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On September 5, 1942, the SS and Police Leader of the Warsaw District issued this announcement threatening the death penalty for anyone who aided Jews who had left the ghetto without authorization. This poster was put up in the wake of the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka killing center in summer 1942. SS officials were well aware that thousands of Jews had fled the ghetto to go into hiding and urged people to turn them in. The poster reminds the city's non-Jewish…
During the interwar period Dr. Susanne Engelmann served as the principal of a large public high school for girls in Berlin. This letter notified her of her dismissal, as a "non-Aryan," from her teaching position. The dismissal was in compliance with the Civil Service Law of April 7, 1933. On April 7, the German government issued the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service (Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums), which excluded Jews and political opponents from all civil…
Safe conduct pass issued to Hans Landesberg in the Djelfa internment camp, releasing him to leave for Algiers. Djelfa, Algeria, January 26, 1943. Hans was born in Vienna, Austria, and went to medical school. After graduating, he left for Paris and joined a battalion of the International Brigade to fight in the Spanish Civil War. He returned to France in February 1939, only to be interned first in Argeles and then in Gurs. Some time after the French surrender to Nazi Germany in June 1940, Hans and other…
A letter written by the Berlin transit authority (Berliner Verkehrs Aktiengesellschaft) to Viktor Stern, informing him of his dismissal from his post with their agency as of September 20, 1933. This action was taken to comply with provisions of the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service. On April 7, the German government issued the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service (Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums), which excluded Jews and political opponents…
A notice sent by the American Consulate General in Berlin to Arthur Lewy and family, instructing them to report to the consulate on July 26, 1939, with all the required documents, in order to receive their American visas. German Jews attempting to immigrate to the United States in the late 1930s faced overwhelming bureaucratic hurdles. It was difficult to get the necessary papers to leave Germany, and US immigration visas were difficult to obtain. The process could take years.
Seward Daily Gateway (Alaska) article from April 14, 1933, titled "Great Bonfires of Forbidden Books in Germany to Blaze." This article from Berlin, written the month before the book burnings took place, reported that "Great bonfires will be burning on the campus of German universities in a few days, when the latest Nazi decree goes into effect. The Hitler regime is continuing its nationalistic crusade, has ordered that all books which deal with non-German subjects or espouse non-German causes, must be…
Selmar and Elsa Biener joined the waiting list for US immigration visas in September 1938. Their waiting list numbers—45,685 and 45,686—indicate the number of people who had registered with the US consulate in Berlin. By September 1938, approximately 220,000 people throughout Germany, mostly Jews, were on the waiting list.
This document is one page of a letter from artist Esther Lurie, written after the war, asking for help in following down leads and locating the artwork she had created and hidden while imprisoned in the Kovno ghetto, Lithuania. She wrote, "The matter concerns a collection of 200 pen-and-ink drawings representing scenes of ghetto life which I made during my internment in the Kaunas Ghetto (Lithuania) in 1941-1944. I left the drawings buried in the earth as I felt that I had no hope of survival."
Ilona Kellner and her family lived in Pelsöc, which became part of Hungary before World War II. Following the German occupation of Hungary, Ilona, her sister Vera, and her parents Karoly and Jolan were forced into a ghetto in another area of the town. In mid-June, the family was deported to the Auschwitz camp in German-occupied Poland. Ilona's parents were killed in the gas chambers at Birkenau. In early August, Ilona and her sister were deported to Hessisch Lichtenau, a subcamp of the Buchenwald…
Ilona Kellner and her family lived in Pelsöc, which became part of Hungary before World War II. Following the German occupation of Hungary, Ilona, her sister Vera, and her parents Karoly and Jolan were forced into a ghetto in another area of the town. In mid-June, the family was deported to the Auschwitz camp in German-occupied Poland. Ilona's parents were killed in the gas chambers at Birkenau. In early August, Ilona and her sister were deported to Hessisch Lichtenau, a subcamp of the Buchenwald…
Ilona Kellner and her family lived in Pelsöc, which became part of Hungary before World War II. Following the German occupation of Hungary, Ilona, her sister Vera, and her parents Karoly and Jolan were forced into a ghetto in another area of the town. In mid-June, the family was deported to the Auschwitz camp in German-occupied Poland. Ilona's parents were killed in the gas chambers at Birkenau. In early August, Ilona and her sister were deported to Hessisch Lichtenau, a subcamp of…
Ilona Kellner and her family lived in Pelsöc, which became part of Hungary before World War II. Following the German occupation of Hungary, Ilona, her sister Vera, and her parents Karoly and Jolan were forced into a ghetto in another area of the town. In mid-June, the family was deported to the Auschwitz camp in German-occupied Poland. Ilona's parents were killed in the gas chambers at Birkenau. In early August, Ilona and her sister were deported to Hessisch Lichtenau, a subcamp of the Buchenwald…
Rudolph Daniel Sichel (b. 1915) left Germany in 1934 for England and then immigrated to the United States in 1936. His father, who had remained in Germany, was arrested during Kristallnacht, sent to Buchenwald for a couple of months, forced to sell his store at a loss, and immigrated to the United States with Rudolph's mother shortly after. Sichel joined the US Army in 1943, attending courses at the Military Intelligence Training Center at Camp Ritchie, MD. He landed on Utah Beach in July 1944 and was…
A certificate of "Aryan" descent, issued to Joseph Schäfer of Mühlheim, Germany. To prove one's "Aryan" racial status in Nazi Germany, an individual had to trace their ancestry back to 1800. Signed by an official justice of the peace, this certificate attests to Schäfer's parentage and baptism. Dated January 14, 1936.
