F09_P05: Rescuing Jews from the Holocaust Dr. Abraham Silberschein and Saly Mayer, Bergen-Belsen
1944 August 25, Front side - Post card from Seldi Blum, a Jewish inmate at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Tan post card (appears yellow via scan) with printed text and outline in German using black ink. At the top right corner is a deep red 15-pfennig stamp depicting Adolf Hitler facing to the right. Cursive handwriting at the sender and recipient's address in black ink appears. Purple and red ink overprint stamps appear at the left side and right side lower half. The foundation is promptly working to update this scan.
Name/Title
F09_P05: Rescuing Jews from the Holocaust Dr. Abraham Silberschein and Saly Mayer, Bergen-BelsenEntry/Object ID
2007.9.5.aScope and Content
1944 August 25, post card from Seldi Blum, a Jewish inmate at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.Context
Dr. Abraham Silberschein established the Relief Committee for the War-Stricken Jewish Population (RELICO) at Geneva, Switzerland, in September 1939. Quickly moving beyond relief work, he turned his efforts to helping Jews emigrate from Nazi territory and to informing the world at large about the Holocaust. As president of the Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebund (Federation of Swiss Jewish Communities), Saly Mayer assisted Jewish refugees who had fled from Germany and other Nazi-occupied countries. He also represented the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Europe. By bribing Nazi officials with money brought illegally from the United States in 1942, he stopped deportation of Jews from Slovakia. In 1944 he arranged for a shipment of tractors to the Nazis in exchange for Heinrich Himmler's pledge to end the deportation of Jews from Budapest. In their zeal to rescue Jews by any means necessary, both men clashed with other Jewish leaders. Top: An October 27, 1941, return card to Relico in Geneva from a Jew in Poland, censored at Frankfurt, recorded receipt of a relief parcel of food. Bottom: August 25, 1944, postal card from Seldi Blum, a Jewish woman inmate at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, to Saly Mayer. Bergen-Belsen was the holding center for German Jews who were awaiting permission to emigrate.Collection
Nazi Scourge I: Primary ExhibitionCategory
Post Card
Philatelic Material