F05_P16: Women’s Concentration Camp Auschwitz II (Birkenau) Auschwitz Central Administration
1943 March 27, Front side - Post card from Auschwitz Frauenlager concentration camp.
Tan post card with printed German text and outline in purple ink. Imprinted 12-pfennig stamp depicting the courtyard of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Cursive handwriting in black ink is present. Cancellation at the top center dated March 27 appears.
Name/Title
F05_P16: Women’s Concentration Camp Auschwitz II (Birkenau) Auschwitz Central AdministrationEntry/Object ID
2007.5.16Scope and Content
1943 March 27, post card from Auschwitz Frauenlager concentration camp.Context
Auschwitz, the harshest of all the Nazi concentration camps, consisted of three main camps and about 45 smaller sub-camps. Auschwitz I, the original camp, hosted the central administration office for the entire complex. Auschwitz II, also called Birkenau, was built in March 1941, 3 kilometers from the original camp. The Auschwitz women’s Frauenlager (F.K.L. Auschwitz) opened at the original location in March 1942, but moved to Birkenau on August 16, 1942. Birkenau was also the location of the extermination gas chambers and crematoria. Auschwitz III (Buna-Monowitz) was principally a synthetic rubber factory that employed slave labor, with other enterprises added as time wore on. For obvious reasons, very few letters or cards addressed to Auschwitz prisoners have survived, so the March 27, 1943, postal card from a mother in Warsaw to her daughter at Birkenau is exceptional. The postage free official mail parcel waybill from the printing facility of the Auschwitz central administration to the Flossenbürg concentration camp administration probably accompanied a shipment of formular stationery for prisoners.Collection
Nazi Scourge I: Primary ExhibitionCategory
Post Card
Philatelic Material