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Łódź (Litzmannstadt) ghetto scrip, 20 mark note, acquired by an inmate

Object | Accession Number: 2014.489.1
2014.489.1 front Łódź (Litzmannstadt) ghetto scrip, 20 mark note, acquired by an inmate Click to enlarge 2014.489.1 back Łódź (Litzmannstadt) ghetto scrip, 20 mark note, acquired by an inmate Click to enlarge

Scrip receipt for 20 marks issued to Hanna Poznansa when she was imprisoned in the ghetto in Łódź, Poland. Nazi Germany occupied Poland on September 1, 1939. Łódź was renamed Litzmannstadt and, in February 1940, the Germans forcibly relocated the large Jewish population into a sealed ghetto. All currency was confiscated in exchange for Quittungen [receipts] that could be exchanged only in the ghetto. The scrip was designed by the Judenrat [Jewish Council] and includes traditional Jewish symbols. The Germans closed the ghetto in the summer of 1944 by deporting the residents to concentration camps or killing centers.

Date
issue:  1940 May 15
Geography
issue: Litzmannstadt-Getto (Łódź, Poland); Łódź (Poland)
Language
German
Classification
Exchange Media
Category
Money
Object Type
Scrip (aat)
Credit Line
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Margaret Isenstein

About This Object

Physical Description
Łódź ghetto scrip on rectangular, offwhite paper printed in black and brown ink. The face has the denomination 20 in the lower left corner and within a black square in the upper right corner. The serial number is in the upper left corner. The background has a diamond latticework design. There is a 1.25 inch right margin, then a overprint of a rectangle with a background of interlocked Stars of David with a large Star of David in a circle in the upper left corner. Across the center is the denomination Zwanzig Mark with German text above and below and an engraved signature on the lower right. The back has a blank 1.25 inch right margin, then a rectangle with a background of interlocked Jewish stars. The denomination Zwanzig Mark is in the upper left corner and the denomination 20 is outside the lower right corner. In the lower left corner is a menorah or 7-branched candelabrum, with German text along the bottom border. The scrip soiled, torn, very worn, and has pink stains.
Dimensions
overall: Height: 3.125 inches (7.938 cm) | Width: 6.125 inches (15.557 cm)
Materials
overall : paper, ink
Markings
face, serial number, upper left corner, orange ink : Nº 033192
face, top and center, black and brown ink : Quittung / über / Zwanzig Mark [Receipt for Twenty Mark]
face, bottom left and top right corner, black and brown ink : 20
face, lower right, black ink : Der Aelteste der Juden / in Litzmannstadt / M. Rumkowski / Litzmannstadt, den 15 Mai 1940 [The Eldest of the Jews in Litzmannstadt / M. Rumkowski / Litzmannstadt, 15 May 1940]
back, upper left and lower right, black and brown ink : Quittung über / Zwanzig Mark / 20 [Receipt for Twenty Mark]
back, lower center, black ink : WER DIESE QUITTUNG VERFÄLSCHT ODER NACHMACHT ODER GEFÄLSCHTE / QUITTUNGEN IN VERKEHR BRINGT / WIRD STRENGSTENS BESTRAFT [ANYONE WHO FALSIFIES OR COPIES THIS RECEIPT, OR TRAFFICS IN COUNTERFEIT RECEIPTS, WILL BE STRICTLY PUNISHED]

Keywords and Subjects

Administrative History

Legal Status
Permanent Collection
Provenance
The scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2014 by Margaret Isenstein.

Rights and Restrictions

Conditions on Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions on Use
No restrictions on use

 
Record last modified: 2022-05-17 11:41:48
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn158917

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