Łódź ghetto scrip, 50 mark note
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 3.250 inches (8.255 cm) | Width: 6.500 inches (16.51 cm)
Creator(s)
- Philip Freid (Subject)
Biographical History
Philip Freid was born May 7, 1928, in Łódź, Poland. His parents were Hersh (July 26, 1890-August 20, 1942) and Ita (nee Ogniewicz, 1890-1944). The parents operated a poultry store. The family was Jewish and Philip studied Hebrew and Polish at the Edelstein private school in Łódź. He had two older siblings, a brother, Leon (May 8, 1946-January 3, 2003), who served in the Polish Army in 1939, and a sister, Bronka (1922-1945). In 1939, the Germans occupied Łódź. Philip and his family were interned in the Łódź ghetto. His father worked collecting garbage; his mother cleaned and prepared food in a ghetto kitchen. On August 20, 1942, his father died of starvation. In 1944, the rest of the family was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp. Philip and his brother, Leon, were separated from their mother and sister. Their mother was selected to be killed in the gas chambers on the day the family arrived. Bronka worked in a German-run factory, as she had during the years in the ghetto. She was transferred to Stutthof concentration camp, where she was killed in January 1945. Leon would be in Auschwitz nearly a year before being transferred to Flossenbürg and Siegmar-Schonau work camp. After eight weeks, Philip was transferred to Flossenbürg concentration camp in Germany, and then to the Siegmar-Schonau forced labor camp, a satellite of Flossenbürg. He worked in a Waffen-SS factory making bombs. Toward the end of the war, in 1945, he was taken on a death march east to Luditz (Zlutice) in German-occupied Czechoslovakia. He was liberated there on May 7, 1945, when the guards abandoned the inmates; both American and Russian troops were operating in the area. Two days later, he set out for Łódź to search for surviving relatives. In September, he left Łódź and was smuggled from Stettin (Szczecin), Poland, into Munich, Germany, by the Bricha operation, which transferred Jews to points in Europe where they could eventually be brought to Palestine. He stayed briefly at a displaced persons camp in Munich, and then went to the Schlactlensee displaced persons camp in Berlin, where he was reunited with his brother, Leon. Philip attened the Herzl school, joined a Zionist organization, and worked in the camp post office. In 1949, the brothers emigrated to the United States, where they had an uncle. Philip served in the U.S. Army from 1950-1951, in Fort Benning, Georgia, and in Germany.
Archival History
The scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by Philip Freid. Freid was imprisoned in the Lodz ghetto from 1939-1944, but he acquired the scrip many years later in the United States.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Philip Freid
Scope and Content
Scrip from the Jewish ghetto in Łódź, Poland, called Litzmannstadt by the German authorities, issued in 1940 under the auspices of the Judenrat (Jewish Council) of the ghetto. The scrip was acquired many years after the war by Philip Freid, who had been a resident of the ghetto. In 1939, following the German invasion of Poland, 11-year-old Philip was imprisoned in the Łódź ghetto, with his parents, Hersh and Ita, and his siblings, Bronka and Leon. His father, Hersh, died of starvation in 1942. In 1944, the family was deported to Auschwitz. His mother was killed in the gas chambers upon arrival; his sister would be killed in Stuffhof concentration camp in January 1945. Philip and his brother were separated when, after 8 weeks in Auschwitz, Philip was sent to the Siegmar-Schonau forced labor camp. He was liberated on May 7, 1945, in Luditz (Zlutice), Czechoslovakia, while on a death march. The brothers were reunited in 1945 in the Schlactlensee displaced persons camp in Berlin.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Rectangular green paper scrip. Front has blue geometric background and text printed in center. In the upper left corner is the serial number; in the lower left, the series number. In lower left, denomination “50” in green. In right third, a vertical band with the denomination “50” in green at the top and a six pointed star in green at the bottom. Verso has same blue geometric background. In center, a motif with a seven-branched candelabrum in green. Large text printed in green across the motif. Smaller text in green at center top and center bottom. Denomination “50” in green in three corners, upper left, upper right, lower right.
Subjects
- Jewish ghettos--Poland--Łódź--Economic aspects.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland.
- Concentration camp inmates--Poland.
Genre
- Exchange Media
- Object