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Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp scrip, 20 kronen note, acquired by the Hidden Child Foundation

Object | Accession Number: 2017.478.2
2017.478.2 front Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp scrip, 20 kronen note, acquired by the Hidden Child Foundation Click to enlarge 2017.478.2 back Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp scrip, 20 kronen note, acquired by the Hidden Child Foundation Click to enlarge

Scrip, valued at 20 kronen, distributed in Theresienstadt (Terezin) ghetto-labor camp and later acquired by the Hidden Child Foundation/Anti-Defamation League. At Theresienstadt, currency was confiscated from inmates and replaced with scrip, which could only be used in the camp. The scrip was part of an elaborate illusion to make the camp seem normal and appear as though workers were being paid for their labor, but the money had no real monetary value. The scrip was printed by the National Bank in Prague in 7 denominations: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100. The notes are dated 1 January 1943, but were not distributed until May 1943. Peter Kien, a Czechoslovakian poet, artist, and inmate of Theresienstadt designed the notes, but his original design was rejected by SS General Reinhard Heydrich. He was ordered to make Moses appear more stereotypically Semitic in appearance and to arrange Moses’s hand so that it is covering one of the commandments.

Date
publication:  1943 January 01
use:  after 1943 May-before 1945 May 09
Geography
issue: Theresienstadt (Concentration camp); Terezin (Ustecky kraj, Czech Republic)
Language
German
Hebrew
Classification
Exchange Media
Category
Money
Object Type
Scrip (aat)
Genre/Form
Money.
Credit Line
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Hidden Child Foundation/ADL

About This Object

Physical Description
Theresienstadt scrip printed on rectangular, off-white paper in green and black ink. The paper contains a watermark in the form of a repeating geometric pattern. On the face is a rectangle with geometric patterning and a wide, off-white margin to the right. On the left, within the rectangle, is a vignette with an image of Moses holding 2 stone tablets inscribed with the 10 Commandments in Hebrew. To his right, is the denomination centered between lines of German text. In the lower right corner is a Star of David with the denomination below. The reverse has a rectangle with geometric patterning and a wide off-white margin to the left. Within the rectangle is a central yellow streak, medallion, German text centered above and below a scrollwork line, the denomination on the upper right, and signature on the lower right. In the lower left corner is the denomination below a Star of David in a striped circle. The serial number in the upper left corner and the series letter on the lower right are both in red ink. There is a heavy vertical crease down the center. On the face, is a piece of clear tape on the center top edge, light creasing on both right corners, and a small reddish-brown spot near the center of the right edge.
Dimensions
overall: Height: 2.625 inches (6.668 cm) | Width: 5.250 inches (13.335 cm)
Materials
overall : paper, ink
Markings
face, center, printed, black and green ink : QUITTUNG ÜBER / ZWANZIG KRONEN / 20 / WER DIESE QUITTUNG VERFÄLSCHT ODER NACHMACHT / ODER GEFÄLSCHTE QUITTUNGEN IN VERKEHR BRINGT, / WIRD STRENGSTENS BESTRAFT. [RECEIPT OF / TWENTY CROWNS / ANYONE WHO FALSIFIES OR DISTORTS OR FAKES THIS RECEIPT, OR COUNTERFEITS RECEIPT, WILL BE STRICTLY PUNISHED]
face, lower right corner, printed, black ink : 20
reverse, upper left, serial number, printed, red ink : 010636
reverse, lower right, series letter, printed, red ink : O
reverse, upper right and lower left corners, printed, green ink : 20
reverse, center, printed, black and green ink : Quittung / über / ZWANZIG / KRONEN / THERESIENSTADT, AM 1.JÄNNER 1943 DER ALTESTE DER JUDEN / IN THERESIENSTADT / Jakob Edelstein [Receipt / of / TWENTY CROWNS / THERESIENSTADT, ON 1. JANUARY 1943 THE ELDER OF THE JEWS IN THERESIENSTADT / Jakob Edelstein]
Contributor
Subject: Rachelle Goldstein
Designer: Peter Kien
Printer: National Bank of Prague
Issuer: Der Alteste der Juden in Theresienstadt
Biography
The Hidden Child Foundation is a volunteer-run organization supporting Holocaust survivors who were hidden as children during the Holocaust. With the help of Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League and a Hidden Child from Poland, 1,600 former Hidden Children from 28 countries met for the first time in May 1991 in New York City at the First International Gathering of Children Hidden During World War II. The purpose of the gathering was to share memories, help those who were too young to remember, and most importantly, tell the world that they were witness to the atrocities committed against their people. After the gathering, the Hidden Child Foundation joined the Braun Holocaust Institute of the Anti-Defamation League. The mission of the Hidden Child Foundation is to educate all people about the consequences of bigotry and hatred so that never again will anyone suffer the atrocity, the injustice, and the agony of the Holocaust. The Foundation is in close contact with its worldwide membership, over 6,000, to convey current Holocaust related issues; liaises between the U.S. and international hidden child/child survivor groups; provides cultural and social programs for the New York metropolitan area membership; honors the rescuers, the Righteous Among the Nations, on International Rescuers' Day; publishes The Hidden Child, an international newsletter, sent to members, Holocaust centers and college and university libraries; advocates for all members, including 2nd and 3rd Generations, who are in need of financial, psychological or social assistance; provides a Speakers Bureau for all audiences; offers an International Family Tracing Service to locate survivors and relatives; and is a source of information for writers, filmmakers, journalists and researchers.
Franz Peter Kien was born January 1, 1919, in Varnsdorf, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic), to Leonard and Olga Frankl Kien. His father Leonard was born in 1886, in Varnsdorf, and was a member of the German-speaking Jewish population in the, the Sudetenalnd, which bordered Germany. Leonard was a textile manufacturer with his own factory. Peter’s mother Olga was born in 1898, in Bzenec, Austro-Hungary (Czech Republic), to Jewish parents. After 1929, the Kien family moved to Brno. Peter enrolled at the German Gymnasium, where he excelled at drawing, painting, and writing. In 1936, he graduated and moved to Prague to study at the Academy of Fine Arts. He also attended the Officina Pragensis, a private graphic design school run by a well-known Jewish artist, Hugo Steiner-Prag.

