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German concentration camp prisoners letters
6118
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Language of Material:
German
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: German concentration camp prisoners letters
Identifier/Call Number: 6118
Physical Description:
0.21 Linear Feet
1 box
Date (inclusive): 1942, 1943
Abstract: Two letters written by prisoners in the German concentration camps of Gross-Rosen and Sachsenhausen.
Container: 1
Sachsenhausen concentration camp, located in Oranienburg, Germany, was established in 1936 and used primarily for political
prisoners. Its location, 22 miles north of Berlin, gave it a primary position among German concentration camps, and in fact
the administrative center of all the camps was in Oranienburg. Sachsenhausen was also a training center for SS officers.
Gross-Rosen concentration camp, established in 1940 as a satellite of Sachsenhausen, was actually a network of close to 100
subcamps located in eastern Germany, Czechoslovakia, and occupied Poland. At its peak in 1944, this network of camps housed
11% of the total number of inmates in Nazi concentration camps.
Two letters written from German concentration camps. The first is a letter from prisoner Stanislaw Konezarek at Gross-Rosen
prisoner on official camp letter form, postmarked July 19, 1942. He writes to his wife in Litzmannstadt stating that he remains
healthy and wonders why he has not received a letter from her. He tells her to arrange to have fuel for the winter and thanks
her for sending money.
The second is from Jakob Smol, prisoner at Sachsenhausen, who writes to a woman, presumably his wife, dated May 2, 1943.
"...I received the package...and the 15 Reichsmarks....How did you spend the holidays?...It has already been three years....I
doubt that you are loyal to me....Our garden must probably be pretty."
[Bookseller's description]
Advance notice required for access.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
[Box/folder no. or item name], German concentration camp prisoners letters, Collection no. 6118, Special Collections, USC
Libraries, University of Southern California
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from The Bookshop, April 13, 2016.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Concentration camps -- Germany -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Letters
Gross-Rosen (Concentration camp) -- Archives
Sachsenhausen (Concentration camp) -- Archives