Theresienstadt scrip printed on rectangular offwhite paper in black and green ink. The face has a vignette of Moses, with a long beard and wrinkled brow, holding 2 stone tablets with the 10 Commandments in Hebrew. To the right is the denomination 1 and German text. The background rectangle has an intricate latticework pattern. The right side has a wide offwhite margin with the denomination 1 below a Star of David. The reverse has a background rectangle of interlocked squares, overprinted with German text, an engraved signature, and a large scrollwork line. The denomination 1 is in the upper right corner. The left side has a wide, offwhite border with 1 below a Star of David within a lined circle. The plate letter and number are in the upper corner. It is discolored, and like new.
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The Katz Ehrenthal Collection is a collection of more than 900 objects depicting Jews and antisemitic and anti-Jewish propaganda from the medieval to the modern era, in Europe, Russia, and the United States. The collection was amassed by Peter Ehrenthal, a Romanian Holocaust survivor, to document the pervasive history of anti-Jewish hatred in Western art, politics and popular culture. It includes crude folk art as well as pieces created by Europe's finest craftsmen, prints and periodical illustrations, posters, paintings, decorative art, and toys and everyday household items decorated with depictions of stereotypical Jewish figures. Franz Peter Kien was born January 1, 1919, in Varnsdorf, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic), to Leonard and Olga Frankl Kien. His father Leonard was born in 1886, in Varnsdorf, and was a member of the German-speaking Jewish population in the, the Sudetenalnd, which bordered Germany. Leonard was a textile manufacturer with his own factory. Peter’s mother Olga was born in 1898, in Bzenec, Austro-Hungary (Czech Republic), to Jewish parents. After 1929, the Kien family moved to Brno. Peter enrolled at the German Gymnasium, where he excelled at drawing, painting, and writing. In 1936, he graduated and moved to Prague to study at the Academy of Fine Arts. He also attended the Officina Pragensis, a private graphic design school run by a well-known Jewish artist, Hugo Steiner-Prag. On September 29, 1938, Germany annexed the Sudetenland. On March 15, 1939, Germany invaded Prague and annexed the Bohemia and Moravia provinces of Czechoslovakia, ruled by a Reich Protector. Jews were banned from participation in government, businesses, and organization, including schools. Peter had to leave the Academy, but continued to study at the Officina Pragensis. He also taught at Vinohrady Synagogue. In September 1940, Peter married Ilse Stranska, who was born on May 9, 1915, in Pilsen, to Jewish parents. In late September 1941, Reinhard Heydrich, the SS head of RSHA, Reich Main Security Office, became Reich Protector. Soon there were regular deportations of Jews to concentration camps. At the end of November, Theresienstadt concentration and transit camp near Prague got its first shipment of Jewish prisoners. On December 14, Peter was transported to Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp. He was assigned to the technical department where he worked as a draftsman and designer alongside other artists, including Bedrich Fritta, Leo Haas, and Jiri Lauscher. On July 16, 1942, Peter’s wife Ilse arrived in the camp. On January 30, 1943, Peter’s parents Leonard and Olga were transported from Bzenec to Terezin. Peter was assigned major projects by the Jewish Council that administered the camp for the Germans, such as the scrip receipts used in place of money in the camp. He secretly documented the inmate’s daily life, creating portraits and other drawings, and wrote plays, poems, and an operatic libretto. On October 16, 1944, Peter’s wife Ilse and his parents Leonard and Olga were selected for deportation. Peter volunteered to go with them. Before leaving, Peter and his family were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. Peter survived the selection process, soon fell ill, likely with typhus, and died at age 25 in late October 1944. His wife and parents were killed at Auschwitz. Some of the work that Peter left with other prisoners or hid at Theresienstadt survived and has been exhibited worldwide.
The scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.
overall: Height: 2.000 inches (5.08 cm) | Width: 4.000 inches (10.16 cm)
Scrip, valued at 1 (eine) krone, of the type distributed in Theresienstadt (Terezin) ghetto-labor camp beginning in May 1943. The ghetto currency was printed by the National Bank in 7 denominations: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100. Inmates were not allowed to have currency, which was confiscated. The SS ordered the Jewish Council to design scrip for use only in the camp. It was issued to create a false appearance of normalcy. There was little to obtain with the scrip. Located thirty miles northwest of Prague in German occupied Czechoslovakia, the camp was established by the Germans in November 24, 1941, and ceased operation in early May 1945. In 3.5 years, approximately 140,000 Jewish persons were transferred to Terezin; nearly 90,000 were then deported, likely to their death, further east. About 33,000 died in Theresienstadt. This scrip is one of more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic visual materials.
Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp scrip, 1 krone note