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Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp scrip, 5 kronen note, acquired by a female forced laborer

Object | Accession Number: 2006.473.10

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    Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp scrip, 5 kronen note, acquired by a female forced laborer
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    Overview

    Brief Narrative
    Scrip valued at 5 kronen, acquired by Ruth Kittel while she and her sister, Hannelore, were living with their Jewish mother, Marie (Maria), and Catholic father, Josef, in Berlin, Germany, during the Holocaust. All currency was confiscated from deportees upon entry to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp and replaced with scrip and ration coupons that could be exchanged only in the camp. On September 19, 1941, 14 year old Ruth picked-up government mandated Judenstern or Star of David badges from the Office of the Jewish Organization because she, Hannelore, 17, and Maria had to wear one at all times to identify themselves as Jewish. In spring 1942, Jewish schools were closed, and Ruth had to register as a forced laborer with the Work Office for Jews. In November, Ruth was assigned to the Osram light bulb factory. On February 27, 1943, she was taken from Osram and transported to a collection camp on Lehrter Street and then another on Rosen Street. On March 6, she was released. In May, Ruth returned to her forced labor detail, and worked at several factories. On May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered. On August 22, 1946, Ruth, Hannelore, Maria, and Josef immigrated to the United States.
    Date
    issue:  after 1943 January 01
    Geography
    issue: Theresienstadt (Concentration camp); Terezin (Ustecky kraj, Czech Republic)
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ron and Susan Miller
    Markings
    front, upper center, printed in brown ink : QUITTUNG ÜBER / FÜNF KRONEN [RECEIPT OF / FIVE CROWNS]
    front, lower center, printed in middle text then above in brown ink : 5
    front, lower center, smaller text than above, printed in brown ink : WER DIESE QUITTUNG VERFÄLSCHT ODER NACHMACHT / ODER GEFÄLSCHTE QUITTUNGEN IN VERKEHR BRINGT. / WIRD STRENGSTENS BESTRAFT [ANYONE WHO FALSIFIES OR DISTORTS OR FAKES THIS RECEIPT, OR COUNTERFEITS RECEIPT, WILL BE STRICTLY PUNISHED]
    reverse, upper left in border, plate letter and number, printed in brown ink : A024
    reverse, center, printed in brown ink : Quittung / über / FÜNF KRONEN [Receipt / of / FIVE CROWNS]
    reverse, lower center, printed in brown ink : THERESIENSTADT, AM 1.JANNER 1943 DER ALTESTE DER JUDEN / IN THERESIENSTADT [THERESIENSTADT, ON 1. JANUARY 1943 THE ELDER OF THE JEWS IN THERESIENSTADT]
    reverse, bottom right, printed in brown ink : Jakob Edelstein
    Contributor
    Subject: Ruth Miller
    Designer: Peter Kien
    Issuer: Der Alteste der Juden in Theresienstadt
    Manufacturer: National Bank of Prague
    Biography
    Ruth Kittel was born on July 21, 1927, in Berlin, Germany, to Josef and Marie (Maria) Ritter Kittel. Josef Kittel, a businessman and World War I veteran, was born on February 5, 1896, in Vienna, Austria, to Catholic parents. Maria was born on July 29, 1896, in Orzegow, Germany, to Jewish parents. Ruth’s older sister, Hannelore, was born on March 12, 1924. In January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. In spring 1934, Ruth was enrolled in her local public school in the Neukolln borough of Berlin. She was also enrolled at the Jewish religious school run by Rabbi Dr. Kantorowitz to study Hebrew and Jewish teachings. The sisters actively participated in Jewish life and were members of a congregation.

    Following the September 15, 1935, passage of the Nuremberg Laws, Ruth and Hannelore were classified as persons with mixed Jewish blood, mischlinge, and subject to anti-Jewish restrictions and laws. In spring 1938, the German government passed laws to remove Jewish students from public schools. Ruth had to enroll at the Jewish middle school in her borough, which was managed by the Jewish Religious Organization of Berlin. Ruth, her sister Hannelore, and their mother, Maria, had to register with the local police, district number 214, and were recorded as Jews. On February 14, 1939, they each received a numbered Jewish identification card with a large red letter J and the added middle name Sara to make them identifiably Jewish. Ruth’s card was numbered A. 611790. In September, World War II began after Germany invaded Poland.

