Mittelbau forced labor camp scrip, -.10 Reichsmark, issued to a Polish political prisoner
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm) | Width: 2.375 inches (6.033 cm)
Creator(s)
- Waclaw Glouszek (Subject)
- Buchdruckerei Theodore Mueller (Printer)
Biographical History
Waclaw Glouszek was born in 1909 in Kowel, Poland (Kovel, Ukraine) to Wilhelm and Katarzyna Glouszek. He was educated in Vilna (Vilnius, Lithuania). In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. In 1942, Waclaw was arrested by the Gestapo in Krakow as a non-Jewish political prisoner. He was sent to Monowitz (Auschwitz III) concentration camp, where he played in the camp orchestra. In January 1945, Woclaw was transferred to Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp. He was later sent to Bergen-Belsen where he was liberated in April 1945 by British forces. After the war, he settled in Wałbrzych and became a high school director. Waclaw, 97, passed away in 1996.
Archival History
The token was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1998 by Iwona Bonacia, the daughter of Waclaw Glouszek.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Iwona Bonacia
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
Mittelbau labor camp token, value -.10 mark, 011734, issued to Waclaw Glouszek, while he was a prisoner in Dora-Mittelbau / Nordhausen concentration camp circa January 1945. Nazi Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. Waclaw was arrested in 1942 by the Gestapo in Krakow and held as a non-Jewish political prisoner. He was sent to Monowitz (Auschwitz III) concentration camp, where he played in the camp orchestra. In January 1945, Waclaw was transferred to Dora-Mittelbau. He was later sent to Bergen-Belsen where he was liberated in April 1945 by British forces.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Small, square, off-white paper token with light green ink. The camp name, series letter, and the encircled denomination RM -.10 are printed in rectangular panels on a background of closely spaced vertical lines divided by a horizontal zigzag design. On the back is a block of German text and the serial number. It is discolored, creased, and stained.
Corporate Bodies
Subjects
- Forced labor--Germany.
- Concentration camps--Paper money--Germany.
- World War,1939-1945--Conscript labor--Personal narratives.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Slave labor--Germany.
- Slave labor--Germany--Biography.
- Concentration camp inmates--Poland--Biography.
- Concentration camps--economic aspects.
- Concentration camp inmates--Germany--Biography.
- Political prisoners--Poland--Biography.
- Nordhausen (Thuringia, Germany)
- Concentration camp inmates as musicians--Biography.
Genre
- Object
- Exchange Media
- Money.