us-005578-irn533929
type: RecordSet
archival history: The handbill was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016.
biographical history: Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski was born on February 27, 1877, in Ilino, Russia, to Reuven Rumkowski. His brother, Josef, was born on August 8, 1884. He relocated to Łódź, Poland, in the early 1900s, and worked as a merchant and velvet manufacturer before beginning a career as an insurance salesman. In the early 1920s, with funding from the Joint Distribution Committee and other business entities, he opened an orphanage in Helenowek, a Łódź district. He was heavily involved in local Jewish affairs, served on the board of the local Zionist party, and was a member of the Jewish Council. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and by September 8, they occupied Łódź. They appointed an Ältestenrat [Council of Elders] and made 62-year-old Mordechai the Älteste der Juden [Elder of the Jews], a position which gave him a wide range of powers over the Jewish community. He was ordered to choose 31 prominent Jews. On November 11, the Germans arrested the 31 members and they were taken to Radogoszcz prison; eight were released and the rest were murdered. Mordechai formed a second Ältestenrat, which had little influence on Jewish affairs. The Germans established the Łódź ghetto on February 8, 1940. It was a sealed ghetto, surrounded by barbed wire fencing. Inhabitants were not permitted to leave, except for a small number of forced laborers. This led to overcrowding, starvation, illness, and unsanitary living conditions. Mordechai was appointed the sole administer and answered to Hans Biebow, the head of the ghetto administration. Biebow controlled all activity in the ghetto; he made a profit on slave labor, confiscated property, organized transports to Chelmno killing center, and was active in the destruction of the ghetto. Mordechai was responsible for providing heat, housing, work, food, clothing, and health care. He instituted social programs, issued postage stamps and “Rumkies”, ghetto money printed with his name and signature, performed marriages, and made numerous public sp…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Black printed lettering on single sheet of paper
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
date: 1944 February 25-1944
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: yid
has or had subject: 513
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn533929
record resource extent: overall: Height: 9.750 inches (24.765 cm) | Width: 6.750 inches (17.145 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Notice to residents of Łódź Ghetto that they must turn in all their jewelry. It was issued by Mordechai Rumkowski, chairman of the Judenrat [Jewish Council] that administered the Ghetto for the German occupation authorities..Łódź was occupied by Germany a week after the September 1, 1939, invasion of Poland. It was renamed Litzmannstadt and, in February 1940, the Jewish population, about 160,000 people, was confined to a small sealed off ghetto. Due to the severe overcrowding and scarce food, disease and starvation were common. In January 1942, mass deportations to Chelmno killing center began; half the residents were murdered by the end of the year. In summer 1944, Łódź, the last ghetto in Poland, was destroyed and the remaining Jews were sent to Chelmno and Auschwitz-Birkenau killing centers.
title: Notice to ghetto residents to turn over all jewelry