Object numberM2001/001:004
DescriptionPostcard from father Jozef Sztorch and his wife in Lodz ghetto to Jakob Sapir in Kobe, Japan 1941. Censored by Nazis. Handwritten in black ink; stamped with red eagle and swastika. The postcard has the hand stamp of Ch. Rumkowski, the "Elder of the Jews in Litzmannstadt," with the name and address of the sender below the imprint. The ghetto was in western Poland within the territory incorporated into the German Reich, thus a German 15 pfennig stamp rather than a General Government stamp, and a Wehrmacht censor imprint with eagle and swastika.
Jakob Sapir, his wife Tola and son Peter, travelled in the late 1930s from Poland to Vilno in Lithuania, then on to Moscow. They then travelled from Vladivostock to Kobe, Japan and eventually arrived in Shanghai in 1941. They lived in the French quarter in Shanghai, but were later moved into the Hongkew ghetto. Peter Sapir attended St. Francis Xavier's school, run by English priests, which was outside the ghetto boundary. Jakob Sapir earned a living in Shanghai running a Polish kitchen. The family left Shanghai in 1947, aboard the "Hwa Lien" ship, migrating to Sydney, Australia.
Jakob Sapir, his wife Tola and son Peter, travelled in the late 1930s from Poland to Vilno in Lithuania, then on to Moscow. They then travelled from Vladivostock to Kobe, Japan and eventually arrived in Shanghai in 1941. They lived in the French quarter in Shanghai, but were later moved into the Hongkew ghetto. Peter Sapir attended St. Francis Xavier's school, run by English priests, which was outside the ghetto boundary. Jakob Sapir earned a living in Shanghai running a Polish kitchen. The family left Shanghai in 1947, aboard the "Hwa Lien" ship, migrating to Sydney, Australia.
Production date 1941-07-03
SubjectHolocaust, communications, censorship
Object namepostcards
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- whole width: 105.00 mm
whole height: 150.00 mm
Language
- German Litzmanstadt – Lodz
3.7.1941
My dearest! I am answering your card of the 24.5. and we are happy that you are doing well. Thank you for your wedding anniversary wishes. God give us the fulfillment of them. Apart from your card nobody has congratulated us. From us there is no news to report. We are healthy, live in country surroundings. There is a little garden in front of the little house. From Dr. STOBODIHA [?] we have had only one present. Mrs ZUNGE does not pipe up at all. From me I can report that I have reached TACIAS line [?]. It is not nice of Mrs ZUNGE as well as my niece that they don’t keep their promises. From ESTKA and MANREGRY [?] also KAROL we have received 2 parcels last month. Please write to us where those two are, altogether my beloved ones write often and a lot to your loving, longing, always in thoughts with you mother and granny
Heartiest greetings and kisses to you my dear children from your loving father and grandfather.
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Dr Peter Sapir