    On September 19, 1941, 14 year old Ruth reported to the office of the Jewish Organization to pick up Star of David or Judenstern badges, which she always had to wear to indicate she was Jewish. Non-Jewish children her age regularly ridiculed Ruth because she wore the Star of David. Ruth never had enough to eat because the Organization distributed ration cards for food, but Jews received reduced rations. The anti-Jewish regulations also required Ruth to have a special pass to use public transportation, but she was banned from most public places, such as parks. Her mother could only shop for necessities during the one hour allotted for Jews to shop. Beginning in October, many Jews from Berlin were deported to German occupied regions to the east. Many of Ruth’s teachers and classmates were deported, and it became very difficult to attend school.

    In June 1942, the Jewish Organization was dissolved, and all Jewish schools were closed. Ruth, Hannelore, and Maria had to register with the Berlin work office for Jews, which assigned registrants to work 60 hours per week at one of many designated German companies. On November 24, Ruth began working as a forced laborer on the assembly line at the Osram light bulb factory. She worked in a specially designated Jewish department under the supervision of the Gestapo. Ruth earned 30 Reichsmarks per week. On February 27, 1943, members of the SS took Ruth and the entire Jewish department from Osram to a collection camp on Lehrter Street. Ruth was transported by truck and forced into a small, crowded space with other Jews. The SS members randomly whipped people and shot into the crowd. Ruth had no access to food, bathroom facilities, or space to lie down. On her third day, she was given some turnip soup and then transported to a collection camp on Rosen Street. The conditions there were terrible, although Ruth did get some turnip soup daily. On March 6, Ruth was released because her paper work proved she was mischlinge. On May 5, Ruth’s forced labor service continued at the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin factory in the Tempelhof-Schoneberg borough. In September, the factory was destroyed and Ruth was moved to the W. Jakubaschk factory, where she made buttons. In February 1945, the button factory was destroyed. Beginning in March, Ruth worked as a seamstress on the night shift at the Fa. Schultz factory.

    On May 7, Germany surrendered and Ruth, Hannelore, and Maria were free. The family registered with UNRRA as displaced persons. Ruth enrolled in the Teaching Institute at the Business and Language School in Berlin, where she studied English. In November, Ruth became a secretary for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. On August 7, 1946, the Kittel family travelled to Bremen, Germany. On August 22, Ruth, Hannelore, Maria, and Josef boarded the S.S. Marine Perch and sailed for the United States. They settled in Queens, New York. In 1954, Ruth met Harold Gabriel, a Jewish man from Berlin, where he had been a forced laborer during the war. In 1948, he had emigrated from Germany. In 1955, Ruth and Harold married and their son was born a year later. In 1960, the couple divorced. In 1963, Ruth married Abe Miller, a non-German man, who adopted her son. In 1964, Harold returned to Berlin, where he later died. Ruth, age 71, died on May 8, 1999.
    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.

    Physical Details

    Language
    German
    Classification
    Exchange Media
    Category
    Money
    Object Type
    Scrip (aat)
    Physical Description
    Theresienstadt scrip printed on rectangular, off white paper in black and brown ink. The front background rectangle has a wavy latticework pattern. On the left is a vignette of Moses, with a long beard and wrinkled brow, holding 2 stone tablets with the 10 Commandments in Hebrew. To the right is the denomination 5 and German text. On the right is a wide off white border with the denomination 5 in the bottom corner below a Star of David. The reverse has a background of interlocked diamonds with an orange center streak, overprinted with German text, engraved signature, and a scrollwork line. The denomination 5 is in the upper right corner. On the left side is a wide off white border with the denomination 5 in the lower corner below a Star of David within a striped circle. The plate letter and number A024 are in the upper corner. There are small tears in the edges and blue ink stains on the back, top left corner.
    Dimensions
    overall: Height: 2.375 inches (6.032 cm) | Width: 4.625 inches (11.747 cm)
    Materials
    overall : paper, ink

    Rights & Restrictions

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

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2006 by Ron and Susan Miller, the son and daughter-in-law of Ruth Kittel Miller.
    Funding Note
    The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
    Record last modified:
    2022-07-28 18:26:55
    This page:
    http:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn61204

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