Łódź (Litzmannstadt) ghetto scrip, 10 mark note

Object | Accession Number: 1987.23.1

Overview

Brief Narrative: 10 (zehn) mark note receipt created in the Łódź ghetto, renamed Litzmannstadt by Nazi Germany after they occupied the city in September 1939. When the Germans transferred Jews to the ghetto, they confiscated all currency in exchange for Quittungen [receipts] that could be spent only inside the ghetto. The scrip was designed by the Judenrat [Jewish Council] and includes traditional Jewish symbols. Although the notes are dated May 15, 1940, the inital printing occurred in March. The ghetto was liquidated by the Germans in August 1944.
Date: issue: after 1940 May 15
Geography: issue: Litzmannstadt-Getto (Łódź, Poland); Łódź (Poland)
Credit Line: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Steven Feiler
Markings: face, lower left corner, black ink : 10
face, serial number, red ink : Nº 387609
face, upper right, black ink : Quittung / über / Zehn Mark [Receipt for about Ten Mark]
face, bottom, black ink : Der Aelteste der Juden / in Litzmannstadt / M. Rumkowski / Litzmannstadt , den 15 Mai 1940 [The Eldest of the Jews / M. Rumkowski / on May 15, 1940]
back, black ink : Quittung / über / Zehn Mark [Receipt for about ten mark]
back, lower right, black ink : 10
back, bottom, 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]

Language: German
Classification: Exchange Media
Category: Money
Object Type: Scrip (aat)
Physical Description: Lodz (Litzmannstadt) ghetto 10 mark note printed on rectangular offwhite paper paper in green, and black ink. The face has the denomination 10 in the lower left and upper right corner and the red ink serial number in the upper left. There is a light green underprint of interlocked chains with alternating large and small ovals. On the right is a rectangle with a dark green pattern of interlocked Stars of David, resembling a barbed wire fence. In the curved upper left corner is a solid green Star of David within a circle. Across the center is the denomination Zehn Mark and German text. The back has a rectangle with a green background of interlocked Stars of David. In the top left corner is the denomination Zehn Mark and in the bottom left corner is a 7 branch candelabrum. On the right is a blank 1.75 inch margin with a Star of David outline within a black square in the upper left corner and the denomination 10 below. The note is stained, creased with a small hole, and has a tape repair in one corner.
Dimensions: overall: Height: 3.000 inches (7.62 cm) | Width: 5.875 inches (14.923 cm)
Materials: overall : paper, ink
Inscription: back, right, handwritten, blue ink : 54622

Topical Term: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Economic aspects. Jewish councils--Economic aspects--Poland--Łódź. Jewish ghettos--Economic aspects--Poland--Łódź.
Geographic Name: Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945--Economic aspects.

Legal Status: Permanent Collection
Provenance: The scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1987 by Steven Feiler.
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.