The postage stamp sheet was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005.
Rectangular perforated white paper postage stamp sheet with a graphic design in blue ink. There are 50 stamps in 2 rows, with 5 stamps in each row. The denomination 5 is printed on the left; on the right is an image of an airplane propeller within a sunburst. There is German text in the top and bottom borders. The back is coated in adhesive. The stamps are not canceled.
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overall: Height: 4.690 inches (11.913 cm) | Width: 6.810 inches (17.297 cm)
Savings stamp block of 50 stamps issued as wages in place of currency to some Ostarbeiters [Eastern workers], forced laborers, usually Russian or Ukrainian, forcibly recruited by the Germans to work in Nazi controlled territories. They could be exchanged for limited goods available in the work camps. Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union in the spring of 1941, and the need for forced labor to support the war effort and to keep the German economy functioning was an urgent necessity. Millions of forced laborers were deported from the Soviet Union to work in factories. They were housed in so-called residence camps which were often surrounded by barbed wire and staffed by SS guards. They were required to wear OST badges to keep them separate from the general population and to mark them as second class citizens. After the war ended in 1945, nearly 6 million eastern workers were repatriated to the Soviet Union where they often were discriminated against and accused of being traitors to their country.
Ostarbeiter [Eastern worker] Sparmarke [savings stamp] block, 5 Reichsmark