Lot 206
Nansen Passport Issued in Nazi Germany to a Jewish Refugee – July 1938
Nansenausweis (Nansen Passport) – a passport for stateless persons issued by The Nansen International Office for Refugees within the League of Nations. Leipzig, July 1938. Printed in German and French.
Nansen Passport in the name of the Jew Lowe Merkin of Shklow (Belarus), confirmed by the handwritten signature and official stamps of the chief of Nazi police in Leipzig.
The first page lists Merkin's personal details with his picture and handwritten signature; the two following pages bear entry visas and transit stamps documenting the route of his escape from Europe – via Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy and Switzerland, which he (presumably) left in an aircraft to Croydon, England (this stamp, dated April 27, 1939, is the last stamp in the passport).
The Nansen Passports were travel documents issued by the League of Nations to stateless refugees during the years 1922-1938, conceived by scientist and explorer Fridtjof Nansen after Soviet Russia revoked the citizenship of 800,000 exiles who escaped the Red Army. The passports were considered one of the single successes of the League of Nations. In 1938, the Nansen International Office for Refugees was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
[2] leaves, approx. 29.5 cm. Fair condition. Fold lines. Filing holes. Tears to edges and fold lines (some open), some reinforced with strips of paper and tape.
