Allied Military Authority currency, 1 mark, for use in Germany, acquired by a German Jewish survivor

Allied Military Authority currency, 1 mark, for use in Germany, acquired by Gerhard Maschkowski, presumably while living in Deggendorf displaced persons camp after the war. Gerhard lived with his parents Arthur and Herta, and brother Siegfried in Elbing, Germany. From 1933, the country was governed by a Nazi dictatorship that persecuted Jews. Siegfried left for Palestine in 1939 and Gerhard was sent to agricultural school. Soon after arrival, Gerhard and the others were sent to Jessenmühle labor camp. In 1941, they were transferred to Neuendorf labor camp. In April 1943, he was deported to Auschwitz, and then to Auschwitz III, Buna-Monowitz. In January 1945, the camp was evacuated. The prisoners spent several months on a death march through Czechoslovakia and Germany. In late April 1945, he was liberated by the Red Army near Breslau, weighing only seventy pounds. He was hospitalized and, after recovering, learned that his parents had survived Theresienstadt. They were reunited in Deggendorf displaced persons camp in Germany.