Łódź ghetto scrip, 50 mark note, given to a survivor searching for relatives
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 3.250 inches (8.255 cm) | Width: 6.500 inches (16.51 cm)
Creator(s)
- Jack Goldman (Subject)
Biographical History
Jack Goldman was in the Lublin and Warsaw ghettos in Poland during the Holocaust. In 1945, he traveled to Łódź, looking for loved ones, but did not find any who had survived. He later settled in the United States.
Archival History
The scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by Jack Goldman.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Jack Goldman
Scope and Content
Scrip with a receipt value of 50 marks issued in 1940 in the Jewish ghetto in Łódź, Poland, renamed Litzmannstadt by the Germans following their occupation of Poland in September 1939. The scrip was given to Jack Goldman by a survivor of the ghetto in 1945. Goldman was himself a survivor of the Lublin and Warsaw ghettos. He was in Łódź in 1945 looking for loved ones, but did not find any who had survived. When the Germans transferred Jews to the Łódź 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. The ghetto was liquidated by the Germans in August 1944.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Rectangular paper scrip. Front has large black German text at center, with smaller German text below. In right third, a vertical band with black numerical denomination 50 at top, a scroll with German text below, and a 6-pointed star, or Magen David, at bottom. Serial number in upper left corner;in lower left corner, numerical denomination 50. Background is a blue lattice design of 6-pointed stars. Back has same blue lattice background. In center in green, there is a 7-branched candelabrum, or menorah, in a design of concentric circles. Large German text in black across design. There is smaller German text at center top and center bottom; numerical denomination 50 in 3 corners: upper left and right, lower right.
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland.
- Jews--Persecutions--Poland.
- Holocaust survivors--Poland.
- Jewish ghettos--Poland--Łódź--Economic aspects.
Genre
- Object
- Exchange Media