Shana Tova to Bergen-Belsen: a Rosh Hashana greeting card and its envelope from Dr. Hans-Erich...
A small New Year's greeting card sent from New York to the Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp, linking two survivors who led the Jews of postwar Germany.
The card: printed "לשנה טובה תכתבו / A Happy New Year" in an embossed frame with a gilt edge, signed in ink "Dr & Mrs Fabian".
The envelope: typed to "Mr. & Mrs. J. Rosensaft, BERGEN-BELSEN, Krs. CELLE, GERMANY - Brit. Zone", the Celle district in the British occupation zone; a US 1½ cent Martha Washington stamp and the slogan cancel "HIRE THE HANDICAPPED, IT'S GOOD BUSINESS". On the flap, the sender: "Dr. Hans-Erich Fabian, 166 West 87th Street, New York 24, N.Y."
The sender: Dr. Hans-Erich Fabian, a Berlin lawyer, member of the executive board of the Reich Association of Jews in Germany under Rabbi Leo Baeck. On 10.9.1943 he was deported to Theresienstadt with his wife and three small children; the family survived. After the liberation he organised the return of survivors to Berlin and worked to rebuild the city's Jewish community; in 1949 he emigrated with his family to the United States and worked for the United Restitution Organization (URO) on behalf of German Jews.
The addressees: Josef (Yossel) Rosensaft (1911-1975), born in Będzin, survivor of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen (on the way to Auschwitz he jumped into the Vistula and was recaptured), chairman of the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the British Zone and leader of the Bergen-Belsen DP camp until 1950; and his wife Dr. Hadassah (Bimko) Rosensaft (1912-1997), a dentist from Sosnowiec and a doctor in Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen, who after the liberation cared for the sick and the children of the camp and was a key witness at the Belsen trial, where she identified the camp commandant Josef Kramer. They married in the camp in 1946, their son Menachem was born there, and in 1950 they moved to Montreux in Switzerland and later to New York.
Fabian reached New York in 1949 and the Rosensafts left Bergen-Belsen in 1950: the card was sent for the Jewish New Year of 1949 or 1950.
Good condition: the card with a cut corner and a thin diagonal line, the envelope open with small tears, exactly as photographed.
Condition Report:
The accompanying photographs constitute an integral part of the item description and complement the written information.
Reserve
Time, Location
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A small New Year's greeting card sent from New York to the Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp, linking two survivors who led the Jews of postwar Germany.
The card: printed "לשנה טובה תכתבו / A Happy New Year" in an embossed frame with a gilt edge, signed in ink "Dr & Mrs Fabian".
The envelope: typed to "Mr. & Mrs. J. Rosensaft, BERGEN-BELSEN, Krs. CELLE, GERMANY - Brit. Zone", the Celle district in the British occupation zone; a US 1½ cent Martha Washington stamp and the slogan cancel "HIRE THE HANDICAPPED, IT'S GOOD BUSINESS". On the flap, the sender: "Dr. Hans-Erich Fabian, 166 West 87th Street, New York 24, N.Y."
The sender: Dr. Hans-Erich Fabian, a Berlin lawyer, member of the executive board of the Reich Association of Jews in Germany under Rabbi Leo Baeck. On 10.9.1943 he was deported to Theresienstadt with his wife and three small children; the family survived. After the liberation he organised the return of survivors to Berlin and worked to rebuild the city's Jewish community; in 1949 he emigrated with his family to the United States and worked for the United Restitution Organization (URO) on behalf of German Jews.
The addressees: Josef (Yossel) Rosensaft (1911-1975), born in Będzin, survivor of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen (on the way to Auschwitz he jumped into the Vistula and was recaptured), chairman of the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in the British Zone and leader of the Bergen-Belsen DP camp until 1950; and his wife Dr. Hadassah (Bimko) Rosensaft (1912-1997), a dentist from Sosnowiec and a doctor in Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen, who after the liberation cared for the sick and the children of the camp and was a key witness at the Belsen trial, where she identified the camp commandant Josef Kramer. They married in the camp in 1946, their son Menachem was born there, and in 1950 they moved to Montreux in Switzerland and later to New York.
Fabian reached New York in 1949 and the Rosensafts left Bergen-Belsen in 1950: the card was sent for the Jewish New Year of 1949 or 1950.
Good condition: the card with a cut corner and a thin diagonal line, the envelope open with small tears, exactly as photographed.
Condition Report:
The accompanying photographs constitute an integral part of the item description and complement the written information.
Reserve
Time, Location
Auction House
