Below are thumbnails of two pre-9/1/39 items. The first is the front and back of a postcard from an inmate, Hermann Schultze, to Spremberg, postmarked December 30, 1937. The card is identified in Lordahl as Type P1b with a Type C3a censor mark. The second item is an envelope from the Sachsenhausen camp postmarked December 14, 1938, to Hamburg. The envelope is identified in Lordahl as type E4a and was used between December1938 and March 1940. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Pre-9/1/39" in the left frame to return.
Below are thumbnails of nine different envelopes. The first, postmarked December 14, 1938, is addressed to Hamburg from a prisoner, Ernst Bundheim and is identified in Lordahl as Type E4a with a Type C2a1 censor mark. The second, postmarked May 16, 1944, is addressed to Prague from a prisoner, Franklisek Mejvald and is identified in Lordahl as Type E5a1 with a Type C8 censor mark. The third, postmarked April 5, 1940, is addressed to Kolin, Bohemia from a prisoner, Ferdinand Pokorny and is identified in Lordahl as Type E5a3 with a type C3a censor mark. The fourth, postmarked March 31, 1941, is addressed to Chlumec, Bohemia and is identified in Lordahl as Type E5a4 with a Type C3a censor mark. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Envelopes 1-4" in the left frame to return.
The fifth, postmarked March 23, 1940, is addressed to Bohemia from a prisoner, Karl Dirnhofer and is identified in Lordahl as Type E5a4 with a Type C7b censor mark. The sixth, postmarked December 19, 1941, is addressed to Holland from a Dutch prisoner, Joseph Kusters and is identified in Lordahl as Type E5b1 with a Type C8A-M censor mark. The seventh and eighth are from a prisoner, Wisold Sienicka, both addressed to Tschenstochau, with the seventh postmarked September 6, 1943, and the eighth postmarked December 29, 1943. Both these cards are identified in Lordahl as Type EN with a Type C7a censor mark. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Envelopes 5-7" in the left frame to return.
The ninth, postmarked December 10, 1944, is addressed to Denmark from a Danish prisoner, Nils Goransson and is identified in Lordahl as Type E8b with a Type C9A-M censor mark. The letter had been opened and closed on the left side by censor tape and hand stamped "Geoeffnet (f) Zensurstelle" (opened at Hamburg censorship station-"f"). Concentration camp mail from Western European and Scandinavian nationals was rare. Also below is the lettersheet enclosed with the envelope which is identified in Lordahl as Type S11 with a Type C9A-M censor mark. The letter is to his wife and daughter and thanks them for letters and packages and wishes them and his friends a good Christmas and a better New Year. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Envelope 9" in the left frame to return.
Below are thumbnails of various lettercards. The first is addressed to Warsaw from prisoner #62329 and is identified in Lordahl as Type L1a with a Type C8 censor mark. The second, postmarked January 11, 1945, is from a prisoner, Josef Olkiewicz and is identified in Lordahl as Type L1b with a Type C9 censor mark. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Lettercards 1-2" in the left frame to return.
The third, postmarked October 19, 1940, is from a prisoner, Felix Nasrecki and is identified in Lordahl as Type L2ba with a Type C8 censor mark. This prisoner was subsequently transferred to Dachau (see Dachau Main Camp). The fourth, postmarked March 8, 1941, is from prisoner #15598 and is identified in Lordahl as Type L2ba with a Type C9 censor mark. Please note the flowers drawn by the prisoner around the edges of the body of the lettercard. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Lettercards 3-4" in the left frame to return.
The fifth, dated December14, 1941, is from a prisoner, Wladislaus Chmielnicka and is identified in Lordahl as Type L4ba with a Type C8 censor mark. The sixth, postmarked August 8, 1941, is from prisoner #15598 and is identified in Lordahl as Type L4ba with a Type C9 censor mark and Type SL6a special label. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Lettercards 5-6" in the left frame to return.
