Holleischen subcamp scrip, 5 Reichspfennig note
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm) | Width: 2.125 inches (5.398 cm)
Creator(s)
- Metallwerke Holleischen GmbH (Issuer)
Archival History
The scrip was donated to the United Sates Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2003 by Joel Forman.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Joel Forman
Scope and Content
Scrip, valued at 5 Reichspfennig, distributed at the Metallwerke Holleischen GmbH munitions factory in Holleischen, a subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp in Germany. While held at the camp, inmates were compelled to work in the factory. A special currency was issued to incentivize work output, although the money had no real monetary value. The scrip has a repeating “MWH” across the note, representing the Metallwerke Holleischen GmbH logo, and was printed in 17 denominations ranging in value from 1 Reichspfennig (rpf) to 5 Reichsmark (rm). The Holleischen subcamp was established in Czechoslovakia, near the German-Czech border, in 1941. It included a men’s camp and a women’s camp, and all inmates were forced to work either in the factory or in construction. Initially, the camps were constructed for Czech forced laborers, but in June 1941, the first French and Russian prisoners of war (POWs) arrived in the men’s camp. In the women’s camp, by 1944, the majority of the prisoners were French, followed by Polish people and Russians. There were hardly any Jews in the camp until March 1945, when a group of Hungarian Jewish women were transported from Nürnberg, a Flossenbürg subcamp, following its evacuation. Polish partisans liberated the Holleischen subcamp on May 3, 1945. American troops arrived two days later.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Holleischen subcamp scrip printed in black ink on lightweight, rectangular, coral-colored paper with perforated edges. The face has a narrow, blank border around a large, central rectangle with scalloped edges formed by narrow vertical lines of varying heights and a small, solid oval at the center. Within the rectangle is a light gray underprint consisting of wavy lines creating an uneven grid pattern and eight logos for the Metallwerke Holleischen GmbH munitions plant. The logo consists of the letters MWH with arched borders above and below. Printed in the top left corner in black ink is the same logo. The denomination is printed off-center on the right side, and German text is printed along the bottom.
Corporate Bodies
Subjects
- Holýšov (Plzeňský kraj, Czech Republic)
- World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Economic aspects.
- Paper money--Czech Republic--Holýšov (Plzeňský kraj)
- Holocaust--economic aspect.
- Women concentration camp inmates--Czechoslovakia.
- Prisoners of war--Czechoslovakia.
- Concentration camps--Economic aspects.
Genre
- Exchange Media
- Money.
- Object