GHDI logo


Deportation to Theresienstadt: Air Mail Communication Sent through the Foreign Service of the German Red Cross (September 15, 1942)

In this air mail communication from September 15, 1942, Max Jacobson (born 1874), a Jewish resident of Leipzig, informs his daughter and son-in-law in New York City of his “departure” for Theresienstadt. Apparently, his daughter had emigrated to the U.S. early enough to avoid the Holocaust. Jacobson’s message to his family reads: “Dear Children! Before my departure to Theresienstadt in Bohemia, I send you warm greetings and wish all of you all the best. In the hopes that we will see each other again. Father.”

This communication was sent through the foreign service of the German Red Cross, which hid its knowledge of the concentration camps and fell silently in line with the Nazi regime. For this reason, the organization has been strongly criticized in recent historical studies.

According to documentation preserved in the Arolsen Archives and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Mr. Jacobsen was deported on September 19, 1942. At the time, he was a month shy of his 68th birthday. Fortunately, Mr. Jacobsen survived his internment in Theresienstadt. After the end of the war, he spent time in a DP (Displaced Persons) camp, and eventually set sail for the U.S. on January 28, 1947. He arrived in New York City on February 11, 1947, and rejoined his family. He died a few years later and was buried in Brooklyn.

print version     return to image list previous image      next image

Deportation to Theresienstadt: Air Mail Communication Sent through the Foreign Service of the German Red Cross (September 15, 1942)

© Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz