Rare1940 WWII Judaica Postal Card – Written by Persecuted & DismissedBerlin Judge Julius Israel Löffler
This is anextraordinary and highly significant piece of Holocaust history andJewish-German legal history. It documents the plight of a prominentGerman-Jewish judge who was stripped of his profession by the Nazis and forcedinto exile in the United States.
TheStory of Judge Julius Löffler (Berlin Memorial Connection)
- The Sender: The card is signed Julius Israel Löffler (printed on the address side as Sender: Loeffler, Chicago).
- Historical Fact: Julius Löffler was a Jewish judge in Berlin who was dismissed from office under the Nazi racial laws of 1933. Today, his name is officially engraved on the Memorial Plaque for Persecuted Jewish Judges and Prosecutors located at Kronenstraße 73-74 in Berlin-Mitte (the House of the German Association of Judges / Deutscher Richterbund).
- The Forced Name: Under the 1938 Nazi Name Change Ordinance (Namensänderungsverordnung), Jewish men were legally forced to use the middle name "Israel". This card is definitive proof that even after fleeing to safety in Chicago, USA, Jewish refugees were forced to use this discriminatory identifier when corresponding with German authorities to secure their rightful pension payments (Ruhegehalt).
Content & Destination Context
- The Message: Written entirely in German, Judge Löffler is requesting a life certificate form (Lebensbescheinigung) from the Berlin authorities to maintain his pension transfers. He requests that any administrative costs be deducted from his next payment or processed through the Dresdner Bank in Munich.
- The Destination: It is addressed directly to the Oberjustizkasse (Besoldungsstelle) in Berlin (Elsholzstraße 32) – the exact judicial office responsible for the payroll and pensions of dismissed court officials.
AdditionalLocation Context (Chicago Residence)
- The Address: The sender's address, 215 East Chestnut Street, Chicago, is the location of The Chatelaine, a famous historic 21-story vintage luxury apartment building constructed between 1928 and 1930.
- The Neighborhood: Designed by the renowned architect Roy France, the building is a prominent architectural landmark in Chicago’s upscale Gold Coast / Streeterville neighborhood, located just block away from the Magnificent Mile.
Postal Details
- Date: Postmarked July 3, 1940 (Denver, CO) and stamped arrival/processing in Berlin on August 2, 1940.
- Postage: 1-Cent Green Thomas Jefferson postal card upgraded with an additional 2-Cent Red John Adams stamp to fulfill the 3-cent international card rate.
- Condition: Excellent vintage condition. Clear postmarks, official Nazi authority markings, and completely legible text. Please see high-resolution scans for exact condition.
Anincredibly rare, multi-layered addition to any Judaica collection, Judaicaarchive, legal history collection, or WWII transatlantic postal historycollection.
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