us-005578-irn524003-irn518816
type: RecordSet
archival history: The scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2007 by Malwina"Ink" Gerson Allen.
biographical history: Malwina (Inka) Gerson was born on March 17,1929, in Łódź, Poland, to Gustav and Dora Stillerman Gerson. Gustav’s parents were from Latvia, but he was born in Warsaw, and raised in Łódź. He had three younger siblings, Leon, Gerda, and Wila. Dora’s parents were from Belarus; she was born in Łódź and had a brother, Samuel (Mula). Dora’s family moved to Moscow when World War I began in 1914; her father died about 1918 and the family returned to Poland in the 1920s. Dora and Gustav met on the train ride back to Łódź. Gustav had been in Moscow since 1914, where he attended business school. They married in Łódź on April 7, 1925. Gustav was a textile engineer and manufacturer of high quality cotton fabrics in Łódź. Dora helped him with the business. The family lived a cultured, middle class life, and spoke Polish, Russian, and German at home. There was a nanny and then a governess for Inka, who attended a private girl’s school. The Germans invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, and Łódź was soon occupied. Dora's brother, Samuel, fled to Lvov (Lviv, Ukraine) with his family, and Gustav's brother, Leo, went to Warsaw with his wife, Marysia. The Germans soon put in place regulations to restrict and persecute Jews. They were not allowed to travel in certain parts of the city, attend public schools, and they had to wear yellow Star of David badges on their outer clothing. In November, the Gersons were evicted from their home and most of their possessions were taken by the Germans. In January 1940, Inka, her parents, and her maternal grandmother, Bertha Stillerman, who lived with them, were forced to move to the sealed ghetto. They lived in a single room, without running water and very little heat. After 1941, they no longer received any mail from relatives outside the ghetto. For the first year, Inka attended the ghetto school. There were classes in Hebrew and Judaism, but any subjects relating to Poland were forbidden. Soon the school was closed and twelve year old Inka had to wo…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Offwhite paper scrip printed in green ink with black text. The face has a background latticework pattern. The denomination 1 is in the lower right corner in bold font. There is a 1 inch right margin, then a rectangle with a border of barbed wire interspersed with Stars of David. The inside has a background of interlocked Jewish stars with a large star in a circle in the upper left corner and a smaller one in the center of the right side border. Across the center is the denomination and other German text. The serial number in red ink replaces the upper right border. The back has a blank background with the denomination 1 in bold font in the lower left corner. There is a 1 inch left margin, then a rectangle with a border of barbed wire interspersed with Stars of David. The inside has 2 sets of 8 concentric rings with the numerical denomination in the center. A banner with the textual denomination connects the rings. The banner crosses over a 7-branched candelabrum in the center, with German text above and below.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: 1940 May 15, approximately 1944 July
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had subject: 904
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn518816
is or was included in: us-005578-irn524003
record resource extent: overall: Height: 2.500 inches (6.35 cm) | Width: 4.750 inches (12.065 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: 1 mark note receipt created in the Łódź ghetto and recovered from the ghetto by Malwina (Inka) Gerson and her parents, Dora and Gustav. When the Germans transferred Jews to the ghetto, they confiscated all currency in exchange for Quittungen [receipts] that could be spent only inside the ghetto. The scrip was designed by the Judenrat [Jewish Council] and includes traditional Jewish symbols. After the German occupation of Poland in 1939, 11 year old Inka and her family were forced into the Jewish ghetto in Łódź, which was renamed Litzmannstadt by the Germans. All ghetto inhabitants over the age of 10 had to work and Inka worked in a hat-making workshop. The Germans destroyed the ghetto in July 1944 and Inka's family was part of the work detail kept to clean up and salvage materials from the ghetto and to dig mass graves. The Allen family avoided the subsequent deportations to concentration camps and were still living in the ghetto when the city was liberated by the Russian Army in early 1945. The family left Poland for Bolivia in 1945.
title: Łódź (Litzmannstadt) ghetto scrip, 1 mark note