F03_P07: Concentration Camp Gross-Rosen
1944 September 22, Front side - Lettersheet from Gross-Rosen concentration camp.
Tan lettersheet with printed text and outline in German using black ink. Cursive handwriting in blue ink is present. At the top right corner a red 12-pfennig stamp depicting Adolf Hitler appears. At the bottom left, a "Postzensurstelle" stamp is present.
Name/Title
F03_P07: Concentration Camp Gross-RosenEntry/Object ID
2008.4.47Scope and Content
1944 September 22, lettersheet from Gross-Rosen concentration camp.Context
Gross-Rosen, located in Silesia between Görlitz and Breslau (Wroclaw), opened August 2, 1940, initially as a Sachsenhausen sub-camp, mainly to receive prisoners from the occupied and annexed territories. Together with Mauthausen, Gross-Rosen was among the harshest of all the camps. Lagerstufe 1, the most lenient level, was the designation for Dachau and Sachsenhausen. Lagerstufe 2, the intermediate level, included Flossenbürg, Buchenwald, and Gross-Rosen became an independently operated camp, mainly for Jews; about 30 percent of the inmates were women, almost all of them Jews. It later became a holding and transit camp for Jews destined for death camps to the East, and finally was closed and evacuated on February 11, 1945. In addition to the censor’s mark, a boxed purple handstamp states, “Special Delivery and Registered Parcels Forbidden!” on the inside of this generic prisoners’ formular lettersheet canceled September 22, 1944, at Gross-Rosen.Collection
Nazi Scourge II: Five Frame ExhibitCategory
Lettersheet
Philatelic Material