Kutno is located in the province of Lodz in central Poland. In 1939, Kutno had 6,700 Jewish residents out of a total population of 27,000. The Germans took Kutno in September 25, 1939, and burned the synagogue and plundered Jewish property. In June, 1940, the Jews were transferred to a ghetto on the site of the destroyed Konstancja sugar refinery. This ghetto was referred to as a "Judenlager". Close to 7,000 persons were crowded into this small area without fuel, with three lavatories, and one water pump. Typhoid broke out and 280 died. The only medical care was at first provided by a single Polish doctor. The Judenrat (Jewish Administration) managed to bring in two Jewish doctors from other areas. The situation deteriorated in the latter half of 1941 when the ghetto was sealed off because of renewed epidemics. At the end of March, 1942, the entire Jewish population was sent to the Chelmo death camp.
Below are thumbnails of the front and back of a preprinted parcel acknowledgement card to the Comite Relico in Switzerland. 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. This postcard from Kutno (dated January 26, 1942) contains a three lined boxed police censor cachet of the Kutno city police. The card acknowledges that the sender has received five packages of foodstuffs.
Encyclopedia Judaica, CD-Rom Edition, Keter Publishing
Spector, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust (2001), P. 693-94
http://www.darmarch.republika.pl/holokaust.htm
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Copyright © 2003 Edward Victor