Below are thumbnails of two postcards from forced labor camps in the Breslau area. The first is a postcard postmarked November 21, 1944, from the forced labor camp "Tamo Werke" associated with the Tamo Electrical Works located near Breslau. The second is a postcard postmarked December 29, 1944, from the Bartold factory "Militsch" near Breslau. The card is addressed to Krakau and seeks information about relatives. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Breslau" in the left frame to return.
Below is a thumbnail of a confirmation of the death of a prisoner at the Debica forced labor camp. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Debica" in the left frame to return. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Debica" in the left frame to return.
Enzesfeld is located south of Hirtenberg, Austria, between Graz and Vienna. Hirtenberg was the site of a sub-camp of Mauthausen. Since there is no record of a camp at Enzesfeld, a question of authenticity exists. Below are thumbnails of the front and back of two postcards from the same inmate at Enzesfeld to Brunn. The first is postmarked "Hirtenberg" November 23, 1944 from Enzesfeld to Brunn. The card contains a cachet for "KL Enzesfeld and a one line "postprufer" cachet. The second is postmarked "Enzesfeld (Treistin)" November 13, 1944 from Enzesfeld to Brunn. The card contains a cachet for "KL Enzesfeld and a one line "postprufer" cachet. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Enzesfeld" in the left frame to return.
Freital, near Dresden, was the site of a Jewish forced labor camp consisting of about 4000 to 5000 prisoners working for the Saechsische Gusstalwerke (metal castings). Below are thumbnails of a registered postcard from a prisoner at Lager Freital postmarked June 30, 1944, to Belgium. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Freital" in the left frame to return.
Below are thumbnails of a postcard postmarked November 20, 1944, from the Buchwald forced labor camp at Fuerstenberg. This camp was apparently attached to an electrical works. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Furstenberg" in the left frame to return.
Below are thumbnails of the front and back of a postcard from an Italian worker at the A.E.G. Fabrik camp in Glatz (LagerLeitung) postmarked December 8, 1944, to Italy. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Glatz" in the left frame to return.
Below are thumbnails of the front and back of two covers from German occupied Ukraine to workers at labor camp Gusenleithen in the Vienna area. This camp was associated with the Niessen-Werke. Mail from occupied Ukraine was first handled by the Deutsche Dienstpost Ukraine. Both covers are postmarked Dunajewce (District Podolien) dated August 23, 1942, and December 4, 1942, respectively. The AB circular marking indicates that this mail was censored in Berlin. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Gusenleithen" in the left frame to return.
Hodsag (Odžaci in Serbian) was a town in Yugoslovia which came under Hungarian control during the war. It was the site of a German forced labor camp known as Gemeinschaftslager 120. Below are thumbnails of the front and back of a cover from Vienna, postmarked April 21, 1944, addressed to Dr. Alexander Ritsdury (?), the German work commander (Lagermeister) at this camp. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Hodsag, Hungary" in the left frame to return.
Klettendorf was a town near Breslau in East Prussia. It was the site of a forced labor camp for Jews existing to the end of 1943. Below is a thumbnail of a certificate stating that the Jew, Leib "Israel" Morgenstern was born February 15, 1921, in Krzepitz and is now at the forced labor camp Klettendorf, signed by the Lagerfuhrer on June 10, 1942. The certificate bears a R.A.B. Lager (Reichsautobahn Camp) Klettendorf hand stamp. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Klettendorf" in the left frame to return.
Laband was a town in the Tost-Gleiwitz district of Prussia, now part of Poland. It was the site of a penal work detail of the Sicherunganstalt. Below are thumbnails of the front and back of a German Postal Stationery card, postmarked August 13, 1941, with preprinted text in German/Russian/Ukrainian. This was a special issue for Eastern slave laborers. The card includes a pre-addressed reply card. The card bears a rubber stamp Zurueck- Neue Anschrift abwarten (returned- await new address). Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Laband" in the left frame to return.
Leimnitz was a town in Germany. It is now Glinsk, Poland. It was the site of a forced labor camp for Jews working on the Reichsautobahn with the firm Barthel, Keller and Schulz. Below are thumbnails of the front and back of a postcard sent by A. Drelich who was an inmate at the forced labor camp for Jews at Leimnitz to Herrn Leiter Fuks Arbeitseinsatz (Mr. Fuks, leader of work employment), Lodz ghetto, postmarked October 8, 1941. In the handwritten message in German, Drelich mentions his dead wife and asks about his parents. The card bears a Reichsautobahnlager Leimnitz hand stamp and a Lodz ghetto Arbeitseinsatz receiving cancel dated October 13, 1941. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Leimnitz" in the left frame to return.
