A+ AUSCHWITZ CONCENTRATION CAMP POSTCARD: 1942 Item #355994719 - Discription:

http://listings.ebay.com/aw/listings/list/category4718/index.html http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=368345277 This extremely well-preserved echo from the Nazi Holocaust is an original postcard sent sent from one of the very first Polish inmates interned in Auschwitz. It was written on an official formular Auschwitz postcard. The front bears the original Hitler stamp cancelled at the Auschwitz 2 postoffice on February 2, 1942. In the middle, vertically written section the inmate, Johann Klausa, signed his name, indicated his prisoner number (#1124), birthdate (November 22, 1908), block number (13) and postal address (K.L. Auschwitz O/S Postamt 2). Auschwitz archives indicate he was one of 100 prisoners sent from the police prison in Sosnowitz to Auschwitz on June 25, 1940, barely one month after the camp had opened. The historical value of this item is increased significantly by the fact that Klausa was one of the extremely small number of inmates to ever be released from Auschwitz. Archives of the State Museum of Auschwitz indicate Johann Klausa’s release occurred on November 27, 1943 after he surviving nearly 3 and one-half years in the camp.The card was written on January 18, 1942 to a brother living in Hohenlinde, Kreis Kattowitz, Oberschlesien (occupied Poland). The buyer will have the privilege of translating the message contents, which are written in German in the older cursive style. The face of the letter is imprinted "Konzentrationslager Auschwitz" along with the camp commandant’s regulations for sending and receiving mail. Also on front appears the the boxed red handstamp, "Postzensurstelle K.L.Auschwitz...gepruft" applied and initialed by the SS censor. Considering its remarkable history, the item is in superb, museum grade condition, guaranteed genuine and a significant addition to any collection of Holocaust memorabilia. Buyer adds $3.00 for First Class postage in US and airmail to Canada, insurance and stiff mailer. Buyers elsewhere will be informed of actual postage. Payment by money order, cashier's check or personal check only. Personal check requires 7-8 days to clear before shipment. Seller member of APS, GPS, SIP. On Jun-28-00 at 21:15:37 PDT, seller added the following information: Obviously I errored when stating that the stamp on this card depicted Hitler. The stamp here pictures Hindenberg and was also commonly used on camp mail, although usually not as late as 1942.

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(June 16, 2000 = $ 105, June 30, 2000 = $ 149)
last viewed: June 30, 2000 - 10:28 a.m.

Translation: I'm writing to you that I feel to be in good health and hope the same of you. I am wondering that you don’t write to me. I am waiting day by day to receive a letter from you, but of now vain. What’s new at your end? Are you all well? Is Wilhelm still in Goslar or at the front. Please answer me soon and send me a lot of letter, so I got something to read. Best wishes to you all and acquaintances Johann

German POWs were not granted the privilege to write post cards from Siberian death camps to their families in Germany. Even America and Britain didn't allow German POWs to write home. How interesting!!!

AUSCHWITZ: Was this a death camp?

This is a factual list of facilities available to prisoners at the alleged Nazi death camp of Auschwitz in Poland. Most of these facilities can still be seen in the camp today, including the cinema, swimming pool, hospital, library and post office.

Supposedly the most dreaded of German camps, Auschwitz was repeatedly visited by Red Cross inspection teams who were allowed to speak to prisoner representatives alone, in order to hear first-hand of any mistreatment, chicanery, interruption of mail and parcel delivery, health concerns, food and ration matters etc. No such visits took place - ever! - to Soviet Gulag camps.

Auschwitz, the supposed "death camp", had many facilities amongst which were;

* A camp hospital to which expert surgeons even from the famous Berlin "Charité" Surgical Clinic were dispatched to deal with difficult cases -

* Camp sick barracks, attended by camp inmate doctors and nurses to deal with the inmates' health problems - much like the now common walk-in clinics in modern US communities -

* A Camp diet kitchen, one of the largest service buildings in Auschwitz, with state-of-the-art cooking facilities. (This building had 12 chimneys and can be visited today...)

* The caloric content of the diet was carefully monitored by camp and Red Cross delegates. It only deteriorated in Auschwitz and other camps towards the end of the war when German railroads and the entire transport system collapsed under constant aerial attacks -

* Up to 16 Camp orchestras, with every conceivable instrument available -

* Camp Post Office with twice weekly pick-ups and deliveries.

* A Camp theater, where live plays could be performed by camp inmate actors -

* Camp sculpture classes conducted for interested, talented inmates by professional sculptors

* Camp art classes for inmates

* Camp University with lectures on every topic under the sun, from health, the arts, philosophy, science, economic issues etc.

* A Camp cinema - where every week different, mainly cultural and non-political films were shown -

* A Camp Brothel, in which 12-15 women were paid between RM 2.- to RM 4.- for their services, The Women and customers were given a medical checks BEFORE each visit.

* Camp religious facilities made available on a rotating basis to every denomination for religious services -

* A Camp library, where inmates could borrow books from Fourty -five thousand volumes available -

* A Camp swimming pool for use by the inmates on Birkenallee, where there were walkways with comfortable benches for inmates to relax in the shade of the trees -

* Camp sports facilities, like soccer fields, handball areas, fencing classes and other exercise facilities -

* A Camp coupon incentive system, where through extra work inmates could obtain coupons redeemable for cake or ice cream in the Camp Cantina, which also had extra toiletries etc.

* A Camp Complaints Office, where inmates could register complaints or make suggestions. Camp Commander Hoess had a standing order that any inmate could approach him personally to register a complaint about other inmates such as "Kapos" and even guards.

* A system of strict discipline for guards and also for inmates, with severe punishment being handed out against those found guilty (for even slapping an inmate)

* An Auschwitz "In-Camp COURT & Jail". (!) Since the camp was a large, open facility, transgressors could be arrested, tried and jailed right in Auschwitz. (This jail was opposite the gynecological facility.)

* An Auschwitz Maternity Ward - Over 3,000 live births were registered there, with not a single infant death while Auschwitz was in operation under German rule -

* Child day care center where working mothers could leave their children.

* Auschwitz crematoria - These structures were hastily built by inmate labor after the first typhus epidemic caused thousands of deaths. (Burial of epidemic victims had caused the ground water to be contaminated causing infections among the German staff. Amongst the victims was an early camp commandant's wife. Polish peasants from the surrounding district were also cremated here.)

* Auschwitz pregnancies took place because of the open nature of the facility. Auschwitz marriages took place because worker inmates fell in love and married their inmate partners.

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