A newspaper advertisement for the Damenklub Violetta, a Berlin club frequented by lesbians, 1928. Before the Nazis came to power in 1933, lesbian communities and networks flourished in Germany.
Ada Abrahamer kept a diary from September 1939 until March 1946, though only the pages from 1944-1946 survived. Ada’s diary documents her experiences as a young Jewish woman in German-occupied Poland. German authorities imprisoned Ada in the Krakow ghetto and several forced labor and concentration camps, including Auschwitz. In later entries, she describes her liberation and life after the war. In this entry from August 1944, Ada describes finding love while being imprisoned in Plaszow concentration…
Ada Abrahamer kept a diary from September 1939 until March 1946, though only the pages from 1944-1946 survived. Ada’s diary documents her experiences as a young Jewish woman in German-occupied Poland. German authorities imprisoned Ada in the Krakow ghetto and several forced labor and concentration camps, including Auschwitz. In this entry, Ada describes her experience with SS officers and camp personnel while living in a concentration camp.
Ada Abrahamer kept a diary from September 1939 until March 1946, though only the pages from 1944-1946 survived. Ada’s diary documents her experiences as a young Jewish woman in German-occupied Poland. German authorities imprisoned Ada in the Krakow ghetto and several forced labor and concentration camps, including Auschwitz. In later entries, she describes her liberation and life after the war. In this entry, Ada describes her journey from Plaszow to Auschwitz in October 1944.
Ada Abrahamer kept a diary from September 1939 until March 1946, though only the pages from 1944-1946 survived. Ada’s diary documents her experiences as a young Jewish woman in German-occupied Poland. German authorities imprisoned Ada in the Krakow ghetto and several forced labor and concentration camps, including Auschwitz. In later entries, she describes her liberation and life after the war. In this entry from October 1944, Ada describes the selection process at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Identification papers issued to Erika Tamar stating that she was born in Vienna on June 10, 1934. Erika was one of the 50 children rescued by Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus.
A chart detailing physical characteristics of a Romani (Gypsy) individual, c. 1938. Dr. Robert Ritter and his team created extensive family trees and genealogical charts in order to identify, register, and classify all Romani people living in Nazi Germany. During the Nazi era, Dr. Robert Ritter was a leading authority on the racial classification of people pejoratively labeled “Zigeuner” (“Gypsies”). Ritter’s research was in a field called eugenics, or what the Nazis called “racial…
A genealogical chart of the Franz family, composed of identification photographs taken by the criminal department of the Aschaffenburg Identification Service [Erkennungsdienst]. Bavaria, Germany, 1942. This particular Romani family tree includes notes labeling individuals as "vagrants," "invalids," or "habitual criminals." Racial hygienists would collect genealogical documents or create family trees in order to identify, register, and classify all Romani people living in Nazi Germany. Roma (pejoratively…
Diagram of the Hodonín u Kunštátu (Hodonin bei Kunstadt) camp in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (Czech Republic). Before it was converted into a Zigeunerlager (“Gypsy camp”) in 1942, it served as a penal labor camp. Translation of key: Scale 1:500 Sleeping quarters Sleeping quarters Mess-hall Infirmary Offices, prison Living quarters for guard staff Economic/Agricultural Building Latrine Well Mess-hall for guard staff Pens for guard dogs
During World War II, people often used false identities and forged identity documents to evade Nazi authorities. False identities were essential for resistance fighters, aid workers, and Jews hoping to pass as non-Jews. Creating high-quality, convincing forgeries required dozens of people to work together clandestinely. It also required sophisticated photography and printing equipment. For Jews passing as non-Jews, acquiring forged documents could mean the difference between life and death. This forged…
During World War II, people often used false identities and forged identity documents to evade Nazi authorities. False identities were essential for resistance fighters, aid workers, and Jews hoping to pass as non-Jews. Creating high-quality, convincing forgeries required dozens of people to work together clandestinely. It also required sophisticated photography and printing equipment. For Jews passing as non-Jews, acquiring forged documents could mean the difference between life and death. During World…
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