Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp scrip, 50 (funfzig) kronen note, from Jewish Hungarian inmates

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.

Magdalena (Magda) Lederman was born on February 24, 1909, in Karcag, Hungary, to Shmuel and Adele Altman Lederman. Shmuel was born in Karcag, to Marton and Pepi Rosenberg Lederman. Adele was born on April 17, 1882, in Hungary. Magda married Imre Miselbach, a veterinarian and World War I veteran. Imre was born on July 11, 1897, in Karcag, to Gyula and Berta Miselbach. Magda and Imre were part of Karcag’s Jewish community of under 1000 people, which was organized around the synagogue, the Jewish school, and the women’s charitable organization. In 1938, the fascist elements of the Hungarian government passed anti-Semitic laws based on Germany’s Nuremberg racial laws. A March 1939 law required all Jewish men of military age, 20-48, to be drafted into labor service units. Imre was assigned to a unit. Magda and his non-Jewish friends, Imre and Margit Szekely, received letters from him and Imre was occasionally given leave to return home or meet Magda elsewhere. In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland and World War II began. In November 1940, Hungary joined the Axis Alliance and Hungarian units participated in the April 1941 invasion of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was divided among the Axis members and Hungary annexed the Backa and Baranja northeastern regions. Imre’s unit was sent to Cserfold, in the far eastern end of Hungary’s region. In one of his letter’s from Cserfold, Imre wrote that he had “submitted an application for settling [there],” and that “Magda could get permission to travel to it if [he could] get a permit to live” there permanently. In 1943, Hungary tried to negotiate a separate armistice with the Allied Powers after realizing that Germany was likely to lose the war. In March 1944, Germany invaded Hungary. On April 24, the Hungarian authorities established a ghetto for Jews on the outskirts of Karcag. A pregnant Magda and her parents, Shmuel and Adele, were relocated to a house there. On May 5, Imre and Magda’s daughter, Katalin, was born. Imre was still in Cserfold when he wrote to the Szekelys and said that “on [his] way home for leave [he] found out that [his] family was wiped out” and could find out no other information because people were too frightened to tell him more. Despite what Imre had heard, Magda and Katalin, as well as Shmuel and Adele, were still alive in the ghetto. On June 10, they were transported to the nearby Szolnok ghetto, just south of Budapest. In June, they were deported to Strasshof concentration camp near Vienna, Austria, as part of an agreement between Adolf Eichmann and the Relief and Rescue Committee of Budapest. In November, they were transported to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp in German occupied Czechoslovakia. Magda's father, Shmuel, died at the camp. On May 9, 1945, Magda, Katalin, and Adele were liberated when the Soviet Army entered the camp two days after Germany surrendered. In June, they were repatriated to Soviet controlled Hungary. They learned later that in summer 1944, Imre was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, and then in September, to Waldlager V, a Muhldorf subcamp near Ampfing, Germany. Imre, age 47, died of typhus on May 22, 1945, in the hospital at Muhldorf, where he was buried. In December 1956, after the Hungarian Uprising began, Magda and Katalin left Hungary and made their way to London, England. On January 3, 1957, they flew to the United States and settled in New York. Katalin married Agustin Litvak and settled in Maryland. Magda, age 88, died in 1997, in Maryland.

Katalin Miselbach was born on May 5, 1944, in the Jewish ghetto in Karcag in German occupied Hungary to Imre and Magdalena (Magda) Lederman Miselbach. Imre was born on July 11, 1897, in Karcag, to Gyula and Berta Miselbach. Magda was born on February 24, 1909, in Karcag, to Shmuel and Adele Altman Lederman. Imre and Magda got married and settled in Karcag, with its closeknit Jewish community. Imre was a World War I veteran and a veterinarian. In 1939, Imre was drafted into the Hungarian labor service. Magda received letters from him and Imre was occasionally given leave and visited Magda. In March 1944, Germany occupied Hungary. On April 24, Magda, then nearly eight months pregnant with Katalin, and her parents were forced into the ghetto on the Karcag outskirts where Katalin was born that May. On June 10, Katalin, her mother, and her grandparents were transported to the nearby Szolnok ghetto, just south of Budapest. On June 17, the family was deported to Strasshof concentration camp near Vienna, Austria. In November, they were transported to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp in German occupied Czechoslovakia. Her grandfather, Shmuel, died at the camp. On May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered. Two days later, Katalin, Magda, and Adele were liberated when the Soviet Army entered the camp. In June, Katalin, her mother, and grandmother were repatriated to Soviet controlled Hungary. They later learned that in summer 1944, Imre was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, and in September, to Waldlager V, a Muhldorf subcamp near Ampfing, Germany. Imre, age 47, died of typhus on May 22, 1945, in the hospital at Muhldorf, and was buried there. In October 1956, the Hungarian Uprising against Soviet rule began. In January 1957, 12 year old Katalin and her mother, Magda, immigrated to the United States, where they settled in New York. Katalin changed her name to Katalina. She later married Agustin Litvak and settled in Maryland. Her mother, Magda, age 88, died in 1997, in Maryland.

The scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2013 by Katalina Litvak.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Katalina Litvak

Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.