F01_P01: Nazi Horrors Postal Evidence of the Holocaust And the Devastation of Europe
1944 July 8, Front side - Post card from Elisa Altenstein at Theresienstadt Jewish ghetto.
Brown post card with printed text and outline in German using black ink. Cursive handwriting in German using black ink is present. At the bottom left, a red ink overprint stamp in German. At the center left, a circular blue ink overprint stamp with "11b" in the center.
Name/Title
F01_P01: Nazi Horrors Postal Evidence of the Holocaust And the Devastation of EuropeEntry/Object ID
2008.4.1Scope and Content
1944 July 8, post card from Elisa Altenstein at Theresienstadt Jewish ghetto.Context
Mail posted by Nazi officials, their allies, their collaborators, and most of all, their victims and opponents, along with some collateral material, document the catastrophe that befell Europe after Adolf Hitler assumed power in Germany on January 30, 1933. This exhibit explores each phase of Nazi tyranny and aggression, with particular attention to persecution and mass murder of European Jews. Historical context is presented in boldface roman type. Significance to the exhibit’s subject is presented in bold italic type. Postal and philatelic information is presented in medium weight roman type. The July 8, 1944, post card from Elise Altenstein, ostensibly from the Theresienstadt Jewish ghetto, to Anna Hlavenka at Brünn, was actually a Briefaktion “Operation Mail” deception. Jews who had been transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau gas chambers were given cards of this type and instructed to write messages on them assuring loved ones of their good health. These were collected and returned by couriers to Bohemia-Moravia for delivery, without postage of any kind. Briefaktion cards are identified by the absence of stamps, and by the red handstamped inscription, “Reply only on a post card in the German language, via the Jewish Elders Council of Prague.”Collection
Nazi Scourge II: Five Frame ExhibitCategory
Post Card
Philatelic Material