1943 (28 Oct) Third Reich, Germany, Folded Letter of a Prisoner from Auschwitz Concentration Camp to Warsaw Generalgouvernement), More Details in Description

This comprehensive historical document consists of official prisoner correspondence (Konzentrationslager-Post) from the Auschwitz I concentration camp (Stammlager), featuring an envelope and an internal letter written by a Polish political prisoner named Heinrich (Henryk) Majewski.

According to the envelope details, Majewski was born on March 23, 1885, and was assigned the inmate number 121691 upon his arrival. This specific chronological number, combined with a camp post office stamp dated October 28, 1943, indicates that he was registered at the camp around late May or early June 1943. He was housed in Block 18 B, a two-story brick barrack located within the main camp.

His correspondence was addressed to his wife, Jadwiga Marczewska, at Borkowska 14 in occupied Warsaw, Poland. Although the dedicated blank spaces on the left side of the document intended for the "Censorship postmark" (Zensurstempel) and the "Block Leader's Control Mark" (Kontrollzeichen des Blockführers) were left physically unstamped, the document went through the official internal camp post office (Auschwitz Oberschlesien), meaning it successfully passed the mandatory internal Nazi screening before being dispatched.
The strict framework of this letter is dictated by the camp regulations (Konzentrationslager Auschwitz Anordnungen) printed in German on the center of the envelope, which governed all prisoner mail. These instructions explicitly state that protective custody prisoners (Schutzhaftgefangene) were permitted to receive and send only two letters or two cards per month, which had to be legibly written in ink. Furthermore, letters could not exceed 15 lines on a single side, and only a single normal-sized sheet of paper was permitted. Money transfers were permitted, provided they included precise inmate details, while newspapers were only allowed if ordered directly through the Auschwitz camp post office. Finally, the rules emphasize that permission to speak or visit prisoners in the camp was strictly forbidden by order of the Camp Commander (Der Lagerkommandant).
In the letter text, dated October 17, 1943, Majewski writes to his wife in German, as strictly required by these camp regulations. He acknowledges receiving a photograph of a family member named Slawek and confirms the arrival of his 19th and 20th care packages from home. He explicitly lists the received items, including six kilograms of bread, three eggs, gingerbread, sugar, Knorr seasoning, fat, fruit, and fifteen cigarettes. While camp rules technically restricted packages, the SS relaxed these rules for certain non-Jewish prisoners by 1943 due to supply shortages; these care packages were absolutely vital to supplement the camp's starvation rations. 

The letter ends with the mandatory, forced phrase, "As for me, I am healthy and feel good," which was heavily enforced by the SS censors to cover up the horrific reality of the camp, proving definitively that Majewski was still alive as of mid-October 1943.

Provenance: Ex Werbizky.