Warsaw Ghetto Scrip

Authors

Object ID

2012.1.461a-d

Object Name

Scrip

Date

1943

Files

Content Warning

The Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection consists of images, documents, and artifacts related to the Holocaust. The collection contains materials that depict a number of topics that may be difficult for viewers to engage with, including: antisemitic descriptions, caricatures, and representation of Jewish people; Nazi imagery and ideology; descriptions and images of German ghettos; graphic images of the violence of the Holocaust; and the creation of the State of Israel. For more information, see our policy page.

Description

Four pieces of scrip. Each are printed in blue on tan paper. Includes larger notes worth 25 and 50, and smaller notes worth 10 and 15. Each has designs that include a Star of David.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Once they were deported to the ghettos or concentration camps, prisoners in some camps would be issued scrip (pieces of essentially useless pieces of paper that had no value outside the particular facility) by the Nazis in exchange for their confiscated valuable currency. Ghettos or camps could have their own distinctive scrip and coins, often with many different issues. Two sets of initials appear on the Warsaw Ghetto scrip: RZwW, which stands for Jewish Government in Warsaw, and SPDZ, which stands for the Jewish Postal Division. The notes are blue in color and crudely printed from hand-engraved wood or linoleum plates. The 25 groszy is somewhat different from the other denominations in that the names of the two organizations, Rada Zydow w Warszawie (RZwW) and Skladnica Pocztowa Dzielnicy Zydowskiej (SPDZ), are spelled out. The 50 groszy is the highest denomination and also the most symbolic. On the notes' right is a SS symbol in a flame of fire. In the center is a barbed wire fence separating the flame from 18 stars (Mogen David), symbolizing the incarcerated Jews, to the left of the note. In April 1943, the Warsaw ghetto revolted in reaction to the Nazi plan to "relocate" the remaining inhabitants to the death camp in Treblinka. The Jewish leadership was well aware of what awaited them as deportations to the killing centers had been ongoing for over a year. Armed resistance fighters engaged the German army in house to house fighting for a month. On May 16, 1943, SS Maj. Gen. Juergen Stroop reported that his forces were victorious and had completed the round-up of all remaining Jews. In reality, small pockets of the resistance fought on for several more months. However, the vast majority of the population of the Jewish Ghetto of Warsaw were sent to their deaths.

Dimensions

4 1/4 x 6"

Keywords

Ghetto, Currency, Warsaw, Ghetto, Star of David

Subcollection

Philatelic

Recommended Citation

"Warsaw Ghetto Scrip" (1943). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2012.1.461a-d.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1177