Scheinfeld Displaced Persons Camp scrip, 1 dollar note
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 2.750 inches (6.985 cm) | Width: 6.125 inches (15.558 cm)
Archival History
The scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2003 by Joel Forman.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Joel Forman
Scope and Content
Scrip, valued at 1 dollar, distributed in Scheinfeld displaced persons camp (DP) in Scheinfeld, Germany from April until July, 1946. The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) team 596 issued three denominations of scrip: 10 cents, 50 cents, and 1 dollar. The scrip was used in the canteen until July, but was abandoned due to food shortages. During World War II, many Lithuanians were deported to Nazi Germany as forced laborers. Toward the end of the war, many more escaped Lithuania before the advancing Soviet army, fearing a continuation of the mass arrests and deportations the Soviets inflicted on the public during their occupation under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Consequently, after World War II, Germany had a large population of Lithuanian displaced persons (DPs). The Scheinfeld DP camp was established on April 28, 1946, by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). An agency that provided DPs with food, clothing, medicine, and helped to repatriate people to their home countries. The camp housed 1,500 Lithuanian displaced persons who had been transferred from Regensburg DP camp, and was overseen by UNRRA team 569. The camp was located on the grounds of the 17th century, Schwarzenberg castle, and included a hospital, dental clinic, sanitation office, drug store, canteen, bakery, clothing store, two restaurants, and laundry and shoe repair services. In the barrack section, a large hall held various programs, concerts, lectures, and plays. The camp was closed in the autumn of 1949. It was thought that all the notes were destroyed, until approximately 15 sets were discovered in England in the 1970s.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Scheinfeld Displaced Persons camp scrip printed in brown ink, on lightweight, rectangular, tan-colored paper. The face has a thin double-line border around the perimeter. On the left is a large, outline of the numeric denomination, inside of a vertical rectangle with indented corners. To the right, with a line of text above and below, is a larger, horizontal, rectangle with the numeric denomination outside each indented corner. In the center, is outlined English block text with the year in smaller text below. The reverse has an identical design, with Lithuanian text. The center of the face has a large, circular, blue stamp with a grid, and text in the center and along the top and bottom edges. The reverse has a red stamp above the denomination in the large rectangle.
face, stamped, blue ink : SCHEINFELD / UNRRA / TEAM 569 reverse, stamped, red ink : 02302
Corporate Bodies
- Scheinfeld (Displaced persons camp)
- United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
Subjects
- Germany--History--1945-1955.
- Lithuania--History--German occupation, 1941-1944.
- Paper money--Lithuania.
- Refugee camps--Economic aspects.
- Refugees--Lithuania.
- Lithuania--History--Soviet occupation, 1940-1941.
- World War, 1939-1945--Refugees.
- Refugee camps--Germany--Bavaria.
- Scheinfeld (Bavaria, Germany)
Genre
- Object
- Exchange Media
- Money.