Izbica is a town in the Lublin district. After the German occupation in September, 1939, the town was designated a relocation center for Jews from western Poland and, later on, from Germany and Czechoslovakia. A Judenrat was created in 1940. In March, 1942, 2,200 Jews were sent to the Belzec death camp and in October, 1942, 5,000 were sent to the Sobibor death camp. The remaining Jews were sent to Sobibor in early 1943.
Below are thumbnails of the front and back of a four postcards. The first, postmarked April 7, 1942, is from a M. Steiner to Prague. His address in Izbica was Block II/147f. This address system was devised by the Judenrat to facilitate mail delivery to the many transient Jews then living in the ghetto. The second, postmarked May 1, 1942, is from Ludwig Herling addressed to a family member in Vienna. The message pleads for for a variety of items. According to the Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims, he was deported from Vienna on April 9, 1942, and did not survive the war. The third, postmarked July 21, 1942, was sent to Pilsen with a brief message that the sender is well. The back of the card bears the Ghetto censor mark "K". The fourth, postmarked April 23, 1942, was sent by Fanny Back in Izbica to Ida Pollak in Vienna. The card bears a "Judenrat Izbica" handstamp on the back. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Postcards" in the left frame to return.
Below is a thumbnail of an authentic copy of a letter from the Izbica Judenrat dated March 29, 1942, to the Jewish community office in Wuerzberg, Germany. The letter indicates that 2,000 additional Jews have arrived in Izbica mostly from Wuerzberg, Kitizingen, Nuremberg-Fuerth, Aachen, Dueren and Coblenz. They need help for the people that are unable to work. The urge that as much money, clothes and permissible food items be sent as soon as possible. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Ghetto Documents" in the left frame to return.
Encyclopedia Judaica, CD-Rom Edition, Keter Publishing
Spector, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust (2001), P. 554
Copyright © 2003-06 Edward Victor