German Passport for Foreigners for a Jewish Woman – Tilsit (Sovetsk), 1938

German passport for Foreigners (Deutsches Reich Fremdenpass), issued for Ruth Grünberg) in the town of Tilsit. Tilsit (present day Sovetk in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia), 1938.
On the first pages of the passport appear the photograph and personal details of Ruth, followed by ink-stamps documenting her route to Palestine: exit visa from Germany, dated 25.10.1938; entry visa to Palestine, on behalf of the British consulate in Berlin, dated 9.3.1939; entry visa to Italy dated 22.3.1939; ink-stamp of exit from the port of Trieste, dated 22.3.1939; ink-stamp of the mandatory immigration department in Palestine, in Haifa, dated 27.3.1939; and other ink-stamps.
German passports for foreigners (Fremdenpass) were first issued in Germany after World War I, for refugees who fled the Soviet occupation to the west. When the Nazis rose to power, they were used, almost exclusively, for local travel, and only a few succeeded in leaving German borders using these passports.
Approx. 15 cm. Good-fair condition. Slight stains and defects. Restored tears to leaves preceding and following the leaf with Grünberg's photograph (small). Damaged and worn cover, loose.