to drag people to the railroad station. On August 9, 1944, all plants in the ghetto were ordered closed. That same day the western part of the ghetto was closed off and all residents were ordered to move to the eastern part. Such a reduction of the ghetto area was an effective method to speed the deportation, because residents lost their homes and food rations. They were thus an easy target for police once they entered the smaller ghetto. By August 24, 1944, after two reductions, the area of the ghetto had been diminished to four streets and eighty-three houses.
By the end of August 1944 over 68,500 Jews from the Lodz ghetto had been deported to Auschwitz. Rumkowski and his family boarded the train on August 28, 1944. The Lodz ghetto ceased to exist. When the Soviet and Polish army units entered Lodz on January 19, 1945, they found only 877 Jews who had been left in the former ghetto by the Nazis to carry out clean-up operations.
This Collection comprises various type of correspondences and documents emerged in 1941 -1944. It includes personal inquires sent to and from the ghetto, documens issued by the Judenrat, German official documents and correspondences between Judenrat of Lodz and Judenrate of the other cities and towns in Poland, Germany and German-occupied and controlled territories
Postcard from Busko-Zdrój, Poland to the Judenrat in Lodz, written from council of elders of the Jewish population, 13 April 1940.
Translation: Re: Winczynsky, Beno
Concerning our letter from April 4, 1940 we kindly ask you to send us two copies of the birth certificate for Winczynsky, Beno COD. It is very urgent. Signature.
Letter to Lodz from Paris, written to Ch. Rumkovski from H. Fromanger, 12 March 1942
Translation:
Dear Mr. Rumkowski,
I received the first message from my parents, Jakob Reismann (Jakuba 10/1) after their arrival from Vienna in December of last year. Since then I did not receive answers to my numerous letters and postcards neither did I get a confirmation of receipt for the money being send through the Devisenstelle. In desperation I am asking you to tell me how my parents are doing.
I thank you for your kindness with all my heart. Your obedient servant H.Fromanger
Postcard from Urbisaglia (Macerata), Italy to the Judenrat in Lodz, written from Salomon Joles to Ch. Rumkovski, 14 March 1942
Translation:
Dear mother!
I still am without a word of you. Your last postcard was from December 15, so three months ago that I last received a sign of life from you. I cannot put into words how I feel about that. I am so desperate and do not know what to do anymore. Please do everything in your power to send me a message. I still have not heard a word from the children. How are you doing? I am healthy. I expect a quick response. Many kisses, signature
Postcard, Inquiry from Vienna to the Judenrat of Lodz, Written from Bruno Guttmann in regards to Elsa Sara Einohrl, 5 December 1941
Translation:
I kindly ask for information on my sister Mrs. Elsa Sara Einoehrl, from Vienna V. Koestlergasse 11; she was on transport no.5 on November 2. I would like to know if she is in Litzmannstadt, what her address is and if it is possible to send her some money.
Your obedient servant Bruno Israel Guttmann
Postcard from Chmielnik, Poland to the Judenrat of Lodz, inquiry written by J. Plozycki, 15 July 1941.
Translation:
I, Ida Layv Plszycki, ask you to inform me about my mother [name] and sister [name] and my husband with two kids who lived on [street]. For 13 weeks I have not heard of them. I have not heard of my brother Ichezkiel Chaim with his wife and two children for about 20 weeks. I thank you in advance. With regards, signature
Remarks (green) in Polish
Postcard from Węgrów, Poland to the Judenrat of Lodz, Inquiry about Sara Beier from Hochberg, 22 September 1941
Translation:
I have not received any messages from my wife Sara Bejer (Zydowska 11) in a long time. I kindly ask you to find out if she is alive, where she lives and from what she is living. Thank you, Hochberg
Postcard from the Jewish Social Self-help Council in Lagow to the Jewish council in Litzmannstadt, postmarked 29 October 1941.
Writer requesting information about brother-in-law and his son because he has not heard of them in a long time.
Postcard from Manie Fajirtueu in Unterschleissheim to the Jewish council leader in Litzmannstadt, postmarked 3 September 1942
Translation:
I kindly ask you to tell me if my aunt Fajge Kitaj, Holstr.37/5 is living in Litzmannstadt because I have not received any message from her so far. Thank you in advance. Signature. Asking for quick response.
Postcard from Rachela Fraenkel in Krakow to the Jewish Committee in Litzmannstadt, postmarked 5 July 1941
Translation: I am honored to ask you for information about my brother Symcho Binem Majerane, living on Limanowski 26/23. I wrote to him many times and sadly never received an answer. With respect and hope that my wish will be fulfilled. Signature
Postcard from Ruver Fiszel in Zdunska Wola to the Jewish council leader in Litzmannstadt, dated 10 June 1941
Translation;
I kindly ask you to inform me, Fiszel Rubek, about mr. Mordechai Helfgott. Please let me know if he is healthy, if he still lives in Riemengasse No.1, if he is alive. I have not heard of him in a long time. Lately he was in hospital. Please respond soon. Fiszel Rubek, Szadek Ghetto, Wachtelstr. No1.
Remarks (green) in Polish
Postcard from the Judenrat in Dzialoszyce to the Jewish council leader in Litzmannstadt, dated 18 February 1941.
Translation;
We kindly ask you to inform us about the health of the children, Balderman Laga, Malka, Gitla and Moniek. Please respond soon. Signature
Remarks (green) in Polish
Postcard from the Judenrat in Staszow to the Jewish council leader in Litzmannstadt, dated 20 June 1941
Translation:
On request of E.J.Rotenberg, Koscielna Str.3, we kindly ask you to inform us about the whereabouts of Hinda Rotenberg, who since the war did not respond to any messages and who lived on Lipowa 44 before the war.
Thank you in advance, signature
Remarks (green) in Polish
Postcard from the Judenrat in Hrubieszow to the Jewish council leader in Litzmannstadt, dated 19 June 1941.
Translation:
I hereby ask you for information on Ickowicz, Masza living in Litzmannstadt Ghetto on Gruzinskastr.46/5x. The person asking is the son Wierzbowski, Heniek living on Hrubiesow Ludnastr.24. He has not received letters from his mother in 7 months. Signature.
Postcard from a Tarnowska in Konskie to the Jewish council leader in Litzmannstadt, postmarked 16 July 1941
Translation:
To the Jewish Community!
I am very concerned because I did not receive any answer to my several postcards that I sent to my brother M. Tarnowski in Litzmannstadt. So I would like to ask the community if he is healthy and what he is doing in general. I am hoping that the Jewish Community fulfills my wish. I thank you in advance.
Signature
Postcard from the council of Jewish elders in Kaminsk to the Jewish council leader in Litzmannstadt, postmarked 22 July 1941
Translation:
We are referring to your request concerning Abram Szuhmaister. Before the war he lived Piescidskiegoi 7 (?), his son in law Vaurens Halpern works for the Jewish Community at the moment. In case it is the one living on (illegible) 17, we ask him to to pay out this amount. A second amount will be transferred to the same account by Kindman to Szuhmaister, so we ask to pay out this amount as well. David Mintz. For the correctness
Postcard from Nacha Bauda in Germany to the Jewish Committee in Litzmannstadt, postmarked 9 September 1941
Translation:
To the Jewish Committee Litzmannstadt,
I am kindly asking you to inform me if my husband Meusche Bauda is one of the sick workers who have been brought from Posen to Litzmannstadt on August 1. He was in the hospital of Posen and it was said that all sick men should be deported together.
I did not hear from my husband, so I kindly ask the Jewish Committee to find out if my husband is in Litzmannstadt and where he is.
Thank you for your help. Nacha Bauda
Postcard from Ch. Rumkowski in Litzmannstadt to Dawid Goralski in Sao Paulo, Brazil, postmarked 16 December 1940
Translation:
Dear Dawid!
I received your letter to the Chairman of the Jewish Council from November 14 and I am telling you the following: Your brother-in-law works for the parish and he and his family are doing fine. He sent letters to you several times and is surprised that you did not receive any of them. Me and my family are doing fine and we would be happy to receive a letter from you. My address is: Hohensteinerstrasse 30b.
Warmest regards to you and your family, signature.
Green remarks in old German handwriting; need to be translated
Postcard from Boruch Garfinkel in Kreis Skierniewice to the Jewish council leader in Litzmannstadt, undated.
Translation:
To the Chairman of the Jewish Council in Litzmannstadt
I kindly request the address of my mother Sima Garfinkel. She used to live at Zagajnikowa 89/91. I do not know where she lives right now and how she is doing. I would like to write to her that I live here now and that I am doing fine. Therefore I kindly request the address of my mother. Devoted, signature.
