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Europe/Germany : New Holocaust cover

 

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Bobstamp
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18 Apr 2019
08:20:52pm
I just received this Holocaust cover, which is notable — and rare in my experience:

Image Not Found

The cover is an "Israel" cover, addressed according to regulations stemming from the infamous Nuremberg Laws of 1933, which stipulated that German Jews had to take the middle name "Israel" if they were men or "Sara" if they were women. What makes the cover rare is that it was posted from the U.S. to a German Jew in Germany in 1940, yet survived the Holocaust. The greater number of "Israel" and "Sara" covers by far were posted in Germany to other countries. I have examples of both “Israel” and “Sara” covers posted from Germany to Shanghai, Argentina, and the U.S. This is the first example I’ve seen that was posted to Germany.

The addressee is Louis Israel Iacoby. I have tried without success to learn what happened to him. The fact the cover survived suggests that Louis might have been one of the relatively few German Jews who survived the war.

The address appears to be written in a script that combines Kurrent, an old form of German-language handwriting based on late medieval cursive writing, and Sutterlin, an “updated” form of Kurrent that was taught in all German schools from 1915 to 1941. In practice, the two cursive forms were often combined.

The cover has been cut down at the left, probably to allow mounting in an album. A strip of Nazi censor tape is on the back of the cover, but there are no backstamps.
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pigdoc

19 Apr 2019
08:02:11am
re: New Holocaust cover

Nice cover, Bob!
Always nice to see non-philatelic examples.

Do you think it was carried by Yankee Clipper? Northern or Southern Route?

Maybe it's trivial, but I'm always curious to know if an individual piece of mail can be traced to the conveyance that carried it - either ship or airplane.

Surfed around a little to see if I could find a list of the PanAm Clipper flights. No joy.
Lots of sites that describe the first flights, but I guess the rest are too routine to be worthy of documentation review.

Would like to do some of that trace work for the mid-19th century Caribbean covers I have, but it can be really daunting, because there was SO much ship traffic then. Ships that were carrying immigrants to the US are pretty well documented on the Web...

You have an interesting collecting niche going there!

-Paul

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Guthrum
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19 Apr 2019
12:48:39pm
re: New Holocaust cover

The key date, when considering the Holocaust itself, must be January 20th 1942, when the decision was taken at the Wannsee Conference to implement the Final Solution.

In 1940, when this cover was sent, most of the deportation actions were directed at areas east of Germany, principally Poland. The main deportations from German cities did not begin until late in 1941.

I am guessing that the later the date of any 'Holocaust cover', the rarer it will be. I suspect none exist post-Wannsee.

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vinman
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19 Apr 2019
01:46:35pm
re: New Holocaust cover

Hi Paul,
Here are a few links that might be of interest on ship sailings

http://www.theshipslist.com/

Here is a link to Richard Frajola's site with information on ship sailings.

http://www.theshipslist.com/

If you are coming to the Philatelic Gatering next week talk to Mark Schwartz, he will be able to send you in the right direction on ship sailing information.

Vince

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"The best in Big Band and Swing Music WRDV.org"

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simothecat

19 Apr 2019
09:01:36pm
re: New Holocaust cover

The letter probably went by the Atlantic Clipper, which left New York 2 June 1940 by the southerly route, and arrived in Lisbon 3 June.

Jan

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BattleshipRB23
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19 Apr 2019
10:42:20pm
re: New Holocaust cover

I may be mistaken but I do believe The Yad Vashem Library in Jerusalem would like a high-quality scanned copy of this letter sent to them for entry and cross reference into their database.

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Bobstamp
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20 Apr 2019
11:40:24pm
re: New Holocaust cover

Thank you for responding to my posting!

• I certainly would like to know just how that cover was routed from Chicago to Berlin. No doubt some specialist could provide an answer.

• I'm sure that Guthrum is correct. I now have 14 "Sara" or "Israel" covers. The dates on five of them are unreadable. Of the others, one was postmarked in Vienna on October 23, 1941. The indicia on another Vienna cover is unreadable, but registration backstamps indicate receipt in Pittsburgh on November 26, 1941. All of the other readable indicia indicate posting in 1940.

