Przemysl is a city in Poland in the Lvov district of Eastern Galicia. At the start of the war, about 24,000 Jews lived in the town. The Germans occupied the town on September 14, 1939, and turned it over to the Soviets on September 28 pursuant to their "non-aggression" pact. When the Germans reoccupied the city on June 28, 1941, about 17,000 Jews still lived there. A Judenrat was established immediately and made responsible for supplying forced labor. The ghetto was established on July 14, 1942. During the ensuing "Aktion", over 12,000 Jews were deported to the Belzec death camp. In November 1942, the ghetto was divided into two sections: section A was a labor camp; and section B was primarily for non-workers. Section B was liquidated in September, 1943 with most residents being sent to Auschwitz or killed. Only 300 Jews living in the Prezmysl area in June 1941 survived the war.
Russian Occupation Below are thumbnails of the front and back of a postcard from St. Gallen, Switzerland, postmarked November 19, 1940, to Josef Sumpf in Przemysl, "formerly Poland". The sender was Saly Mayer, the representative of the Joint Distribution Committee in Switzerland. Przemysl was right on the line dividing German occupied Poland from Russian occupied Poland, pursuant to the Hitler-Stalin pact entered into on the eve of the war. When the card arrived in Przemysl, someone entered a pencilled notation on the left of the card front that the addressee "finds himself on the Russian side." The card went back to the post office where it was stamped on the back side with "Addressee unknown; called without result-- Przemysl Post Office" and stamped "Russland" on the front. It was received on the Russian side and stamped with a Russian cancellation for Przemsyl dated December 26, 1940. The card was then sent to Moscow which could do nothing with it and returned it to Przemysl with a boxed stamp: "Retour-Moscou-Rebuts". It was received back in Przemysl pursuant to a cancellation dated February 21, 1941 and another dated April 27, 1941. On June 22, 1941, the Germans invaded Russia and immediately occupied Przemysl. The next marking is a date stamp of November 4, 1941, reading "Deutsch Przemysl". The final markings are a stamped box reading "Retour-Inconnu" (return-unkown in French) and a crayoned arrow pointing toward the Swiss-imprinted stamp. Somehow the card did make its way back to Switzerland. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Russian Occupation" in the left frame to return.
German Occupation Below are thumbnails of the front and back of two postcards from the period of German Occupation. The first is a "Comite Relico" acknowledgment card sent from Prezmysl in February 1942 to Geneva. The card contains a cachet "Aufgeliefort am Schalter" together with black and red censor numbers. The second is a General Gouvernment postcard from Przemysl to Italy, postmarked October 7, 1942. The card contains a one line rubber stamp cachet of the "Kreis Judenrat Przemysl". Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "German Occupation" 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. 1032-35
http://www.deathcamps.org/occupation/przemysl%20ghetto.html
Museum of Tolerance On Line Learning Center
Copyright © 2004 Edward Victor