Auction 6 Special and rare items
Nov 22, 2018
Israel
 Yehuda ha-Nasi St 22, Jerusalem
ספרים ומכתבים, מסמכים היסטוריים, ארכיונים של גדולי ישראל, פולמוס, תצלומים, אנטישמיות ושואה, הרצל וציונות, בולאות, שטרות, חפצי יודאיקה ואמנות
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LOT 145:

The Only Remnant from a Community that was Destroyed during the Holocaust

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Start price:
$ 200
Estimated price:
500-1,000$
Auction house commission: 20%
VAT: 17% On commission only
tags:

A postcard that was sent from Krakes, Lithuania, to Palestine during the Holocaust, during the Soviet occupation according to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, three months before the German occupation and the destruction of the community by the Lithuanians!
It is most likely that this is the last postcard that was sent from there to the Land of Israel! It is also most likely that this is the only farewell that remained from the small community whose members were all killed!
Stamp of the British censor.
The postcard was sent from Krakes on 11.3.41
Background
Before the German occupation of Lithuania, about 470 Jews lived in Krakes. Most of them earned their living from trade and craft. There were Jewish religious, educational and social institutions in Krakes and there was Zionist activity.
With the annexation of Lithuania to the Soviet Union on June 1940, the department stores were nationalized and Zionist activity was stopped.
At the end of June 1941, several days after the German attack on the Soviet Union, Krakes was taken over by nationalistic Lithuanians who arrested communists and Jews and transferred them to Kedahnen, where they were most likely executed. The Lithuanians abused the Jewish leaders of the town, including its rabbis and physicians. The Jews of Krakes were gathered in kind of a ghetto, where they remained for several weeks. In the middle of August, 452 Jews lived in the ghetto and at the end of the month, additional Jews were brought there from close-by towns. On September 2 1941, all the Jews of the ghetto were led to Pestinukai where they were shot to death by the Lithuanians. 1,145 Jews were murdered that day – 448 men, 476 women and 221 children.
The postcard was written in Yiddish.
Condition: Very Good.

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