Postcard from Regina Perlmutter in Tarnopol, Galicia to the Judenrat in Lodz, dated 16 October 1941
Translation:
To the Jewish Council Lodz!!
I kindly ask you to help me find at least one of the following acquaintances:
…. Names several acquaintances with old addresses.
Postcard from Jakob Grynszpan in Sternberg to the forced labor leader in Litzmannstadt, postmarked 28 July 1941
Translation:
The law says that wife and children of the worker get half of the 48 Reichsmark salary. It is the same with me. But my wife as well as my mother are severely sick. That is why money is rare during these times. Herr Leiter you know, that for sick people being in the Ghetto the amount of money is not enough. Mrs. Frailich (Franzstr.8) gets her 6 RM a week plus an extra of 6 RM/week and the mother gets her part. In the end they get 48 RM/month and the mother gets 24 RM. I beg you, my wife has a lung disease and needs extra care, so does my mother. So I beg you please pay 48 RM to my wife and 24 RM to my mother. I hope that my request is heard. Thank you in advance. Please reply. Jakob Grynszpan
Postcard from Abram Cegla in Posen-Stadion to the forced labor department in Litzmannstadt, postmarked 2 October 1941
Translation:
To Labor Planning Department, c/o Mister Fuchs
I, Abram Cegla, resident in Litzmannstadt, with my brother Zalman Cegla, Talwegstrasse 10, apartment 67, have gone to work onl March 1. I am currently working in Posen as Hochmeister at Jewish Labor Camp No.9. I have arranged that my salary will be paid to my brother Zalman Cegla. Unfortunately, I received a letter from my parents today that informed me about my brother’s death. This news was devastating for me. I therefore kindly ask you to pay the money for my work to my sister-in-law Brandla Cegla, Talwegstrasse 10. This is the wife of my late brother.
Thank you so much in advance, Mister Fuks. I am awaiting your answer. I also sent a letter to my sister in law Brandla Cegla that I arranged the money to be paid to her. I hope that you can fulfill my kind request. Your obedient servant, A. Cegla.
Expulsion document excluding the Szlegel family from a transport, dated 9 June 1942
Confirmation that the family Szlegel is not going to be deported with transport XLII 45-49. Dated June 9, 1942; Litzmannstadt-Ghetto
Postcard to Lodz from Ferramonti di Tarsia-Cosenza, Italy, written to Robert Benda from Giov. Benda, 4 March 1942
Translation:
The good news first: our dear boy telegraphed to Robert. He received it on February 21. He is healthy and everything is all right. You can imagine how happy I was, because I did not expect to receive a message from him after all this time, frankly spoken. What a wonderful surprise! And I am about to tell you about it so that you can be happy as well. If only you would receive my messages; if only I would be sure that I am not writing without any sense and that you can be relieved that everything is good over here and that I have enough to eat etc. Unfortunately I do not receive any messages from you. The uncle did not receive anything either, I got his letter just yesterday. Vally received a confirmation of moneytransfer with father’s signature but that was all we got for months! All the fear and concern that goes through our minds, you can imagine how that must feel! The confirmation was sent to Cologne by the way, they mixed it up with Kolin. That is why it was delayed. We received a package of Dyna with cookies yesterday. How polite of the people, right? I hope you, my beloved ones, are healthy and able to write soon. With all my love for you I pray for your sanity and send you plenty of kisses. Your son, signature.
Postcard from Copenhagen, Denmark to Lodz, written to Zelly Gottlieb from M. Levy, 31 March 1942
Translation:
My beloved aunt Zelly!
Unfortunaley over a week has passed since I wrote to you for the last time, beloved aunt Zelly. The days pass so fast and we had to work a lot to have everything done before Easter. In my last letter I wrote that the winter is over but it started snowing and freezing again and it is still freezing. But the sun is shining and she will win in the end. I wish you all the best and stay forever your living niece Marie [?] My thoughts are with you very often. I will visit Ruth after Easter.
Postcard from Fanny Lewin in Lodz to Paul Kinsberg in Bronx, New York, postmarked 23 October 1939
Translation:
My dear Paul!
I hope you are receiving this letter. I am happy to tell you that all our family is healthy and doing fine. Answer soon and also write to Jozio to his address Zeromskiego 29. We all kiss you. Fanny. Jenny.
Postcard from F. Lewin in Lodsch to Mr. Paul Kinsberg in Bronx, New York, postmarked 20 February 1940
Translation:
My dear Paul!
