Kielce is located in southeast Poland, north of Krakow. The Jewish population was estimated at 24,000 at the start of the war. The city was captured by the Germans on September 4, 1939, and the Judenrat was established shortly thereafter. The ghetto was established in April, 1941, and by the end of 1941 there were 27,000 Jews in the ghetto. The liquidation of the ghetto was accomplished in August, 1942. All the Jews, with the exception of 2,000 healthy workers, were sent to Treblinka. The remaining Jews were placed in three labor camps: Hasag-Granat (quarries, workshops and munitions); Henrykpw (carpentry); and Ludwikow (foundry). In August, 1944, the surviving inmates were sent to Buchenwald.
Below are thumbnails of the front and back of two postcards. The first is a preprinted parcel acknowledgement card from the Comite Relico in Switzerland. The card was sent from Kielce. Relico (the acronym for the Relief Committee for the War-Stricken Jewish Population) was established in Geneva in September 1939 under the auspices of the World Jewish Congress. The second is a postcard sent from Kielce to Sara Mandel in Switzerland postmarked July 11, 1942, with a Judenrat Kielce single line handstamp on the front and back. The card has a long handwritten message in German discussing packages from Portugal and sardines. Numerous relief efforts were centered in Portugal (see Theresienstadt). Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Postcards" 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. 621-22
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