Below are thumbnails of the front and back of a registered cover from the labor camp at Mielec addressed to Krakau and postmarked October 10, 1941. It was received in Krakau on November 11, 1941. At this time, Mielec was a forced labor camp working for Heinkel Flugzeugwerke. In 1944, this camp became part of the Plaszow concentration camp. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Mielec" in the left frame to return.
Below are thumbnails of a postcard from the Neu Wola lager postmarked July 30, 1940, sent through the Polish Red Cross. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Pabiance" in the left frame to return.
Poniatowa (22 miles west of Lublin, Poland) was the site of a prisoner of war camp for Soviet soldiers and later a forced labor camp for Jews. The first Jews arrived in October, 1942. In the aftermath of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, over 16,000 Jews were moved to the camp. Most of the prisoners worked in textile plants which had been transferred from the Warsaw ghetto. At the beginning of November, 1943, a large contingent of SS forces arrived at the camp with the mission to carry out the mass murder of prisoners. The prisoners were forced out of barracks, group by group, and forced to jump into pre-dug pits where they were machined gunned to death. Over 15,000 Jews were murdered in this manner. Below are thumbnails of the front and back of a postcard sent by a Szyja Prywes, an inmate at the forced labor camp in Poniatowa, to Alfred Schwartzenbaum in Lausanne, Switzerland (see Relico). This card is unusual in that it was first sent to the Judenrat in Berlin and mailed from there, much in the same way that Briefaktion mail was sent from Auschwitz and Bergin Belsen (see Briefaktion). The card is postmarked Berlin, October 9, 1943, and bears a red Berlin Judenrat cachet indicating that answers should be on postcards in German through the Jewish Council in Berlin. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Poniatowa" in the left frame to return.
Below are thumbnails of postcards from two forced labor camps in the Posen area. The first is a preprinted postcard postmarked July 3, 1942 from a prisoner in protective custody at the Fort VII forced labor camp in Posen. The second is from Abram Cegla, a prisoner at the Judenarbeitslager (Jewish Work Camp) #9 at Posen-Stadien Miejski. The postcard is addressed to the Arbeitseinsatz (Employment Department) in the Lodz ghetto, postmarked October 2, 1941. The message, in German, inquires about family members. The are various cancels and handwritten markings, including a violet Arbeitseinsatz box cancel and a red 2-line Gemeinschaftslager der DAF/Nr.9, Posen, Stadien hand stamp (DAF stands for the German Work Front). Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Posen" in the left frame to return.
Sawin was a town in the Lublin district located 32 kilometers from Wlodawa. The town was the site of a Jewish forced labor camp established for the purpose of improving water for the area. This camp housed about 140 Jews. Below are thumbnails of the front and back of a postcard from an inmate at the camp, Richard Schwarzkopf, to Dr. Rudolph Hirsch of the Jewish Communal Organization in Bruenn (formerly Brno, Czechoslovakia). The card bears a Cholm (Chelm) postmark dated September 29, 1942. Visible under the postmark is the crude purple postal marking used in some smaller postal offices in Poland, as it was in Germany. This German type of cancel is referred to as a "Landespost" (rural mail) cancel. From the message on the reverse of the card, it appears that the writer was on one of six transports which are known to have left Bruenn between March 19 and April 8, 1942, carrying 5,923 Jews. Prior to these transports, the Jews living in Sawin were deported to the Sobibor death camp. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Sawin" in the left frame to return.
Below are thumbnails of a postcard postmarked July 28, 1941, from the Lagower See labor camp near Grunow in the Sternberg administrative district. The card is addressed to the Judenrat in Litzmanstadt and contains a plea that due to the illness of wife and mother, required payments may be reduced. The card contains a rare receiving cachet applied by an outside Ghetto work command. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Sternberg" in the left frame to return.
Below are thumbnails of a postcard postmarked December 18, 1944, from the forced labor camp "Lager am Viehmarkt" located near Thorn. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Thorn" in the left frame to return.`
Below are thumbnails of a postcard postmarked November 15, 1944, from a labor camp for women at Treuweiler. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Treuweiler" in the left frame to return.
Spector, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust (2001), P. 1145
Gutman, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust (1990), P. 1181-83
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