Lvov was a city in Eastern Galicia, now part of the Ukraine. At the outbreak of the war, it had a Jewish population of about 110,000, making it the third largest Jewish community in Poland. After the outbreak of the war, the Soviets occupied the city, and some 100,000 Jewish refugees from German-occupied western Poland flooded into the city. Over 70,000 of these refugees were expelled to the Russian interior. On June 30, 1941, the Germans occupied the city, and a series of pograms began at the hands of the Germans and Ukranians. A Judenrat was established shortly thereafter, and a ghetto was created by December, 1941. At the time of the German occupation, there were about 160,000 Jews in the town. By the time of the final liquidation of the ghetto in June, 1943, there were only 20,000 Jews remaining. The rest had been either killed in the pogroms, sent to other labor camps or sent to the death camp at Belzec.
Below are thumbnails of the front and back of two postcards. The first is a postcard dated May 14, 1940, from Russian occupied Lvov to Vienna. The card is from a Jew who had fled to the Russian part of Poland after the war started. The second postcard, postmarked Lemberg April 23, 1942, was sent by A. Luksenberg to P. Luksenberg in Dubno, a small town near Lemberg. This card is an example of "late use" of regular mail channels by Jews, as the ghettos in this area were at this time facing liquidation. Based on the Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims, it appears that the card may be from Arie Luksenberg (a survivor of the war) to his brother Pinchas in Dubno (Pinchas died in Dubno in 1942). The message on the card expresses concern for the sender and his kin, but expresses satisfaction that both of them are employed in a "useful profession". Dubno housed several leather factories supplying the German army. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Postcards" in the left frame to return.
Spector, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust (2001), P. 769-775
Museum of Tolerance On Line Learning Center
Http://www.deathcamps.org/occupation/lvov%20ghetto.html
Http://www.history.ucsb.edu/projects/holocaust/Resources/history_of_lviv.htm
Copyright © 2004-07 Edward Victor