us-005578-irn520037-irn523252
type: RecordSet
archival history: The Theresienstadt scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by Marion Sapir.
biographical history: Marion Carola Strauss was born on December 20, 1926, to Siegfried (Friedrich), born October 10, 1898, and Marguerite, born September 8, 1902, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. She had a younger brother, Carl Heinrich, born October 10, 1930. The family was a prosperous, conservative Jewish family, and they lived in a predominantly Christian neighborhood. Her father served in the army during World War I (1914-1918.) After the war, he had a leather import business. They were the only Jewish family in their apartment building; the other residents were members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church next door. The family had a live-in, non-Jewish maid. Her father's brother moved to Palestine in 1932. Marion attended the Philanthropin School, one of the oldest and largest Jewish schools in Frankfurt, where Jews were barred from public schools. In 1933, the Nazi dictatorship under Hitler was established in Germany. A series of anti-Jewish laws made life increasingly difficult. Jewish businesses were boycotted and confiscated. Another uncle left for Great Britain in 1936. Around 1937, Marion's father decided to move the family to Zurich, Switzerland. He was not able to obtain a work permit there, so the family left for Amsterdam, Netherlands. In May 1940, Germany invaded and occupied the Netherlands. They established policies banning Jews from the civil service and requiring them to register their property and themselves. The Strauss home was confiscated by German officials for housing. The family had to move the next day, with one suitcase each, to an apartment which they shared with another family. Marion had to leave public school because she was Jewish. In February 1941, the Germans deported several hundred Jews to concentration camps. There was a general strike which was brutally dealt with by the Germans. That June, Marion's parents decided to escape to Switzerland, but before that could be arranged, they were arrested and sent to Westerbork transit camp. Marion had nursing …
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Rectangular paper scrip. The face has a graphic design in black and red/brown ink on a red/brown patterned background. The face depicts a bearded Moses holding 2 stone tablets with the 10 Commandments in Hebrew characters, with a long-fingered hand in front of the tablets, in a medallion on the left, with the denomination 100 and German text on the right. The right side has a wide offwhite border with the denomination 100 in the lower corner with a 6-pointed Star of David above. The reverse has a red/brown geometric background with German text and a scrollwork line. Below the text is an engraved signature. The denomination 100 is in the upper right corner. The left side has a wide offwhite border with the denomination 100 in the lower corner with a 6-pointed Star of David above. The serial number in red ink is in the upper left corner. The series letter in red ink is near the lower right corner.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1943 January 01
has beginning date: 1943-01-01
has end date: 1944-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: heb
has or had some members with language: deu
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn523252
is or was included in: us-005578-irn520037
record resource extent: overall: Height: 3.000 inches (7.62 cm) | Width: 5.875 inches (14.923 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Scrip receipt for 100 [hundert] kronen issued to 16 year old Marion Sapir when she was imprisoned in the Theresienstadt labor camp from 1942-1944. Currency was confiscated upon entry and scrip was distributed per a 5-tier rating or received for conscript labor while in camp. Marion found there was nothing to purchase with the notes. In May 1940, Germany occupied the Netherlands, and in July 1941, Marion, her parents, and her 11 year old brother were sent to Westerbork transit camp and deported to Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia. In 1944, they were transferred to Auschwitz. Her mother was murdered in the gas chambers on arrival. Marion was sent to Oederan labor camp. When that camp was evacuated because of advancing US troops, she was sent back to Theresienstadt where she was liberated in May 1945. Her brother died in a camp shortly after liberation, but her father survived. They were reunited in Amsterdam in September 1945 and immigrated to the United States in 1947.
title: Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp scrip, 100 kronen note, issued to a German Jewish inmate