Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp scrip, 2 kronen note
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 2.125 inches (5.398 cm) | Width: 4.375 inches (11.113 cm)
Archival History
The Theresienstadt scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1992 by Rose Galek Brunswic.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Rose Galek Brunswic on behalf of Etienne Brunswic
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Scrip, valued at 2 [zwei] kronen, issued in Theresienstadt (Terezin) ghetto-labor camp after 1943. All currency was confiscated upon entry and replaced with scrip and ration coupons that could be exchanged only in the camp. The camp existed from November 24, 1941 to May 9, 1945, in a region of Czechoslovakia annexed by Germany, renamed the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Rose acquired the scrip from her brother-in-law Dr. Henri Brunswic, who lived in Paris, France. In November 1940, a year after the German occupation of Poland in September 1939, Raszka (Rose) Galek, her parents Moshe and Fela, and her younger sisters Deana and Sala were confined to the Warsaw ghetto. In April 1943, Raszka’s parents were shot as she watched and her sisters deported to a concentration camp and presumed killed. Raszka escaped and went into hiding. A resistance member, Jan Majewski, helped her obtain false papers as a Polish Catholic, Maria Kowalczyk. In June, she was sent as a forced laborer to a farm in Krummhardt, Germany. Raszka was liberated by US forces in April 1945. She moved to Stuttgart displaced persons camp and emigrated to the United States in 1947.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Rectangular paper Theresienstadt scrip, 2 kronen, printed in red/brown ink. The face has a background of interlocked ovals. On the left is a depiction of a bearded Moses holding 2 tablets with the 10 Commandments in Hebrew within a medallion, with German text to the right. There is a wide, offwhite right margin with the denomination 2 in the bottom corner below a 6-pointed Star of David. The reverse has a background of interlocked diamonds with German text within a large scrollwork line and an engraved signature below. The denomination 2 is in the top right corner. The left side has a wide, offwhite margin with a 2 in the bottom corner below a 6-pointed Star of David. The plate letter and number are in the top left corner. It has a center crease and slight wear.
Corporate Bodies
Subjects
- Concentration camps--Money--Czech Republic--Terezín (Severocesky kraj)
- Concentration camps--Economic aspects.
Genre
- Object
- Exchange Media
- Money