Lublin is a city in eastern Poland, and at the outbreak of World War II, there were about 40,000 Jews out of a total population of 122,000. The city and the surrounding area were centers for mass deportation and extermination. The Majdanek camp was located in a Lublin suburb. A Judenrat was formed on January 25, 1940. During March 1941, 10,000 Jew were expelled from Lublin to facilitate the establishment of a ghetto at the end of March 1941. By April 20, 1942, 30,000 Jews had been deported from Lublin, most to their death at the Belzec extermination camp. The ghetto was liquidated on November 9, 1942, and only those fit for labor were spared death at Majdanek. Most of these Jews in labor camps were sent to Majdanek in May, 1943. Only a handful of Jews were left by the time the Germans evacuated Lublin in July 1944, and the Germans made every effort to kill them all before they left. The city was liberated on July 24, 1944.
Below are thumbnails of the front and back of a Gestapo permit allowing a Jewish nurse to walk the streets at night, including in and out of the Ghetto. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Documents" in the left frame to return.
Below are thumbnails of the front and back of three postcards. The first is a postcard dated March 6, 1942, from Lublin to 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. The postcard acknowledges receipt of a package from Relico, and the card also bears the cachet of the Lublin Judenrat. The second is a 1942 postcard from Presov, Slovakia to the Judenrat in Lublin. Presov was near the Hungarian border and served as a collection point for deportations. The last is a postcard dated August 19, 1942 from Bratslava to the Judenrat in Lublin for further transmittal to an E. Klopstock who had been deported to Lublin on a transport from Zilina, Slovakia (a major transportation center) on April 14, 1942. Attached is a stamped reply card to Bratslava which was never used. The card contains a German language cachet indicating that mail must go through the Judenrat in Bratslava.
Spector, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust (2001), P. 752-56
http://www.deathcamps.org/occupation/lublin%20ghetto.html