In the mid-eighteenth century, the town of Weimar was a seat of the German Enlightenment. It was home to some of the greatest German minds, including Goethe, Schiller, and Bach. However, Weimar also would become the site of Buchenwald, one of the largest concentration camps inside the 1937 German borders.

The camp, built to house opponents of the Nazi regime, was constructed by the prisoners themselves. After Kristallnacht and the beginning of the war, it became a major camp that incarcerated Polish and Soviet prisoners.

On this postcard, sent from the Buchenwald concentration camp, the Israel middle name identifies the sender as a Jewish inmate.  The card is dated November 11, 1942, and has brief preprinted instructions to the recipient, indicating that “I am only allowed to write and receive one letter every 4 weeks.”