You cannot imagine how happy we were to finally receive your first postcard from November 10. We wrote to you several times, hopefully you will get this postcard. We all are healthy but we miss you. If you would have the possibility to send us packages with food we would be so thankful. We gave your address to aunt Sonia, please also write to her to Tallinn. Joseph and his family are in Warsaw. Warm regards to all the relatives. I kiss and hug you! Signature
My dear Paul I kiss and hug you! Love you, Jenny
Postcard from B. Freidreich in Litzmannstadt to M. Freidenreich in Wierzbnik Bei Starchowice, dated 19 December 1941
Translation:
My beloved ones!
I received your nice letter. You wrote that you got 30RM from Tridman [?], I need to know what I shall give. I assume you know the address of Szyja, so if you write to him please send him a little bit more and tell me about it. There are no news here. We are thankful and healthy. We are waiting for your letter. Write more often and more detailed what you got for the winter. Please do not wait until you receive letters from us although we would like to write a postcard once a week. We only received one letter from Renia. I replied immediately but until today she did not get back to us. We send you kindest regards. Signature.
Postcard from Sylvia Loewy in Stockholm to Fritz Loewy in Zbaraz, postmarked 9 January 1943
Translation:
My dear Fritz!
I like Stockholm very much. I hope you are well. Probably I might receive a letter from you someday. Best wishes and kisses from your loving Sylvia.
Postcard from Otto Topf in Moscow to Moritz Topf in Litzmannstadt, postmarked 26 November 1942
Translation:
Content: Dear Aunt & Uncle!
This is the third postcard answering your first postcard from November 8, 1941. I hope that you get at least one of them and that you are healthy. As I told you already I need a confirmation from the Ortscomissionat in order to transfer Reichsmark; I need to hand in the confirmation at the National Bank. The confirmation has to include information on the residence of my Uncle and on the fact that he needs support.
Please answer.
Best regards, Otto.
Postcard from a Cepelinski in Litzmannstadt to C. Frajtag in Miedzyrzec Podlaski, dated 25 November 1941
Translation: Dear Father!
We have not written in a long time but there are not any news here, we are all healthy and I work as a chef of the bakery and Kumwinisch is (?). Marylka has grown to be a big and beautiful girl and often asks about her granddad Neumark. So far no more news. So write about what is new for you and about your health and how you get along with your diet. We all send greetings, especially Constanze (?) and the whole family. Marylka sends regards and kisses her granddad.
Sala and family send warm greetings.
Note: Hebrew and Jiddish language are forbidden
Postcard from H. Fisch in Litzmannstadt to Fajga Erlitz in Poniatowskiego, dated 9 and 10 December, year unknown
Translation:
Dearest children!
We received your postcard as well as the 10 RM. We are so thankful because my salary at Arbeitsressort is so low that it brought us much mizbar (sic!). Many weeks ago Sonia wrote that she would send us money, so when I was at work, the parents said it came from Sonia. Can you imagine father’s joy? Probably, Mother says that your effort is better as Sonia’s effort because with you it is all about the will not the money. Dear Fella, today I am a bit more patient because I worked less, only until 4 in the afternoon and so this is already my second postcard. I don’t write to Sonia because I do not have the patience since she does not want to understand me (illegible). You only need to be happy that we are healthy because last year the father was so weak that he could only stay in bed.
Best wishes. Write to us what Wolf is doing. All his belongings are with us.
Postcard from Friedrich Loebl in Litzmannstadt to Hans Gruenwald in Prague, postmarked 24 December 1941
Translation:
Dear Doctor!
As I wrote to you on November 8 (?) Aunt Nela was brought to hospital suffering from (illegible). She is being treated by Dr. (?) a very reliable doctor and acquaintance of Karl Guetig (?). An acquaintance is in the same hospital, she cares for Nela. Hans and I go there every day to fulfill all the wishes that has been communicated to us in written form. Unfortunately personal visits are not allowed. Although we kindly asked Aunt Nela to do so she did not eat and did not buy herself many things, (illegible), that was why she was not resistant enough. Nevertheless we hope that she will be better soon, her doctor gave good prospects. I will write again soon.
Best Regards. Fritz Loebl
Postcard from Bertha Greid in Stockholm to Lina Nieswiski in Litzmannstadt, postmarked 24 February 1942
Translation:
Dear Lina!
