Circular leather Star of David badge worn in the Kovno Ghetto
- Date
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1941-1944
(use)
- Geography
-
use :
Kovno ghetto (historic);
Kaunas (Lithuania)
- Classification
-
Identifying Artifacts
- Category
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Badges
- Object Type
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Insignia (lcsh)
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection
Insignia found in the Kovno ghetto by Ephraim Guttmann, an airport worker and burial society member. In June 1941, Germany invaded and occupied Lithuania and by August, they had forced the Jews in Kovno into a ghetto. In July 1944, as Soviet forces were approaching Kovno, the authorities deported the remaining Jews in the ghetto to Stutthof and Dachau concentration camps and then burned it down. Ephraim survived by hiding in the bunkers. When the Soviet Army liberated the city on August 1, 1944, he was the first to collect and gather items remaining in the ghetto, including drawings, armbands, and hundreds of paper ephemera items. The “A” in this insignia patch more than likely stands for ‘arbeitsamt’ or ‘labor office’. This insignia is typical of what was produced by the Kovno ghetto graphics office headed by designer Peter “Fritz” Gadiel. Since the Germans prohibited radios and newspapers, the alternative was posting announcements within the ghetto. Elchanan Elkes, the Ältestenrat Chairman, turned to Gadiel to establish the graphics office, the Paint and Sign Workshop. Initially, the workshop provided simple signs to communicate orders to the ghetto residents, but eventually employed more artists and workers to create a wide range of items including ghetto currency, work passes, insignia, armbands and documents.
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Record last modified: 2018-03-22 16:25:45
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn10080
Also in Kovno ghetto collection
The collection consists of artifacts, drawings, documents, and scrip relating to life in the Kovno (Kaunus) ghetto in Lithuania before and during the Holocaust.
Date: 1941
Insignia
Object
Drawing of a Jewish policeman from the Kovno ghetto
Object
Person depicted in drawing is either Alexander "Shmaya" or Boris Stupel. The two brothers were policemen in the Kovno Ghetto, and members of the Police Orchestra
Summons for delousing from the Kovno ghetto
Document
Summons for delousing from the Kovno ghetto. TRANSLATION: recto: "Name [last]__ First Name__/Work pass number__ Address__/You are expected to report on __1942 at __hours/in the discharge establishment at Block C., Varniu g. 32./for bathing. -- An absence is punishable by the police."
Pass from the Kovno ghetto
Object
Pass from the Kovno ghetto
Object
Pass from the Kovno ghetto
Object
Bakery receipt from the Kovno ghetto
Document
Contains a bakery receipt, on white paper; recto: printed in blue ink, "BAECKEREI/bei der/Reparatur- Werkstaette/Nr._/Quittung/Empfangen Kg._ Mehl/Zu bekommen Kg._ Brot/_1943"; lower right corner, inscription in pencil, "23"; verso: lower left corner, blue ink stamp Star of David encircled by letter "G"; lower right corner, inscription in pencil, "2."
Pass from the Kovno ghetto
Object
Permit
Object
Receipt for wood from the Kovno ghetto
Document
Contains a receipt, on brown paper; recto: upper edge and left side, blue ink stamp(s), "1 Bdl.Holz/Empf./A.P.No"; lower right, blue ink stamp, "JUEDISCHES GHETTO/ARBEITSAMT/VILIJAMPOLE"; verso: printed images and text in blue/green ink
Receipt from the Kovno ghetto
Document
Contains a receipt, on brown paper; recto: upper center edge, black ink stamp, "109"; upper center, blue ink stamp(s), "1/8 Mtr.Holz/Empf."; lower right corner, blue ink stamp, "JUEDISCHES GHETTO/ARBEITSAMT/VILIJAMPOLE"; verso: right edge, printed text in black ink. Artifact appears to be receipt for wood.
Summons from the Punishment Office of the Jewish Ghetto Police of Kovno ghetto
Document
Contains a summons from the Punishment Office of the Jewish Ghetto Police of Kovno ghetto, on white paper bearing printed text in blue ink; recto: "JUEDISCHE GHETTO POLIZEI/STRAFABTEILUNG/Nr.../An.../Str. Nr.../Vorladung./Sie werden hiermit ersucht, am... 1942/...Uhr in der Strafabteilung der J.G. Polizei, .../Str. Nr... in der ... Sache.../..als...zu erscheinen./SEKRETAER./Den ... 1942"; verso: lower left corner, blue ink stamp in form of Star of David encircled by letter "G."
Ticket
Object
Work permit
Object
Ink stamp impression
Document
White/brown paper; recto: upper left corner, blue/black ink stamp, "Leiter der Entlausungsanstalt"; inscription in pencil, "20"; center, inscription in red colored pencil, "[illegible]/VII/J[illegible]"
Receipt for the Paint and Sign Workshop in the Kovno ghetto
Document
Contains a receipt for the Paint and Sign Workshop in the Kovno ghetto, on white paper; recto; blue ink stamp, "MAL-UND ZEICHEN-WERKSTATT/EINGEGANGEN/den...1942/Nr...."; verso: lower left corner, blue ink stamp depicting Star of David encircled by letter "G."
Permit
Object
Delivery receipt from a Kovno ghetto workshop
Document
Contains a delivery receipt from a Kovno ghetto workshop, on white paper form; recto: black ink, upper left corner, logo in form of encircled Star of David with letters "GW" incorporated into star; heading beneath logo reads, "GHETTO-WERKSTAETTEN/VILIJAMPOLE"; upper right quadrant, title reads, "Ausgabeschein Nr...."; lower section of form composed of categories and lines printed in black ink.
Pass from the Kovno ghetto
Object
Permit
Object
Envelope
Object
Document
Object
Permit
Object
Document
Object
Permit
Object
Scrip from the Kovno ghetto
Object
Permit
Object
Permit
Object
Permit
Object
Permit, Lodz Ghetto
Object
Kovno ghetto police permit
Object
Kovno ghetto police permit
Object
Work permit
Object
Identification card
Object
Coupon
Object
Work permit
Object
Permit
Object
Receipt from jail in Kovno Ghetto
Document
Ticket
Object
Work permit
Object
Kovno ghetto department stamp impression for clinics
Object
Kovno Ghetto department stamp impression for clinics
Work permit
Object
Ticket
Object
Form
Object
