Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp scrip, 5 kronen note, acquired by a US soldier and NRRA administrator
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 2.250 inches (5.715 cm) | Width: 4.625 inches (11.748 cm)
Creator(s)
- Mordecai E. Schwartz (Subject)
Biographical History
Mordecai E. Schwartz had a college degree in business adminstration and was fluent in six languages when he enlisted in the United States Army in 1942. After the war ended in May 1945, he was stationed in Munich, Germany, and was recruited by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). He requested and was granted a European discharge from the US Army and became the Area Director for UNRRA in the US Zone in Germany from 1945 to 1948. Upon the deactivation of UNRRA in 1948, he was transferred and made Area Director for the International Refugee Organization (IRO), supervising twenty-eight displaced persons camps in Germany. The displaced persons camps were set up to house and feed, and to provide medical service, and legal protection for survivors of the concentration and slave labor camps, and to offer them the chance to reestablish their lives postwar. When IRO was deactivated in 1951, Mordecai was recruited by US Air Force Intelligence in Munich and served in their worldwide operations until his retirement with highest honors.
Archival History
The Theresienstadt scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1995 by Mordecai Schwartz.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Mordecai E. Schwartz
Scope and Content
Scrip, valued at 5 kronen, issued in 1943 in Theresienstadt (Terezin) ghetto-labor camp acquired by Mordecai E. Schwart. Schwartz, a soldier in the United States Army, was recruited after the war ended in May 1945 to serve as Area Director for UNRRA. He worked for UNRRA until 1948, when the organization was deactivated. He then became Area Director for the International Refugee Organization (IRO), supervising twenty-eight displaced persons camps in Germany. The DP camps were set up to house and feed, and to provide medical service and legal protection for survivors of the concentration and slave labor camps, and to offer them the chance to reestablish their lives postwar. When IRO was deactivated in 1951, Mordecai was recruited by US Air Force Intelligence. The scrip was issued in Terezin as all currency was confiscated from deportees upon entry and replaced with scrip and ration coupons that could be exchanged only in the camp. The Theresienstadt camp existed for 3.5 years, from November 24, 1941 to May 9, 1945. It was located in a region of Czechoslovakia occupied by Germany, renamed the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and made part of the Greater German Reich.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Scrip printed on offwhite paper with a graphic design on the face in black and brown ink on a brown background. On the left is a medallion with an image of a bearded Moses holding 2 stone tablets with the 10 Commandments in Hebrew characters, with the denomination 5 and German text on the right. On the right is a wide offwhite border with the denomination 5 below a 6-pointed Star of David in the lower corner. The reverse has a brown geometric background with an orange center streak, German text and a scrollwork line. Below the text is an engraved signature. The denomination 5 is in the upper right corner. The left side has a wide offwhite border with the denomination 5 in the lower corner with a 6-pointed Star of David within a horizontally striped circle above. The plate letter and number A024 are in the upper left corner. It was designed by Peter Kien and printed by the National Bank of Prague.
Corporate Bodies
- United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
Subjects
- Soldiers--United States--Biography.
- Jewish refugees--Germany--Biography.
- Concentration camps--Economic aspects.
- Jewish soldiers--United States--Biography.
- World War, 1939-1945--Civilian relief--Personal narratives, American.
- World War, 1939-1945--Refugees--Germany--Personal narratives, American.
Genre
- Object
- Exchange Media