Thank you
Object numberM1995/079:017
TitleThank you
DescriptionPre-printed thank you card signed by Dwight Eisenhower addressed to Martin Rosenfeld in King's Cross, Sydney. "Thank you very much for your kind and thoughtful message. To have the respect and goodwill of one's fellow citizens is the greatest honor that can come to an American. Mrs Eisenhower joins me in deep gratitute to you."
General Eisenhower had visited Ohrdruf, a sub-camp of Buchenwald and the first Nazi concentration camp liberated by US forces. Seeing the Nazi brutalities committed at Ohrdruf made a powerful impression on General Eisenhower. He asked the US and British politicians, representatives of the United Nations and the US press to view the camps to ensure that the Western world bear witness to the ghastly truth committed in the Nazi concentration camps. The US War Crimes Trials were established in this context.
Martin Rosenfeld was a key witness in the Buchenwald trial conducted by the US in Dachau in 1947. He kept up polite correspondence with Eisenhower in the decades that followed.
Part of a collection of documents on Martin Rosenfeld, a Romanian Jew, and survivor of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Martin was born 18 June 1917 in Cluj, Romania, to Jacob and Ilona Chai Rosenfeld, neé Lichtman. He was the fourth-born of five children; Fülöp (b. 1910), Mozes (b. 1911), Lipot (b. 1915), Martin (originally Marton), and Saroeta (b. 1919). In 1940 Cluj was governed by Hungary and renamed Kolozsvár.
Following the Nazi invasion of Hungary on 19 March 1944, Martin, his widowed mother and his siblings, along with approximately 18,000 other Jews, were incarcerated in the Kolozsvár ghetto. The ghetto was liquidated between 25 May and 9 June 1944, in six transports bound for Auschwitz. Martin arrived in Auschwitz on 11 June 1944. He was registered but not tattooed. After two weeks he was transported to Buchenwald, where he was assigned the prisoner number 59826.
On 6 April 1945, the Nazis evacuated Buchenwald. Hans Erich Merbach, SS-Obersturmführer ('Senior storm leader'), was tasked with the evacuation of some 5,000 concentration camp prisoners who were forced on a 'death march' to the Weimar train station. The original destination of the transport was Flossenbürg concentration camp, but when Flossenbürg was also evacuated on 20 April 1945, the train continued on to Dachau. Less than half of the original number of prisoners survived the 21-day journey. Martin Rosenfeld was one of the survivors, and on 29 April 1945 he was liberated in Dachau.
Martin's mother Ilona, his sister Saroeta and brother Lipot were murdered in the camps.
Martin spent some time in the DP camps of Feldafing and later Traunstein. He became a permanent staff member of the "International Prisoners Committee" at Dachau Camp. Martin was requested to appear as a key witness in the Buchenwald trial conducted by the US in Dachau in 1947 (Hans Merbach trial: US 449). He testified that he personally saw Merbach shoot ten prisoners on the death march to Weimar, as well as murder 20 others (with the assistance of other SS guards) on the prisoners' transport to Dachau.
In a trial conducted in Bochum, West Germany in January 1949, Martin was once again summoned to appear as a witness against three German war criminals (Wilhelm Korbfoeter, Heinrich Bischoff, and Karl Lellesch) accused of "crimes against humanity".
Three months later Martin left Europe, arriving in Australia on 25 May 1949. He never gave his testimony again. Marton died in Sydney in 1980, aged 63.
General Eisenhower had visited Ohrdruf, a sub-camp of Buchenwald and the first Nazi concentration camp liberated by US forces. Seeing the Nazi brutalities committed at Ohrdruf made a powerful impression on General Eisenhower. He asked the US and British politicians, representatives of the United Nations and the US press to view the camps to ensure that the Western world bear witness to the ghastly truth committed in the Nazi concentration camps. The US War Crimes Trials were established in this context.
Martin Rosenfeld was a key witness in the Buchenwald trial conducted by the US in Dachau in 1947. He kept up polite correspondence with Eisenhower in the decades that followed.
Part of a collection of documents on Martin Rosenfeld, a Romanian Jew, and survivor of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Martin was born 18 June 1917 in Cluj, Romania, to Jacob and Ilona Chai Rosenfeld, neé Lichtman. He was the fourth-born of five children; Fülöp (b. 1910), Mozes (b. 1911), Lipot (b. 1915), Martin (originally Marton), and Saroeta (b. 1919). In 1940 Cluj was governed by Hungary and renamed Kolozsvár.
Following the Nazi invasion of Hungary on 19 March 1944, Martin, his widowed mother and his siblings, along with approximately 18,000 other Jews, were incarcerated in the Kolozsvár ghetto. The ghetto was liquidated between 25 May and 9 June 1944, in six transports bound for Auschwitz. Martin arrived in Auschwitz on 11 June 1944. He was registered but not tattooed. After two weeks he was transported to Buchenwald, where he was assigned the prisoner number 59826.
On 6 April 1945, the Nazis evacuated Buchenwald. Hans Erich Merbach, SS-Obersturmführer ('Senior storm leader'), was tasked with the evacuation of some 5,000 concentration camp prisoners who were forced on a 'death march' to the Weimar train station. The original destination of the transport was Flossenbürg concentration camp, but when Flossenbürg was also evacuated on 20 April 1945, the train continued on to Dachau. Less than half of the original number of prisoners survived the 21-day journey. Martin Rosenfeld was one of the survivors, and on 29 April 1945 he was liberated in Dachau.
Martin's mother Ilona, his sister Saroeta and brother Lipot were murdered in the camps.
Martin spent some time in the DP camps of Feldafing and later Traunstein. He became a permanent staff member of the "International Prisoners Committee" at Dachau Camp. Martin was requested to appear as a key witness in the Buchenwald trial conducted by the US in Dachau in 1947 (Hans Merbach trial: US 449). He testified that he personally saw Merbach shoot ten prisoners on the death march to Weimar, as well as murder 20 others (with the assistance of other SS guards) on the prisoners' transport to Dachau.
In a trial conducted in Bochum, West Germany in January 1949, Martin was once again summoned to appear as a witness against three German war criminals (Wilhelm Korbfoeter, Heinrich Bischoff, and Karl Lellesch) accused of "crimes against humanity".
Three months later Martin left Europe, arriving in Australia on 25 May 1949. He never gave his testimony again. Marton died in Sydney in 1980, aged 63.
Production placeGettysburg, USA
Production date 1961-05-09
Object namecards
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- width: 160.00 mm
height: 90.00 mm
Language
- English
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Ms. Lily Kestecher