Łódź (Litzmannstadt) ghetto scrip, 2 mark note acquired by a Polish Jewish survivor
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 2.625 inches (6.668 cm) | Width: 4.750 inches (12.065 cm)
Creator(s)
- Der Aelteste der Juden in Litzmannstadt (Issuer)
- Clara Kramer (Subject)
Biographical History
Klara Schwarz in Żółkiew, Poland (now Zhovkva, Ukraine) in 1927 to Meir and Salka Reizfeld Schwarz. She had a sister Manja. In September 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded and Zolkiew was occupied by the Soviets. In June 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union. In December 1942, the Schwarz family went into hiding in a secret bunker under the home of an ethnic German family, Valentin and Julia Beck and their daughter Ala. Manja was caught and killed when she fled the bunker during a block fire in April 1943. The region was liberated in July 1944. Clara and her family went ot a disaplced persons home in Austria where Klara met and married Sol Kramer (1920-2011). They emigrated to Israel in 1948. Clara and Sol later immigrated to the United States in 1957.
Archival History
The scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1994 by Clara Kramer.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Clara Kramer, in memory of her sister Mania
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
Łódź ghetto scrip, 2 mark note, acquired by Klara Schwarz (later Clara Kramer) at an unknown date; origin is also unknown as she was never a Łódź Ghetto resident. After Nazi Germany occupied Łódź in September 1939, it was renamed Litzmannstadt. When the ghetto was set up, currency was confiscated in exchange for Quittungen [receipts] that could be exchanged only in the ghetto. Klara was 12 when her hometown of Zolkiew, Poland, (later Zhovkva, Ukraine) was occupied. In December 1942, Klara, her sister Manja, and her parents went into hiding in a bunker under the home of an ethnic German family, Valentin and Julia Beck and daughter Ala. In April 1943, Manja sister was caught and killed by the Germans when she fled the bunker during a block fire. The region was liberated in July 1944. Klara went to a displaced person' camp in Austria, where she married and then emigrated to Israel in 1948.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Łódź scrip on rectangular, offwhite paper printed in brown and orange ink. The face has an abstract trellis patterned underprint. The denomination 2 is in the lower right corner. There is a 1.25 inch right margin, then a bordered rectangle with a background of interlocked Stars of David with a large Star of David in a circle in the upper left corner. A smaller Star of David within a brown square and the serial number in orange ink replace the right border. In the center is the denomination Zwei Mark and German text. The back has the denomination 2 in the lower left corner. There is a 1.25 inch left margin, then a bordered rectangle with a background of interlocked Stars of David. In the center is a 7 branched menorah flanked by the denomination 2 within a set of 9 concentric rings overlaid by a banner with the denomination Zwei-Mark. The scrip is faded, with tears along the center crease.
Subjects
- Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945.
- Jews--Persecutions--Ukraine--Poland--Biography.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Righteous Gentiles in the Holocaust--Poland--Biography.
- Holocaust survivors--United States--Biography.
- Jews--Rescue--Ukraine--Biography.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Ukraine--Personal narratives, Jewish.
Genre
- Object
- Exchange Media