Łódź Ghetto ration card issued to a ghetto inmate
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 5.375 inches (13.653 cm) | Width: 7.875 inches (20.003 cm)
Creator(s)
- Beno Helmer (Subject)
Biographical History
Beno Helmer was born in 1923 in Teplice-Sanov, Czechoslovakia, to Isaak and Dora Helmer. As a young man, Beno used his foreign language skills to land small movie roles. He and his family attempted to settle in Hungary. In 1939, because they did not have legal immigration papers, they were deported to Łódź, Poland. In February 1940, the German authorities set up a ghetto where Beno and his family and all Jewish residents were forced to move. In 1942, Beno had to perform forced labor outside the ghetto. Through an underground contact, he got a job under a false identity, posing as a non-Jewish German. He assisted the resistance by collecting information. He also helped commit acts of sabotage, and became an expert at derailing trains. Beno returned to the ghetto when his father became sick. He remained with his family until they were deported. In spring 1944, the Łódź ghetto was liquidated and the family was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. Beno was separated from his family. He was sent to a series of German concentration camps, including a subcamp of Gross-Rosen associated with the metalworks factory, Krupp Bertha-Werk, at Laskowitz-Meleschwitz, then to Buchenwald, and to Ludwigslust, a subcamp of Neuengamme. He was liberated by American soldiers while in a Soviet prisoner-of-war camp. In an attempt to get back to Poland, he joined a Polish forced labor group that was later drafted into the Soviet Army. The war ended in early May 1945 when Germany surrendered. All of Beno's family was killed, except one sister, who he found after the war. He spent time hunting for Nazi war criminals. Beno remained in Europe for several years, but eventually immigrated to the United States
Archival History
The ration card was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1988 by Beno Helmer.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Beno Helmer
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
One of three ration cards saved by Beno Helmer, issued when he and his family were incarcerated in Łódź Ghetto in German occupied Poland from 1940- spring 1944. There are cards from three family members: Beno, Dora, and Sonia. Nazi Germany occupied Poland on September 1, 1939. Łódź was renamed Litzmannstadt and, in February 1940, the Germans forcibly relocated Beno, 18, and his family, along with the entire large Jewish population, into a sealed ghetto. All ghetto residents had to work in order to receive a ration card for food. There were severe food shortages and overcrowding and many died of starvation and disease. In spring 1944, as the ghetto was liquidated, Beno and his family were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. Beno was selected for labor and sent to a subcamp of Gross-Rosen that supplied slave labor to the metalworks factory, Krupp Bertha-Werk, at Laskowitz-Meleschwitz. He was later transferred to Buchenwald, then Ludwigslust, a Neuengamme subcamp. Beno joined a Polish forced labor group that was conscripted into the Soviet Army. He was liberated by American soldiers while in a Soviet prisoner-of-war camp. The war ended in early May 1945 when Germany surrendered. All of Beno's family was killed, except for one sister.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Łódź--Personal narratives.
- Jews--Persecution--Poland--Łódź--Biography.
- Slave labor--Germany--Biography.
- Concentration camp inmates--Germany--Biography.
- Holocaust survivors--United States--Biography.
- Jewish ghettos--Poland--Łódź--Biography.
Genre
- Exchange Media
- Object