Overview
- Brief Narrative
- 20 mark coin issued in the Łódź ghetto in Poland in 1943. Nazi Germany occupied Poland on September 1, 1940; Łódź was renamed Litzmannstadt and annexed to the German Reich. In February, 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 and tokens were 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:
1943
- Geography
-
manufacture:
Litzmannstadt-Getto (Łódź, Poland);
Łódź (Poland)
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Jan Kostański
- Markings
- obverse: GETTO / 1943
reverse, around outside: DER AELTESTE DER JUDEN• / •IN LITZMANNSTADT [JEWISH ELDERS]
reverse, center: 20
reverse, banner across 20: QUITTUNG UBER
reverse, bottom: MARK
Physical Details
- Language
- German
- Classification
-
Exchange Media
- Category
-
Money
- Object Type
-
Scrip (aat)
- Physical Description
- Circular, silver colored metal coin, possibly aluminum or magnesium. The obverse has an embossed design with a 6 pointed Star of David, German text, and the year in the center over a circular line interspersed with Stars of David. There is a circle etched around the outer rim. The reverse has an embossed design with the denomination 20 mark in the center crossed by a banner with German text. There is German text engraved in a circle near the depressed rim.
- Dimensions
- overall: | Diameter: 1.375 inches (3.493 cm)
- Materials
- overall : aluminum
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- No restrictions on access
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The coin was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2002 by Jan Kostański.
- Record last modified:
- 2024-02-01 09:04:48
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn511435
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Also in Jan Kostański collection
The collection consists of images of the Warsaw ghetto during World War II and the post-World War II period, a certificate from the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, Poland, and a coin from the Litzmannstadt ghetto in Poland.
Date: 1943-1957
Warsaw Ghetto photographs
Document
The collection primarily consists of photographs depicting the Warsaw ghetto, some of which were likely taken by a prisoner known as Edek before he was deported and murdered in 1943, including people involved in food smuggling in the ghetto. Also depicted is Jan Kostański and his mother Wladyslawa Kostański, both of whom were involved with resistance activities, including hiding three members of the Wierzbicki family. Included with the collection is a certificate from the Jewish Historical Institute (Zydowski Instytut Historyczny w Polsce) in Warsaw, Poland attesting to Jan’s deeds.