Cremona civilian internment scrip, 10 lire note, stamped with a Star of David

Identifier
irn548090
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2016.184.832
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • Italian
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

overall: Height: 2.750 inches (6.985 cm) | Width: 5.500 inches (13.97 cm)

Creator(s)

Biographical History

The Katz Ehrenthal Collection is a collection of more than 900 objects depicting Jews and antisemitic and anti-Jewish propaganda from the medieval to the modern era, in Europe, Russia, and the United States. The collection was amassed by Peter Ehrenthal, a Romanian Holocaust survivor, to document the pervasive history of anti-Jewish hatred in Western art, politics and popular culture. It includes crude folk art as well as pieces created by Europe's finest craftsmen, prints and periodical illustrations, posters, paintings, decorative art, and toys and everyday household items decorated with depictions of stereotypical Jewish figures.

Archival History

The scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Katz Family

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

Scope and Content

Scrip, valued at 10 Lire, distributed in Cremona concentration camp in Cremona, Italy. Under German pressure, Italian fascists passed antisemitic legislation in 1938, and later established domestic concentration camps for military and civilian internees. However, the Italian authorities resisted participating in the mass murder and did not permit deportations of Jews from Italy. Although the camps were called Campi Di Concetramento (Concentration Camps) the conditions and treatment of their internees were equivalent to prisoner of war (POW) camps for military and civilians. Prisoners, including Jews, were treated much better than their counterparts in the German camps. Cremona concentration camp was an internment and labor camp that held both POWs and Jewish prisoners. Scrip was issued to Cremona’s prisoners in exchange for outside currency to inhibit escape attempts. The scrip was printed in seven denominations: 0.50, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 Lire. There are two versions of the scrip known today: notes printed on cardstock with a Star of David stamp, and notes printed on paper without a stamp. Expert numismatists disagree on the authenticity of the Star of David stamp version, with one side believing the Star of David stamped scrip was issued to Jewish prisoners in the camp, while the other believes the notes are not genuine. After the war, a Displaced Persons (DP) Camp was established by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) in Cremona from 1945-1947. In 1946 an ORT (Obchestvo Remeslenogo Truda, Association for the Promotion of Skilled Trades) vocational school was established in the camp. The camp housed between 1,000 and 1,200 refugees, and was one of the largest centers for DPs in Italy. This scrip is one of more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic visual materials.

Conditions Governing Access

No restrictions on access

Conditions Governing Reproduction

No restrictions on use

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Camp scrip on rectangular, yellow-brown cardstock with Italian text in black ink and the denomination Lire 10 on the left and L. 10 on the right. A Star of David is stamped in the center and a camp seal is stamped over the right denomination. It does not appear circulated.

face, right stamped, blue ink : CAMPO CONCENTRAMENTO INTERNATI CIVILI

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.