I understand that the Holocaust by definition took place only in the last three-plus years of the war. For German Jews, however, the period from the promulgation of the Nuremberg Laws was certainly one of intense anxiety and, ultimately, horror.

Here is the original wording of the regulation concerning the names of German Jews:

"Second Decree for the Implementation of the
Law Regarding Changes of Family Names

Jews may be given only such given names as are listed in the 'Guidelines on the Use of Given Names' issued by the Reich Minister of the Interior... Insofar as Jews have other given names than those which may be given to Jews...they are obligated, beginning January 1, 1939, to assume an additional given name, namely the given name Israel in the case of males and the given name Sarah in the case of females.

Wilhelm Frick
August 17, 1938"



Biographical information about Frick's imprisonment and execution, from Wikipedia:

"Frick was arrested and tried before the Nuremberg Trials, where he was the only defendant besides Rudolf Hess who refused to testify on his own behalf. Frick was convicted of planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and for his role in formulating the Enabling Act as Minister of the Interior and the Nuremberg Laws — under these laws people were deported to concentration camps, and many of those were murdered there. Frick was also accused of being one of the highest persons responsible for the existence of the concentration camps.

Frick was sentenced to death on 1 October 1946, and was hanged at Nuremberg Prison on 16 October. Of his execution, journalist Joseph Kingsbury-Smith wrote:

‘The sixth man to leave his prison cell and walk with handcuffed wrists to the death house was 69-year-old Wilhelm Frick. He entered the execution chamber at 2.05 am, six minutes after Rosenberg had been pronounced dead. He seemed the least steady of any so far and stumbled on the thirteenth step of the gallows. His only words were,"Long live eternal Germany,' before he was hooded and dropped through the trap."'

His body, as those of the other nine executed men and the corpse of Hermann Göring, was cremated at Ostfriedhof (Munich) and the ashes were scattered in the river Isar."





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Author/Postings
Members Picture
Bobstamp

18 Apr 2019
08:20:52pm

I just received this Holocaust cover, which is notable — and rare in my experience:

Image Not Found

The cover is an "Israel" cover, addressed according to regulations stemming from the infamous Nuremberg Laws of 1933, which stipulated that German Jews had to take the middle name "Israel" if they were men or "Sara" if they were women. What makes the cover rare is that it was posted from the U.S. to a German Jew in Germany in 1940, yet survived the Holocaust. The greater number of "Israel" and "Sara" covers by far were posted in Germany to other countries. I have examples of both “Israel” and “Sara” covers posted from Germany to Shanghai, Argentina, and the U.S. This is the first example I’ve seen that was posted to Germany.

The addressee is Louis Israel Iacoby. I have tried without success to learn what happened to him. The fact the cover survived suggests that Louis might have been one of the relatively few German Jews who survived the war.

The address appears to be written in a script that combines Kurrent, an old form of German-language handwriting based on late medieval cursive writing, and Sutterlin, an “updated” form of Kurrent that was taught in all German schools from 1915 to 1941. In practice, the two cursive forms were often combined.

The cover has been cut down at the left, probably to allow mounting in an album. A strip of Nazi censor tape is on the back of the cover, but there are no backstamps.

Like 
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like this post.
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pigdoc

19 Apr 2019
08:02:11am

re: New Holocaust cover

Nice cover, Bob!
Always nice to see non-philatelic examples.

Do you think it was carried by Yankee Clipper? Northern or Southern Route?

Maybe it's trivial, but I'm always curious to know if an individual piece of mail can be traced to the conveyance that carried it - either ship or airplane.

Surfed around a little to see if I could find a list of the PanAm Clipper flights. No joy.
Lots of sites that describe the first flights, but I guess the rest are too routine to be worthy of documentation review.

Would like to do some of that trace work for the mid-19th century Caribbean covers I have, but it can be really daunting, because there was SO much ship traffic then. Ships that were carrying immigrants to the US are pretty well documented on the Web...

You have an interesting collecting niche going there!

