Litzmannstadt Ghetto ID Work Permit For Ita Mariem Kaltman

Authors

Object ID

2014.1.116

Object Name

Card, Identification

Date

3-24-1942

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

Front: A photograph of Ita Mariem Kaltman with a purple handstamp on the left, and typed biographical information on the right, as well as the signature of Lódz supervisor Z. Goldine. Back: Typed and printed information, including the name of Hans Biebow, Chief of Nazi Administration in Lódz Ghetto. Further information: This pass was issued to Ita Mariem Kaltman, who lived at 16/38 Holz Street for her job as a trainee at the chemical laundry #57. This pass gave her permission to be out during curfew hours--presumably, the laundry was open through the night. Born June 10, 1931, Ita Kaltman died in the Ghetto.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

An official ghetto ID and work card issued to a very young Ita Mariem Kaltman, born 10 June, 1933 in Lodz and living at 16/38 Holz Street for her job as a trainee at the chemical laundry #57 and has permission to be out during curfew hours (presumably the laundry was open through the night). Signature of Z. Goldweg (?) the supervisor at lower right. On the left side is her photo, along with an official Litzmannstadt Ghetto handstamp and signed Yadza (or Jadza) Kaltman, probably her Polish name, and signature in green ink below that. Verso has more details about her, "profession–trainee, gender–female, age at 1.1.1943...12 years. She started work 24.3.1942.” The remainder of the card contains a warning that she shouldn't lose the card and what to do if she does. The card was not transferable, and any self-made changes are forbidden and will be punished. The message is from Hans Biebow of the Ghetto management. Biebow was the administrator of Lodz and got rich by stealing almost all the possessions of the Jewish residents and paying them virtually nothing for their work. He sent most of the residents to their death in Auschwitz and escaped to Germany in 1945 but was recognized by a survivor and stood trial in 1947. He was found guilty and executed. According to the Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah, Ita Kaltman perished in the Ghetto. It is worth noting that according to this database she was born in June of 1933, not 1931, thus young Ita possibly forged her age on the ID so that she would be able to work and possibly avoid deportation.

Dimensions

4 1/2 x 6 1/2"

Keywords

Ita Mariem Kaltman, Z. Goldine, Hans Biebow, Litzmannstadt Ghetto

Subcollection

Ghettos

Recommended Citation

"Litzmannstadt Ghetto ID Work Permit For Ita Mariem Kaltman" (1942). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2014.1.116.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/33