Rzeszow was a district center in southern Poland, about 93 miles east of Krakow. At the start of the War, about 14,000 Jews lived in the city (1/3 of the population). The Germans occupied the town on September 10, 1939, and a Judenrat was established in October. On December 17, 1941, a ghetto was established with 12,500 persons imprisoned inside. In June, 1942, about 12,000 Jews from the vicinity were forced into the ghetto, raising the population of the ghetto to 23,000. In July, the Germans carried out the first deportation to extermination camps. In this action, over 2,000 persons were shot and 14,000 taken to the Belzec extermination camp. By November, 1942, no more than 3,000 persons were left in the ghetto. The ghetto was then divided into two labor camps Camp A and Camp B). In November, 1943, the prisoners in Camp B were all sent to Auschwitz. Camp A was liquidated in July, 1944.
Below are thumbnails of the front and back of a registered cover sent by Viktor Marculewicz from Rzeszow (R-label 728) to Walter Markusiewicz on the USS Hunter Liggett c/o Postmaster New York City, postmarked Reichsof October 5, 1941. The cover bears a single line Judenrat Rzeszow cachets on the front and back. The cover was censored by the Nazis and received in New York on December 9, 1941 (two days after Pearl Harbor) and sent on to its final destination. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Cover" in the left frame to return.
Below are thumbnails of two ghetto documents. The first is the front and back of a notice from the Judenrat of Reichshof with the seal of the Judenrat and dated April 25, 1942. The second is a certificate dated March 23, 1945, from the post-war Jewish Administration in Rzeszow. This document certifies the death of a Jew from bullet wounds. 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.
Below are thumbnails of the front and back of a postcard postmarked April 2, 1942, from Reichshof to Zurich. The card bears the cachet of the Judenrat of Reichshof. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Postcard" in the left frame to return.
Spector, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust (2001), P. 1111-13
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