Piaski

In the Polish town of Piaski, the Nazi established an open ghetto in March 1940 with an associated work camp. Overcrowding was severe, with 20 people assigned to one room. The ghetto was liquidated in March 1943.

This postal card written has the return address of Anna “Sara” Riess, a German-Jewish woman who had been born in Piaski. When the invasion of Poland took place, all of the naturalized Jews were sent back to their birthplaces in Poland. While the card was written in Piaski, it was posted in Warsaw. It is possible that Riess had made her way there before mailing the card.

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Ghettos

The term ghetto originated in Italy in the sixteenth century; this was the name given to the Jewish quarter in Venice. During World War II ghettoization of the Jews occurred between the years of 1939 to 1942. Most of the ghettos were in Poland, inside the Nazi administrative region called the Generalgouvernement (General Government). Usually the a poor section of a city or town was designated for the ghetto, and the Jews were required to leave, taking only what they could carry to the ghetto. Once all the Jews entered the ghetto area it was sealed off from the rest of the city.

There was much overcrowding, starvation, and death. There were virtually no jobs and little money to go around. Some ghettos tried to work with the Nazis to create jobs. Within the ghetto, a Judenrat, or Jewish council, was established by the Nazis, and the head of the Judenrat was called the Älteste der Juden (Elder of the Jews). He was in charge of the ghetto government and had to work with the Nazis in governing.

In January 1942 at the Wannsee Conference, the “Final Solution” was formulated. This “solution,” which involved the complete destruction of  Jewish people in Europe and Poland, signaled the end of the ghettos. After January of 1942 the Nazis began to liquidate the ghettos and send the residents to the six death camps set up in the Generalgouvernement.

Hagibor

One of the very first covers I obtained in the area of the Holocaust is picture below. It intrigued me because it had the Hebrew word Hagibor, meaning “strength” in the address. At a stamp club meeting I showed this cover, and a gentlemen in the audience explained that Hagibor was a soccer camp for Jewish youth from all over Europe and was located outside of Prague. I could not figure out what this had to do with the Holocaust. So I went to Spertus College Library to research this, and I found an article that indicated that Hagibor was a special camp (Sonderlager) for spouses of mixed marriages.

The article also stated that mail from the Hagibor Camp is generally written on postcards, and the messages consist of no more than 32 words. The censor numbered each word and placed his initials on the card.

This postal card was sent to Hagibor and has a circular date stamp of March 4, 1945.  The markings indicate that the card should be written in German, and there is also a marking from the Prague Jewish Council.

The reverse is an inquiry for Hilel Lizband. The card is stamped JUDEN (Jew) and Zurück (return to sender). The card was returned without any action taken on it.

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This postcard, sent from Litzmanstadt, has a circular April 15, 1942, cancel and a return address from the Aelteste der Juden in Litzmannstadt. It was addressed to a Jewish individual in Vienna, Austria, who uses the “Israel” middle name.

I searched for several years to finding a postcard with numbered words, as described in the article. At one show I picked up this card and recognized the return address as Hagibor Camp. I held the card afraid to turn it over. Finally I did!

This postal card has a circular date stamp Prague, November 27, 1944, and handstamp indicating that all correspondence should be in German.

Warsaw

Warsaw, the capital of Poland, was one of the first cities occupied by the Nazis. The Jews were forced to move into the poor area of town, which was sealed off and connected to the city by only a bridge. This ghetto became the largest in the General Government, containing almost a half million people. When the Nazis started to liquidate the ghetto, the Jews revolted, and the resulting Warsaw Rebellion ultimately led to the complete and utter destruction of the ghetto.

This postal card, sent from the Warsaw ghetto, has a machine Warsaw, June 21, 1942, cancel to Belle Harbor, NY. It was censored by the Nazis, as shown by the circular red handstamp. The small rectangular box in the left corner is the ghetto postal censor.

This is the handstamp of the Warsaw ghetto. It reads Judenrat Waschau (Warsaw Jewish Council).

Kleine Festung

The Kleine Festung or “Little Fortress” was a prison in Theresienstadt and contained all the non-Jewish prisoners. Ironically, mail from the Kleine Festung received the Theresienstadt cancellation, by mail from the ghetto did not.

This postcard that was mailed from the Kleine Festung has a circular Theresienstadt cancel dated January 5, 1942. The third line in the return address indicates that the card is from the Kleine Festung.

Theresienstadt

Terezín was a garrison town built between 1780 and 1790 and named for the queen mother Maria Teresa. The Nazis, upon taking over Czechoslovakia, converted the town into a walled ghetto for Jews and the area known as the Kleine Festung, or “Little Fortress,” became a prison for enemies of the state. The Nazis called the new ghetto Theresienstadt.

It soon became “home” for a great number of Jews from occupied Czechoslovakia. Also the Nazis needed a place to put prominent citizens and veterans of WWI, so Theresienstadt became the place for them, as well. The 7,000 non-Jewish Czechs living in Terezín were expelled by the Nazis in the spring of 1942.

During the winter of 1943, the International Red Cross requested an opportunity to inspect the camp. Germany agreed, but only on the condition that the inspection team wait until the following summer. Jewish laborers immediately began to transform the edifice of Theresienstadt from a dirty, dingy camp to a bright, sunny, cheerful Jewish “town.” The Jewish prisoners planted flowers, painted, and scraped. Overcrowding was a problem, and the Nazis did not want the Red Cross team to report these conditions to the world. Instead, they shipped thousands of new arrivals directly to death camps in Eastern Europe instead of sending them to Theresienstadt first.

They also erected fake shops and cafés to imply that the Jews lived in relative comfort. The Danish Jews whom the Red Cross visited lived in freshly painted rooms, and there were not more than three in a room. The guests enjoyed the performance of a children’s opera, Brundar, which was written by inmate Hans Krása. The hoax worked, and the Red Cross produced a positive report about their experience at Theresienstadt.

After the Red Cross visit, the Nazis began to dissolve the camp, sending more and more Jews to Auschwitz until October of 1944, when only 400 people were left in the camp.

Küstrin

Küstrin was a Judenlager (Jewish work camp) located near the town of the same name. Prisoners processed wool, which was used to fabricate military uniforms. The camp opened in January 1943 and was liquidated by the end of 1943.

This postcard was sent from Küstrin camp, which is indicated in the third line down in the return address by the word Judenlager. The card was postmarked June 23, 1943.

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