1941 (23 Nov) Third Reich, Germany, Censored Postcard from Buchenwald Concentration Camp to Upper Silesia, Censorship Postmark, More Details in Description

This is an official, highly regulated prisoner postcard (Häftlingspostkarte) issued by the SS camp administration at the Weimar-Buchenwald concentration camp. It documents the systematic erasure of identity and the absolute control over communication imposed on inmates during World War II.

The card replaces the prisoner's civil identity with administrative markers: Józef Wawrzyńczyk, assigned Inmate Number 8340, living in Block 32.
It is addressed to a widow, Marie Bitta, in Wiedobschütz (located in the Rybnik district of occupied/annexed Upper Silesia). A handwritten note at the bottom indicates she received it on July 3, 1942.
It features a 6-Pfennig German Reich stamp bearing the portrait of Adolf Hitler. The official post office cancellation stamp from Weimar-Buchenwald is dated June 30, 1942.
The card is covered in pre-printed and stamped restrictions. A bold black ink stamp reads: "Allowed to receive or write one letter every 6 weeks.". There is also a black cenor postmark postal examiner No 10 "Postprüfer 10".

Printed regulations on the left state that letters must be under 15 lines, written clearly in ink, and warning that any inquiries regarding release are entirely useless.

The postcard etter is written in German, an absolute requirement for SS censors to easily review the contents. Józef uses the acronym "G.s.D." (Gott sei Dank / "Thank God") to state he is healthy ("Ich bin G.s.D. gesund"). This phrase was a mandatory formula enforced by censors to obscure the reality of camp starvation, sickness, and abuse.

Inmate 8340 from Buchenwald CC was Józef Wawrzyńczyk, born on February 3, 1894, in the Upper Silesian region.
He was categorized by the Gestapo as a "Schutzhäftling" (political prisoner). In the camp, he would have been forced to wear a red fabric triangle on his uniform, with a "P" indicating his Polish nationality.
His administrative trail—tracked through surviving camp documents held in records like the Arolsen Archives—is representative of the mass deportations of Polish civilians and resistance members following the 1939 invasion of Poland.

Provenance: Ex Werbizky.