The Printed Envelope
The postage stamps issued by the head of the Judenrat of the Lodz Ghetto, Mordechai Rumkowski are well known. The stamps were issued in March 1944. They were of three values - 5, 10 and 20 and were printed on sheets of 20 stamps each. Rumkowski's picture appears on the left side of the stamp and on the right, work tools used by the Jews in the workshops, matching Rumkowski's perception. The stamps were used in the ghetto for a short period of time.
Before us is an unusual item: a printed envelope of the Lodz Ghetto. That is, an envelope with the stamp of the Lodz Ghetto printed on it. Such an item has never been seen in auctions. It is most likely the only envelope that had survived! An extremely rare item!
The Stamp
On the upper part, the word "Judenrat" in German. On the lower part, the German name of Lodz: "Litzmannstadt". On the left side, Rumkowski's picture. On the upper right side, a star-of-David and under it the word "Ghetto".
The Lodz Ghetto
Lodz is the second economically and commercially most important city in Poland after Warsaw. It was known as the center of textile of Poland. Its Jewish community was also the second-largest community after Warsaw. About 200,000 Jews lived there. Many of them worked in the textile industry. The Jewish life in the city were lively and included financial institutions, educational institutions, religious institutions, prominent rabbis, youth movements and more.
The Germans established a ghetto in the city to which Jews from the villages around it were deported.
Chaim Mordechai Rumkowski
The chairman of the Judenrat - the Jewish Council of the ghetto - appointed by the Nazi administration was Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski. Even today, he is still considered one of the most controversial figures in the history of the Holocaust. Known mockingly as "King Chaim" Rumkowski was granted unprecedented powers by the Nazi officials, which authorized him to take all necessary measures to maintain order in the Ghetto.
Rumkowski adopted an autocratic style of leadership in order to transform the ghetto into an industrial base manufacturing war supplies. Convinced that Jewish productivity would ensure survival, he forced the population to work 12-hour days despite abysmal conditions and the lack of calories and protein;[19] producing uniforms, garments, wood and metalwork, and electrical equipment for the German military. By 1943, some 95 percent of the adult population was employed in 117 workshops, which - Rumkowski once boasted to the mayor of Åódź - were a "gold mine." It was possibly because of this productivity that the Åódź Ghetto managed to survive long after all the other ghettos in occupied Poland were liquidated, although eventually, its Jews too were sent to their death in Auschwitz. .
How would Rumkowski be judged if the Russian had progressed at a quicker pace and released Poland several months earlier, the Jews of the Lodz Ghetto thus constituting the only Jews in Poland who had survived?
For many, Rumkowski was a hated figure. However, recently he is seen more positively in the context of his circumstances.
Rare, historical item for both stamp collectors and Holocaust collectors!
14.5x9.5 cm.
Condition: Very Good.