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Clark University
CENTERS AND INSTITUTES
Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Barry Hoffman Nazi Postcard Collection

European Youth Association (Vienna)

March 13, 2024

Accession Number: 2022.02.5.77

Stamps: Adolf Hitler Series.  Issued in December 1941

Postmark: Esslingen 28 November 1942

 Historical background:This card was issued on 12 September 1942 to commemorate Foundation Day of the European Youth Organization.  The organization was comprised from 13 states associated with Nazi Germany.  Its aim was to indoctrinate fascists’ ideals at an early age.  The card depicts a map of Europe with a tree growing from the center. The inscription reads “Gruendungstagung der Europaeischen Jugendverbandes Wien 1942” (Foundation Day of the European Youth Association, Vienna 1942).

[Front]Front of European Youth Association in Vienna Postcard

[Back]Back of postcard

Front

Postcard addressed to:

Ernst Klein Family
Sulzgrieser Strasse 9
Esslingen/Neckar

Back

The back of the postcard features a letter to the Klein Family.

Dear Family Klein

We plan to drive to Stuttgart tomorrow afternoon at 2:43 a.m. to visit the main train station; It’s really worth it, if you’ve seen something like that you’ll get up in the event of future alarms without even thinking about it for a moment. I had to go out several times this week and have already seen it, but I wanted my wife to take a look at it too. Maybe you’ll take a look at it too? Since our flashlight doesn’t work and another battery hasn’t been available yet, we’re staying at home this evening and will also return home early tomorrow evening.

With best regards

Saturday 11/28/42

Stuttgart, like many of Germany’s major cities, was ravaged throughout the war by Allied air raids. For the first four years of the war, successful air raids on the city were rare because of the capable defense of the city by Wehrmacht ground forces, the Luftwaffe, and artificial fog.  However, a successful air raid on the main train station took place on November 22, 1942.   This is likely the reason for the writer’s visits to the station to view the damage.

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