Identity Card; Julius Feldman

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Accession Number: NEKHC:2013.47.2

Object: Identity Card

Physical Description: Pink card; handwritten and printed ink; black and white photograph fixed to front with staples.

Information: This identity card was issued to Julius Feldman, and includes a photograph of him as a teenager. Julius was held in Krakow Ghetto and Plaszow Concentration Camp 

Further Information

This identity card issued to Julius Feldman was donated by Gisela Feldman. Julius was born on 24 December 1923, in Krakow, Poland. The family lived on Kingi Street, in the Podgorze district of Krakow.

The card is an Ausweis card issued to Julius in 1942, and had been applied for as the family were seeking permission to remain in Krakow. As the Nazi regime begun deporting Jewish people out of Krakow, only those with special permission were allowed to temporarily remain. People whose permission requests were denied had to present themselves for deportation.

In 1943, Julius began writing a diary-cum-memoir which details experiences from his life before and during the Holocaust, and the Second World War. Although beginning to write in the 1940s, Julius records events from August 1939 and recalls the Nazi invasion of Poland. He was the only Jewish student in his class at school, and recalls the effects of increasing anti-Jewish measures and persecution of Jewish people. The writing records events in Krakow Ghetto, and provides a poignant and important record of Julius and others’ experiences during the Holocaust. His account was written over two months, during the final weeks of Krakow Ghetto’s existence and during his incarceration in Plaszow Concentration Camp. Julius was risking his life by keeping a record of events, and kept it carefully concealed. The diary ends mid-sentence on 11 April 1943, it is not clear what happened at this time.

Julius was murdered during the Holocaust, by unknown means on an unknown date, he would have been around 19 years old. His writings were found after the end of the Second World War, hidden in the wall of the building where Julius had been a forced labourer. The manuscript was saved and eventually given to Julius’ cousin, Oscar and his wife Gisela. Recognising its significance, Gisela worked tirelessly to ensure the diary was published and it is now available as a book.     

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