Concentration Camp Dachau
Printed regulations had evolved considerably by late December 1937, when this card was sent. The revised text stated:
Concentration Camp Dachau
The following instructions are to be observed in written communications with prisoners:
1.) Each prisoner may receive and send one letter or one card each week from and to his relatives. Letters to the prisoner must be legibly written and may contain only 15 lines on one page. Only one normal size letter sheet is permitted. Envelopes must be unlined. Only five 12-pfennig stamps may be enclosed in one letter. Everything else is forbidden and subject to confiscation. Postcards have 10 lines.
2.) Sending money is permitted.
3.) Newspapers are permitted, however they may only be ordered through the postal authorities of K.L. Dachau.
4.) Packages may not be sent since the prisoners can buy everything in the camp.
All mail that does not meet these requirements is returned to the sender.
If no sender is known, it will be destroyed.
The Camp Commander
Pictured Above: This card carried Karl Meyer’s Christmas greeting to his family. A hand-stamped warning to the addressee states, “A plea to the camp administration for the detainee’s release is useless.” The regulations continued to change from time to time, increasing or decreasing the frequency of permissible correspondence, the acceptance and permissible content of parcels, the method of sending money, and so forth, but strict adherence was always required, without exceptions.
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