us-005578-irn521553-irn524844
type: RecordSet
physical characterisitics and technical requirements: Westerbork scrip printed on rectangular, white paper with a green basketweave background overlaid with black text and graphic designs. The face has a square in each corner and two center rectangles, all outlined in black. The denomination is printed in the upper left and lower right squares. The upper rectangle has three lines of text and the lower rectangle has a faint drawing of the camp featuring the tall laundry chimneys and barracks. A wave-patterned border is present along the top of the top upper left square, bottom of the lower right square, and beneath the text in the upper rectangle. The back has the same green basketweave background with an outlined square in both upper corners. There is a narrow rectangle with a spiral line pattern in both lower corners. At the center is an underprint of the denomination. Across the top center is a narrow, silhouetted image of the camp skyline inserted through the center of a large, circular, toothed, spur gear, with a serial letter and number stamped below. German text, an issue date, and a signature are printed along the bottom. There is slight staining overall, particularly around the edges, and a vertical center crease. back, center, stamped, black ink : Serie AA No. 4157 [Serial] back, center, bottom edge, stamped, black ink : K 1227
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1944 February 15-1945 April 12
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had subject: 2019
has record set type: Item
history: Werner Löwenhardt (1919-2006) was born in Dortmund, Germany to Adolf (1883-1944) and Julia (nee ten Brink, 1890-1944) Löwenhardt. He had one older brother, Heinz (1913-1989). Adolf’s large extended family also lived in Dortmund, while Julia’s family lived in the Netherlands. Adolf and his eight brothers served for Germany in World War I, and after being wounded, he was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class for his distinguished service as a medic. Adolf was a butcher in Dortmund, and while he was serving in the war, Julia ran the shop and took care of Heinz. Following World War I, Dortmund was occupied by French forces until 1927. Both Heinz and Werner attended the public elementary school across the street from their home. After primary school, both brothers attended the Hindenburg Gymnasium, a local secondary school that included the study of French, Latin, Greek, and English. On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg. Under Hitler, authorities quickly began suppressing the rights and personal freedoms of Jews, and boycotting their businesses. In March, the boycott of Jewish businesses reached Dortmund. By August, Adolf and Julia were forced to sell their butcher shop to a non-Jew. Adolf was able to continue working as a meat distributor in the city’s slaughterhouse. Despite the increasing antisemitism in Dortmund, Werner’s family was never personally attacked. Like his father, Heinz was apprenticing to become a butcher, which he fully qualified for in April 1935. Antisemitism and restrictions continued to grow, and that September, the Nazis announced the Nuremberg laws, which excluded Jews from citizenship and prohibited them from marrying or having relations with non-Jews. Heinz moved to Enschede, Netherlands, where he worked in the Jewish butcher shop run by an aunt and uncle. Shortly afterwards, Werner wrote to the same aunt, asking if he could work for her as a draftsman. On November 2, 1935, Werner j…
history: The scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2003 by Joel Forman.
identifier: irn524844
is or was included in: us-005578-irn521553
record resource extent: overall: Height: 2.375 inches (6.032 cm) | Width: 4.875 inches (12.383 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Voucher, valued at 100 cents, distributed in Westerbork transit camp. While at the camp, inmates were compelled to work, and a special currency was issued to incentivize work output, but the money had no real monetary value outside the camp. Westerbork was established by the Dutch government in October 1939, for Jewish refugees who had crossed the border illegally following the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 1938. After Germany invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, the German authorities began using Westerbork as a transit camp, holding internees until they were deported to forced labor camps or killing centers in other countries. Westerbork was under the authority of a German commandant, Albert Gemmeker, but run and supplied by the Jewish Community. Deportations from Westerbork began in February 1941. Inmates could occasionally purchase small supplies from the camp canteen, but food was not available. The special currency was first distributed in 1944, and designed by Werner Löwenhardt, a Jewish artist who was imprisoned by the Germans in Westerbork from October 1942, until the camp was liberated in April 1945. The front design features a large chimney from the camp laundry and a street known as the Boulevard of Misery. The back design again features the chimney, in addition to a large, toothed spur gear. Both images support an illusion of an industrious camp as well as the hopelessness of inevitable deportation.
title: Westerbork transit camp voucher, 100 cent note