How are all of you doing? Since January we have had sent two Koli to you from Lissabon with the help of a Jewish organization in Stockholm. Did you receive the packages? They say that since a few months ago a half-sister of my husband is in Litzmannstadt at the moment. But we have not received answers to any of our letters. Her address is: Mrs. Feicze (Fanni) Fischer (address Zawadski) Kraeutergasse I5. Could you find out how she is doing? She is all alone and needs sympathy. We also sent her a package every 2 weeks but we never received a note on whether she has received those packages. I hope you receive this postcard. We kindly send our regards and hope to hear from you soon. Your servant Bertha (Asch) Greid, Nybrogatan 39, Stockholm, Sweden.
Postcard from Abraham Eibueschuetz in Litzmannstadt to Z. Engel in Warsaw, postmarked 25 December 1941
Translation:
Dear sister ? !
I have received your postcards from December 11 and I thank you from all my heart. I have not received an answer from cousin Borenstein. Please visit him and find out if he has done this. I have not received the money from November 21 so far, as I have already told you (?). I ask you to think of us as often as possible and write often. We are healthy and no other news. I write to you every week. Why does Tolcia not write a few words on his well-being. I am expecting your answer on what you all are doing. How are you? The warmest regards from me and my entire family to you all. Your brother Abraham
Postcard from F. Ajzenfeld in Litzmannstadt to Szyja Ajzenfeld in Pinezaw ueber Busko, dated 21 November 1941
Translation:
Dear father and siblings. I received a postcard from you. Thank God I am healthy but I have not received 50RM so far and I do not know why. I received a letter from Warsaw but the family would not write with caution. Please write to me how granny is doing.
Postcard from Siegni Fryde in Litzmannstadt to Herman Fryde in Bendsburg, dated 9 December 1941
Translation:
Dear Herman!
As an answer to your postcard I am confirming the receipt of 5 RM and I am thanking you for this. What you are writing makes me angry, you always (?) even in good times. I do not feel very well, but I have to be okay because I can not and may not write as freely as you because many things are forbidden here. It hurts me that my dear Leonie is not well because she has such a good heart and has done so many good things and still does if she has the possibility. The worst thing is that I do not hear from my son Ludwik because he would have helped me. I need at least 15 RM per month, and I have no one to ask that of but you. You want me to keep all my money together but how, I am all alone hier and sick, do you understand that? Farewell and do not forget me. Yours, Siegmund
Regards to Ania.
Postcard from Hedwig Kohn in Litzmannstadt to Ignac Kohn in Protectorate B. Budweis, dated 9 December 1941. It is marked with a stamp that says 'Forbidden content'
Translation:
Dearest parents!
I have read your kind report and I can tell you that we are healthy and that Tzedy (?) has been employed at the fur-sole factory. We are talking about you every day. We would welcome to receive money. I am cooking in a kitchen using gas. The children are hungry and eat everything. It is sad that we are not allowed to send packages. (Note there: open criticism! That may be why the letter has not been approved) We are allowed to send money. Write to H.Heroldammer’s (?) old address in Prague; send him our current address, he will pass on the news to my acquaintances. Stay healthy and write letters with a lot of information, they will always reach us. Many kisses to Massareks, many dear kisses to you dearest parents thankful Signature.\
Envelope sent to Franciszka Karpinska, 22 June 1944. A handwritten not eon the envelope says 'If the prisoner is not in the women prison anymore please send to Ravensbrueck concentration camp'
A stamp on the envelope says 'Back to sender, can not be delivered without number of prisoner'
From R Lipszyc to D. Lipszyc in New York, Lodz Ghetto 18 September 1940.
The letter is from a mother to her son. She is saying that she and Szulim are doing fine, the others 'have left'. She is asking her son for help.
Postcard to Helena Klein in Praha from Ernestine Kraus in Litzmannstadt Getto, dated 15 May 1942. The card says that she received the 40RM transferred to her on 15 April 1942.
The card go sent back as the receiver was moved to Theresienstadt as a note on the card says.
Postcard sent from Martha Markus in Lodz to Hamburg, 12 December 1941. There is a stamp on it that says 'Forbidden content'.
She is thanking for 10RM, and is asking why Franziska is not sending any money to Siegfried. Also she is asking for a long letter and that double letters can be sent. She is asking what Mrs Friedheim is doing and are thanking for some stuff like toothpaste and semolina.
