Potato ration card stub issued to a Jewish Czech man for potatoes

Josef Polacek was born on November 2, 1870, in Austro-Hungary, to a Jewish couple. He became a doctor. He married Stefanie, who was born on March 3, 1875. The couple settled in Prague, Austro-Hungary (Czech Republic). They had one daughter Elisabeth (1902-1978), who went by the nickname Liese. The Austro- Hungarian Empire collapsed at the end of World War I (1914-1918) and Prague became part of the newly independent Czechoslovak Republic. Liese, married a non-Jewish man, Mr. Trausel, and the couple had two daughters, Eva and Hana (1930 - 2007). After 1933, when the Nazi regime came to power in Germany, Prague saw a large influx of Jews fleeing persecution. On February 4, 1938, Josef’s wife, Stefanie, died. In September, Germany annexed the Sudetenland border region. In March 1939, Germany annexed the Czech provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, where Prague was located, and placed them under the control of a Reich Protector. Other regions were absorbed by German allies and Czechoslovakia ceased to exist. Jewish life was restricted. Jews were banned from most professions and organizations, lost their property, and had to live with curfews. Few shops would serve Jews, who were allowed shop only during a few hours each day. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded neighboring Poland. Two days later, England and France declared war on Germany. In September 1941, Czech Jews were required to wear a yellow Star of David badge sewn to their clothing at all times to make them easy to identify. At the end of the month, Reinhard Heydrich, SS Chief of Security for the Reich, became Reich Protector, and prioritized the expulsion of Jews to concentration camps. Regular deportations of Jews from Prague began, with daily transport notices in the newspapers. Exempted from these deportations were several groups of Jews, including those that were married to non-Jews and their half Jewish children, like Josef’s daughter, Liese, and his granddaughters, Eva and Hana. As the war progressed, food rationing increased and was strictly controlled with official ration cards. Non-Jewish citizens were granted much larger quantities of sugar, potatoes, bread, and other necessities than Jews. They were also issued cards for additional items like fruit and vegetables, which were not available to Jews. The cards issued to Jews were marked to clearly identify them. Josef, learned that he was to be deported to the east, and committed suicide on December 13, 1942, rather than be taken away by force. On May 7, 1945, the war ended following Germany’s surrender. Josef’s daughter, Liese, had been transported to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp north of Prague, and held there as a prisoner. After the war, she was released and returned to Prague. While Liese was being held, Eva was assigned to carry out compulsory work while her sister, Hana, was at the hospital. The family later learned that many of the extended family members and friends that had been held in ghettoes, concentration, and labor camps had all been deported to concentration camps to the east and killed.

The ration card was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1992 by Hana Rehakova, the granddaughter of Josef Polacek.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Hana Rehakova

Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.