-Paul

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Login to Like
this post
Members Picture
Guthrum

19 Apr 2019
12:48:39pm

re: New Holocaust cover

The key date, when considering the Holocaust itself, must be January 20th 1942, when the decision was taken at the Wannsee Conference to implement the Final Solution.

In 1940, when this cover was sent, most of the deportation actions were directed at areas east of Germany, principally Poland. The main deportations from German cities did not begin until late in 1941.

I am guessing that the later the date of any 'Holocaust cover', the rarer it will be. I suspect none exist post-Wannsee.

Like
Login to Like
this post
Members Picture
vinman

19 Apr 2019
01:46:35pm

re: New Holocaust cover

Hi Paul,
Here are a few links that might be of interest on ship sailings

http://www.theshipslist.com/

Here is a link to Richard Frajola's site with information on ship sailings.

http://www.theshipslist.com/

If you are coming to the Philatelic Gatering next week talk to Mark Schwartz, he will be able to send you in the right direction on ship sailing information.

Vince

Like
Login to Like
this post

"The best in Big Band and Swing Music WRDV.org"

wrdv.org/
simothecat

19 Apr 2019
09:01:36pm

re: New Holocaust cover

The letter probably went by the Atlantic Clipper, which left New York 2 June 1940 by the southerly route, and arrived in Lisbon 3 June.

Jan

Like
Login to Like
this post
Members Picture
BattleshipRB23

19 Apr 2019
10:42:20pm

re: New Holocaust cover

I may be mistaken but I do believe The Yad Vashem Library in Jerusalem would like a high-quality scanned copy of this letter sent to them for entry and cross reference into their database.

Like
Login to Like
this post
Members Picture
Bobstamp

20 Apr 2019
11:40:24pm

re: New Holocaust cover

Thank you for responding to my posting!

• I certainly would like to know just how that cover was routed from Chicago to Berlin. No doubt some specialist could provide an answer.

• I'm sure that Guthrum is correct. I now have 14 "Sara" or "Israel" covers. The dates on five of them are unreadable. Of the others, one was postmarked in Vienna on October 23, 1941. The indicia on another Vienna cover is unreadable, but registration backstamps indicate receipt in Pittsburgh on November 26, 1941. All of the other readable indicia indicate posting in 1940.

I understand that the Holocaust by definition took place only in the last three-plus years of the war. For German Jews, however, the period from the promulgation of the Nuremberg Laws was certainly one of intense anxiety and, ultimately, horror.

Here is the original wording of the regulation concerning the names of German Jews:

"Second Decree for the Implementation of the
Law Regarding Changes of Family Names

Jews may be given only such given names as are listed in the 'Guidelines on the Use of Given Names' issued by the Reich Minister of the Interior... Insofar as Jews have other given names than those which may be given to Jews...they are obligated, beginning January 1, 1939, to assume an additional given name, namely the given name Israel in the case of males and the given name Sarah in the case of females.

Wilhelm Frick
August 17, 1938"



Biographical information about Frick's imprisonment and execution, from Wikipedia:

"Frick was arrested and tried before the Nuremberg Trials, where he was the only defendant besides Rudolf Hess who refused to testify on his own behalf. Frick was convicted of planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and for his role in formulating the Enabling Act as Minister of the Interior and the Nuremberg Laws — under these laws people were deported to concentration camps, and many of those were murdered there. Frick was also accused of being one of the highest persons responsible for the existence of the concentration camps.

Frick was sentenced to death on 1 October 1946, and was hanged at Nuremberg Prison on 16 October. Of his execution, journalist Joseph Kingsbury-Smith wrote:

‘The sixth man to leave his prison cell and walk with handcuffed wrists to the death house was 69-year-old Wilhelm Frick. He entered the execution chamber at 2.05 am, six minutes after Rosenberg had been pronounced dead. He seemed the least steady of any so far and stumbled on the thirteenth step of the gallows. His only words were,"Long live eternal Germany,' before he was hooded and dropped through the trap."'

His body, as those of the other nine executed men and the corpse of Hermann Göring, was cremated at Ostfriedhof (Munich) and the ashes were scattered in the river Isar."





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Login to Like.

www.ephemeraltreasur ...
        

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