Łódź (Litzmannstadt) ghetto scrip, 5 mark note
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 2.875 inches (7.302 cm) | Width: 5.000 inches (12.7 cm)
Archival History
The scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1996 by Eva Mames.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Eva Mames. In Memory of John J. Mames.
Scope and Content
5 (funf) mark receipt issued in the Łódź ghetto in Poland in May 1940. Nazi Germany occupied Poland on September 1, 1939; Łódź was renamed Litzmannstadt and annexed to the German Reich. In February, the Germans forcibly relocated the large Jewish population into a sealed ghetto. All currency was confiscated in exchange for Quittungen [receipts] that could be exchanged only in the ghetto. The scrip was designed by the Judenrat [Jewish Council] and includes traditional Jewish symbols. The Germans closed the ghetto in the summer of 1944 by deporting the residents to concentration camps or killing centers.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Offwhite rectangular paper scrip. The face has a watermark with a latticework pattern in green ink. The serial number in orange ink is in the upper left corner. The denomination 5 is in the lower left corner in bold font and in the upper right in a black square. There is a 1.75 inch left margin, then a rectangle with a curved upper left corner with a background of interlocked Jewish stars with a large Jewish star in a circle in the upper left corner in brown ink. Across the center is the textual denomination in black ink with brown highlights and German text. The back has a blank 1.75 inch margin, then a rectangle with a pattern of interlocked Stars of David in brown ink. There is German text in the upper left corner and a 7-branched candelabrum in the lower left corner. The denomination 5 in bold font, black and brown ink, is outside the border at the lower left corner; above this, near the upper right corner, is a Star of David outline in a black square.
Subjects
- Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945.
- Jewish ghettos--Economic aspects--Poland--Łódź.
- Jewish councils--Economic aspects--Poland--Łódź.
- World War, 1939-1945--Economic aspects--Poland.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Economic aspects--Poland--Łódź.
Genre
- Object
- Exchange Media