The seventh, dated July 31, 1942, is from prisoner #12127 and is identified in Lordahl as Type L4bc with a Type C8 censor mark. The eighth, postmarked August 28, 1942, is from prisoner #15673 and is identified in Lordahl as Type L4bd with a Type C8 censor mark and Type SL8ba special label. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Lettercards 7-8" in the left frame to return.
The ninth, postmarked March 31, 1944, is from a Dutch Prisoner, Joseph Kusters, and is identified in Lordahl as Type L1a(x) with a Type C8A-M censor mark. Above is a cover from the same prisoner postmarked December 19, 1941. The letter thanks his wife for the package she sent which arrived in time for his birthday. He assures his family that he is well and wishes them a happy Easter. The tenth, postmarked March 21, 1944, is from Danish prisoner, Nils Goransson (discussed above under Envelope 9) and is identified in Lordahl as Type L1a(x) with a type C8A-M censor mark. The German text had been translated into Danish and superimposed on the original. The letter thanks his wife and daughter for the packages he received. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Lettercard 9" in the left frame to return.
The postcard below, postmarked September 11, 1940, is from a prisoner, Marian Sgnaszak, and is identified in Lordahl as Type P4a with a Type C8 censor mark. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Postcards" in the left frame to return.
The lettersheet below, postmarked May17, 1940, is from a prisoner, Franklisek Mejvald, and is identified in Lordahl as Type S6a with a Type C8 censor mark. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Lettersheets" in the left frame to return.
Unternehmen Bernhard (The Bernard Enterprise)
The Nazi intelligence service initiated a scheme to wreck the British economy by flooding it with counterfeit money. This project was under the leadership of SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Bernhard Kruger, and thus the code name Unternehmen Bernhard. He selected 140 craftsmen, mostly Jews, at Sachsenhausen for the project. They produced excellent British bank notes in denominations of 5£, 10£, 20£, and 50£, which the Nazis used to pay their foreign spies. They were never able, however, to send the notes to England. By the end of 1943, the group had produced more than a half a billion dollars' worth of notes. From this point on, they attempted, without success, to forge U.S. dollars. When the Germans evacuated the camps, they packed the British notes in rubber containers and dumped them in Lake Toblitz. The British retrieved and burnt the forgeries. Below are thumbnails of the forged 5£, 20£, and 50£ notes. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Unternehmen Bernhard" in the left frame to return.
Below is a thumbnail of the one mark Pramienschein (Premium Notes) currency used at the camp. A number of camps used the same form of script known as "Pramienschien" or Premium Notes. According to Campbell (see References below), these notes were intended to be used for "... cigarettes and other canteen purchases, to fund inmate savings accounts, and even to pay for brothel visits." Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Currency" in the left frame to return.
Below are thumbnails of other documents. The first is a form dated November 16, 1944, from the Commandant at Sachsenhausen to the Gestapo in Litzmannstadt to transfer an inmate, Felix Tomalik, to Buchenwald. The second is a form dated November 16, 1944, from the Commandant at Sachsenhausen to the Gestapo in Litzmannstadt to transfer an inmate, Stanislaw Szymczak, to Buchenwald. The last item is a parcel receipt dated June 14, 1944, was sent from Warsaw to Sachsenhausen. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full image, and then click your back key or "Other Documents" in the left frame to return.
Erik Lordahl, German Concentration Camps 1933-1945, History and Inmate Mail (2000). Referred to as Lordahl.
Feig, Hitlers Death Camps (1979)
Lance K. Campbell, Prisoner of War and Concentration Camp Money of the 20th Century, P. 82, 93-4 (1993)
http://www.scrapbookpages.com/EasternGermany/Sachsenhausen/
http://jewishgen.org/ForgottenCamps/Camps/SachsenhausenEng.html
http://www.topographie.de/gedenkstaettenforum/uebersicht/e/d_18.htm
Copyright © 2002 Edward Victor