us-005578-irn85553-irn531206
type: RecordSet
archival history: The scrip was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2001 by Ruth Kraemer, the executor of the Estate of Hana Bruml.
biographical history: Hana Müller (Mueller; later Bruml) was born May 30, 1922, to Richard and Hedvika Zappner Müller in Prague, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic). Her father was born in 1885 in Chocen, Czech Republic, Austro-Hungary, to Emanuel and Antonia Müller. Richard was a tinsmith and owned a workshop. Her mother was born April 17, 1891, in Prague, to Isidor and Marie Heller Zappner, and had one sister, Gizela, born 1888. Hana’s maternal grandparents, Isidor and Marie (b.1856), lived with her family in the Jewish quarter; Isador died in 1925. The family was prosperous and employed a maid. They spoke Czech and German. Hana attended a Zionist school, then a Czech school. She attended business school for a year and worked as a typist. From 1933, when the Nazi regime came to power in Germany, Prague saw a large influx of Jews fleeing persecution. In September 1938, Germany annexed the Sudetenland border region. In March 1939, Germany annexed the Czech provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, which included Prague, which were governed by a Reich Protector. Other regions were absorbed by German allies and Czechoslovakia ceased to exist. Jews lost their jobs and their property. Hana’s father’s workshop was confiscated. He could not find work and it was difficult to get enough food. Hana tried to leave, but could not get a US visa or German passport. On September 1, Germany invaded neighboring Poland. Jewish men could be conscripted for forced labor at any time. On November 14, 1939, Hana married Rudolf Schiff, b.1919, at City Hall. They got their own room when one of the families boarded at Rudolf’s parent's home was relocated. Hana began working for the Palestine Office, which facilitated emigration to Mandate Palestine. In September 1941, Heydrich, SS Chief of RSHA, became Reich Protector, and prioritized the expulsion of Jews to concentration camps. Jews were required to wear a yellow Star of David badge at all times to make them easy to identify. Transports were announced daily in the papers.…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Theresienstadt scrip printed on watermarked, rectangular, offwhite paper in green ink. On the face is a vignette with Moses, a bearded man with a wrinkled brow, holding 2 stone tablets with the 10 Commandments in Hebrew. To the right is the denomination 20 and German text. The background rectangle has an abstract starlike pattern. On the right side is a wide margin with the denomination 20 in the bottom corner below a Star of David. The reverse has a blue oval strand pattern with a central purple streak overprinted with the denomination 20 in the upper right corner, and German text, an engraved signature, and a large scrollwork line in the center. On the left side is a wide margin with the denomination 20 in the bottom corner below a Star of David within a striped circle. The plate letter and number are in the upper left and lower right corners. It appears unused and like new.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: after 1943 May 12-1944
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: irn531206
is or was included in: us-005578-irn85553
record resource extent: overall: Height: 2.625 inches (6.668 cm) | Width: 5.250 inches (13.335 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Theresienstadt scrip, 20 (zwanzig) kronen, owned by Charles (Karel) and Hana Bruml, who were prisoners at the ghetto-labor camp. This type of scrip was produced at the camp beginning in spring 1943. Currency was confiscated from incoming inmates and replaced with scrip. It was also provided to pensioners and to camp workers as payment. There was nothing to exchange it for in the camp, except library books. Germany annexed Prague in March 1939. On December 10, 1941, Karel, his parents Jindrich and Irma, siblings Anna and Otto, and Otto’s wife Irma were sent to Theresienstadt. Karel worked in the technical department. On October 26, 1942, Karel’s parents and sister were selected for deportation and Karel volunteered to go with them. They were sent to Auschwitz. His family was killed, but Karel was force marched to Auschwitz III - Monowitz (Buna) concentration camp. In early 1945, he was transferred to Gleiwitz, Nordhausen, and Bergen-Belsen, where he was liberated on April 15. Hana and her husband Rudolf Schiff were sent to Theresienstadt in August 1942. Rudolf, his parents, and his brother were deported to Auschwitz in December 1943 and killed. Hana was deported to Auschwitz in October 1944, and then sent to Kudowa-Sackisch slave labor camp where she was freed in May 1945. Hana and Karel returned to Prague where they met while searching for relatives. They found few survivors. They both left for the United States in 1946, where they married.
title: Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp scrip, 20 kronen, owned by a former Czech Jewish inmate