On September 29, 1938, Germany annexed the Sudetenland. On March 15, 1939, Germany invaded Prague and annexed the Bohemia and Moravia provinces of Czechoslovakia, ruled by a Reich Protector. Jews were banned from participation in government, businesses, and organization, including schools. Peter had to leave the Academy, but continued to study at the Officina Pragensis. He also taught at Vinohrady Synagogue. In September 1940, Peter married Ilse Stranska, who was born on May 9, 1915, in Pilsen, to Jewish parents.

In late September 1941, Reinhard Heydrich, the SS head of RSHA, Reich Main Security Office, became Reich Protector. Soon there were regular deportations of Jews to concentration camps. At the end of November, Theresienstadt concentration and transit camp near Prague got its first shipment of Jewish prisoners. On December 14, Peter was transported to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp. He was assigned to the technical department where he worked as a draftsman and designer alongside other artists, including Bedrich Fritta, Leo Haas, and Jiri Lauscher. On July 16, 1942, Peter’s wife Ilse arrived in the camp. On January 30, 1943, Peter’s parents Leonard and Olga were transported from Bzenec to Terezin. Peter was assigned major projects by the Jewish Council that administered the camp for the Germans, such as the scrip receipts used in place of money in the camp. He secretly documented the inmate’s daily life, creating portraits and other drawings, and wrote plays, poems, and an operatic libretto. On October 16, 1944, Peter’s wife Ilse and his parents Leonard and Olga were selected for deportation. Peter volunteered to go with them. Before leaving, Peter and his family were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. Peter survived the selection process, soon fell ill, likely with typhus, and died at age 25 in late October 1944. His wife and parents were killed at Auschwitz. Some of the work that Peter left with other prisoners or hid at Theresienstadt survived and has been exhibited worldwide.

Keywords and Subjects

Administrative History

Legal Status
Permanent Collection
Provenance
The scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2017 by the Hidden Child Foundation/Anti-Defamation League.

Rights and Restrictions

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

 
Record last modified: 2022-07-28 20:14:05
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn593621

Also in Hidden Child Foundation records

The collection consists of documents, media, correspondence, and a piece of Theresienstadt scrip, relating to the Hidden Child Foundation (a part of the Anti-Defamation League), in New York after the Holocaust.

Date: after 1943-before 2016

Hidden Child Foundation/ADL records

Document

The Hidden Child Foundation/ADL records consist of conference materials, correspondence, photographs, printed materials, readers files, Speakers Bureau materials, subject files, testimonies, personal accounts, photographs and photocopies of personal stories, and audiovisual and electronic materials documenting the Hidden Child Foundation/ADL and its work organizing conferences, providing speakers, hosting memorial and holiday events, and providing reference and tracing services for Holocaust survivors who were hidden as children during the Holocaust and who are searching for relatives, acquaintances, and information about their experiences. The collection also includes many personal stories about the experiences of hidden children during the Holocaust. Conference materials include announcements, invitations, clippings, correspondence, rosters, planning information, publicity, programs, registration information, schedules, and workshop materials documenting the Hidden Child conferences planned and led by the Hidden Child Foundation as well as additional conferences planned and led by other hidden child organizations. The correspondence series consists of a handful of alphabetical correspondence files as well as chronological fax and email files. Additional correspondence can be found in the Conferences, Readers files, and Speakers Bureau series. Photographs primarily document Hidden Child Foundation conferences, events, and holiday celebrations and are arranged chronologically. Printed materials consist of catalogs, pamphlets, newsletters, essays, articles, and clippings documenting the Holocaust and hidden children and written by the Hidden Child Foundation, the AntiDefamation League, historians, and former hidden children. Readers files consist of correspondence (mostly outgoing correspondence) thanking donors for financial donations, participating in events, or sharing stories; answering questions about the HCF newsletter and acknowledging contributions to it; announcing events; addressing requests for speakers; responding to requests to trace survivors; sharing information about the Foundation’s work; and coordinating the Foundation’s work with other child survivor and Holocaust memory organizations. Speakers Bureau files consist of speaker applications, contact lists, correspondence, requests for speakers and confirmations, and thank you letters documenting the work of the Speakers Bureau, its speakers, and their popularity. Subject files consist of correspondence, printed materials, contact lists, and speeches documenting topics such as child survivor groups, hidden children, and memorial projects. Testimonies, personal accounts, photographs and photocopies of personal stories include personal narratives (of various length, some rough, some polished); photographs, copy prints, and photocopies of photographs; photocopies of original Holocaust-era documents; poems; reflections; narratives about family members and acquaintances; and a handful of original Holocaust-era documents. These records document the experiences of hidden children throughout Europe during the Holocaust and are arranged alphabetically by name of hidden child. This series also include search requests posted to bulletin boards during Hidden Child conferences and events. Audiovisual and electronic materials consist of CDs, DVDs, videocassettes, and audiocassettes containing recordings of conference sessions, media coverage, and special events.

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