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Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp food coupon issued to an Austrian Jewish prisoner

Object | Accession Number: 2005.517.56

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    Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp food coupon issued to an Austrian Jewish prisoner
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    Overview

    Brief Narrative
    Ration coupon used by Adolph Blau and his family when they were imprisoned in the Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp. All currency was confiscated upon entry and replaced with scrip and ration coupons that could be exchanged only in the camp. Adolph, his wife, two children, and mother-in-law were deported from Vienna, Austria, in 1942. They lived in the camp until the International Red Cross took over administration of the camp from the Germans on May 2, 1945. The family then was transferred to the Deggendorf displaced persons camp in Germany where they lived until their immigration to the United States in 1948.
    Date
    use:  1942-1945
    Geography
    issue: Theresienstadt (concentration camp); Terezin (Ustecky kraj, Czech Republic)
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Jeffrey A. Gordon
    Markings
    front, top center, printed in orange ink and stamped in blue : [E]SSENKARTE / No 59965 [FOODCARD / No 59965]
    front, top right corner, printed in orange ink : Verpflegseinheit [Additional Food Unit]
    front, center, stamped in pink : (oversized) P
    front, bottom center, stamped in pink : PAP [???]
    front, right, center, printed in orange ink : (sideways) II
    front, center, printed in orange ink and handwritten in black ink : Blau - Elsa Tr No IV/7 787
    front, lower right corner, inside box printed in orange ink and stamped in blue : MONAT / APRIL [MONTH / APRIL]
    back, left center, stamped in blue : illegible / LANGEST [???]
    Contributor
    Subject: Elsa Blau
    Biography
    Elsa Rosenthal was born to an orthodox Jewish family in Vienna, Austria, on October 23, 1893. Her mother, Fanny, was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1870, and immigrated to the United States in 1876 when her father, a cantor, accepted a position there. Fanny received US citizenship, but when her father died, returned to Europe, where she married, settled in Vienna, and had three children, Elsa, Leo, and Melanie. Melanie, who had a daughter, Edith, died of a head injury in the 1930s. Elsa graduated from the Vienna Conservatory of Music, with a degree in piano. In 1924, she married Adoph Blau in the Turkischer [Turkish] Temple, a Sephardic synagogue. They had two children, Gertrude, born on March 14, 1925, and Herbert, born on July 28, 1931. Following the Anschluss in March 1938, when Austria was annexed to Germany, anti-Jewish laws were passed and Jews were targeted for persecution and deportation. Elsa’s mother refused to leave without her family and attempted to get them all to the United States, but immigration was difficult and expensive. On August 13, 1942, the family was deported by the Germans to Theresienstadt concentration camp. They were separated as men and women were housed in different barracks. Elsa worked as slave labor at a Messerschmitt airplane factory and a Telefunken electronics factory. Herbert was able to celebrate his Bar Mitvah in Terezin, and his sister was able to attend the ceremony. Not long after this, Gertrude was transferred to Auschwitz concentration camp.

    On May 2, 1945, the Germans transferred administration of Terezin to the International Red Cross. The family was sent to Deggendorf displaced persons camp in Germany, where they were reunited with Gertrude. The family resided in the camp until their emigration. In November 1947, with the assistance of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, they were granted visas for the United States, where they settled in Vineland, New Jersey. Adolph died in 1958. Fanny, age 91, died in 1961. Elsa passed away, age 94, in 1987.

    Physical Details

    Language
    German
    Classification
    Exchange Media
    Category
    Coupons
    Object Type
    Ration cards (lcsh)
    Physical Description
    Irregularly, cut, rectangular, light brown paper coupon. The front has printed graphics with German text in orange ink. There are entry boxes and lines that are filled in by hand in blue ink. In the lower left corner is a partial stamped image of a castle in dark blue ink; on the lower right is a month stamp; in the center is an oversized P stamp. The reverse has German text stamped in blue. Coupons have been clipeed from all sides for use.
    Dimensions
    overall: Height: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm) | Width: 3.625 inches (9.208 cm)
    Materials
    overall : paper, ink
    Inscription
    front, top left corner, handwritten in blue ink : E V II / 60

    Rights & Restrictions

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

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The ration coupon was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by Jeffrey A. Gordon, the son of Gertrude Blau Gordon.
    Record last modified:
    2024-10-03 11:26:56
    This page:
    http:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn517880

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