us-005578-irn36907-irn42842
type: RecordSet
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Rectangular white paper currency with a brown geometric background design on the face. It depicts a realistic portrait bust image of a girl with a headscarf and flowers within a decorative medallion with scalloped edges. The denomination 5 is in the corners and in the center of the note with German text superimposed. Near the lower edge is a signature, a Reichsadler seal with a swastika and German text, and a serial number in red ink. The back has a blue geometric background design, German text on the upper center and left and Ukrainian text on the right and lower center. The denomination 5 is in the center and corners. In the center background is an irregular circle with scalloped edges. It is discolored with age.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1942 March 10
has beginning date: 2005-01-01
has end date: 2005-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: ukr
has or had some members with language: deu
has record set type: Item
history: Father Patrick Desbois is the president of Yahad- In Unum (Together as One), an organization he co-founded in 2004 to develop and promote Christian-Jewish understanding. He is also a Roman Catholic priest and director of the Episcopal Committee for Relations with Judaism, which is connected with the French Conference of Bishops. Father Desbois was born in Chalon-sur-Saone, France, in 1955 and grew up on a farm in the Bresse region of eastern France. As a young man, he joined the French civil service and taught mathematics in West Africa. He went to Calcutta to work with Mother Teresa for three months. After this, he decided to join the priesthood, a decision that shocked his secular family. He became a parish priest and studied Judaism and learned Hebrew. He asked to do outreach work with groups such as Roma, ex-prisoners, and Jews, and was appointed a liaison with the Jewish community in France. His family had lived on the farm throughout the German occupation of France during World War II, 6/25/1940-8/25/1944. His paternal grandfather, as a soldier in the French Army, had been deported by the Germans following the occupation. He was sent to Rava-Ruska prison camp, then on the Ukrainian side of the Polish border, now in Ukraine. His grandfather never talked about his experiences, but he did once comment to his grandson that, as bad as it was for French prisoners-of-war, it was much worse for other types of inmates. A maternal cousin who had been a member of the resistance was deported and killed in a German concentration camp. As an adult, he learned from his mother that the family had often hidden members of the French Resistance on the farm. Desbois was haunted by his grandfather's silence. He made repeated trips to Rava-Ruska where his grandfather had been imprisoned. On one visit, the mayor took him to the edge of the forest where a group of elderly villagers were gathered to tell him what they had witnessed. Desbois finally learned what his grandfather would n…
history: The paper currency was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2010 by Father Patrick Desbois on behalf of Yahad-in Unum.
identifier: irn42842
is or was included in: us-005578-irn36907
record resource extent: overall: Height: 2.375 inches (6.032 cm) | Width: 5.125 inches (13.017 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: German occupation currency note, valued at 5 Karbowanez, issued in Rovno, Poland (Rivne, Ukraine) in March 1942. In September 1939, not long after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Rovno was occupied by the Soviet Union under the terms of the German-Soviet Pact. On June 22, 1941, Germany launched a surprise attack, Operation Barbarossa, on Russia. A week later, German troops occupied Rovno. The city was liberated by the Soviet Army on February 2, 1944. The currency was recovered by Yahad-In Unum as they researched the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany against the Jewish population in Eastern Europe. The organization has located hundreds of mass execution and grave sites to document this Holocaust by bullets and to allow for the respectful remembrance of the fallen.
title: Occupation currency note, 5 Karbowanez, issued by Nazi Germany in eastern Poland