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Łódź ghetto scrip, 50 pfennig note

Object | Accession Number: 2005.449.1
2005.449.1 front Łódź ghetto scrip, 50 pfennig note Click to enlarge 2005.449.1 back Łódź ghetto scrip, 50 pfennig note Click to enlarge

Scrip with a receipt value of 50 cents issued in 1940 in the Jewish ghetto in Łódź, Poland, which was renamed Litzmannstadt by the Germans following their invasion and occupation of Poland in September 1939. When the Germans transferred Jews to the ghetto, they confiscated all currency in exchange for scrip that could be spent only inside the ghetto. The scrip was designed by the Judenrat [Jewish Council] of the Łódź ghetto, and includes traditional Jewish symbols.

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 Jacek Nowakowski

About This Object

Physical Description
Rectangular paper scrip. Front has design of a 7-branched candelabrum, or menorah, at center, numerical denomination 50 in black ink lower left and upper right corners, and 6-pointed stars, or Magen David, in upper left and lower right corners; background is light purple, with a lattice design of 6-pointed stars. German text in black across and below menorah. Back has same light-purple background design. German text in black at top and bottom; numerical denomination 50 in black ink upper corners; serial number in lower center.
Dimensions
overall: Height: 2.120 inches (5.385 cm) | Width: 3.370 inches (8.56 cm)
Materials
overall : paper, ink
Markings
front, center, printed in black ink : QUITTUNG / ÜBER / 50 PFENNIG [Receipt for 50 Pfennig]
front, bottom, printed in black ink : DER AELTESTE DER JUDEN / IN LITZMANNSTADT / M. R[-?] / LITZMANNSTADT DEN 15 MAI 1940 [The Elder of the Jews in Lodz, (illegible signature of Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski), Lodz, the 15 of May, 1940]
back, top, printed in black ink: QUITTUNG ÜBER / FÜNFZIG PFENNIG [Receipt for 50 Pfennig]
back, lower center, printed in red ink : No 416484
back, bottom, printed 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 2005 by Jacek Nowakowski.

Rights and Restrictions

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

 
Record last modified: 2022-07-28 18:28:56
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn517633