Storage fee (KZ)

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Bonus coupon in Mauthausen concentration camp

The term “ camp money” related to concentration camps (KZ) is differentiated from the general term “ camp money” , which refers to internment or prisoner of war camps.

He should not be confused with products of counterfeiters commands in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp (the SS - Operation Bernhard , a counterfeiting action of SD ), or the amount that during the storage ( logistics a) of goods or packages the lessor warehouse is to pay for it.

use

In some German concentration camps operated by the SS, the SS issued so-called camp money in paper form to concentration camp prisoners . This meant that in some cases different goals were pursued in the camps. It was always about the concentration camp prisoners not getting their hands on any real currency that could have been used for escape attempts outside the camp. In part, the camp money served as an exchange currency with which money brought along or donations from relatives to the prisoners could be made usable for the SS. For this purpose, this camp money was exchanged for a significantly worse exchange rate than the achievable value of the goods and only then could food or goods from the concentration camp prisoners in the camp's internal sales points, e.g. B. in the " canteen ". There were regulations regarding the maximum quantities and periods of validity of the bank notes.

It was never the case that individual concentration camp prisoners were paid for their work (wages) themselves, but individual received "premium vouchers" (e.g. in Dachau concentration camp , Herzogenbusch concentration camp ), "vouchers" or "coupons" small nominal amounts (5, 10, 50 or 100 pfennigs or guilders or crowns) as an incentive or reward. In principle, there was no payment in the form of a regular wage in concentration camps.

The voucher copies of the notes of value can be found today in catalogs of coin and bank note collectors ( numismatics ) under terms / headings such as emergency and storage money, concentration camp scrip .

Ghetto money

Ghetto money 50 Mark obverse
Ghetto money 10 Mark obverse
Ghetto money "10 Mark" (back)

The ghetto money that was in circulation in the Litzmannstadt ghetto also had a comparable function . Since April 8, 1940, the official currency in the ghetto was no longer the mark or the Polish zloty , but the notes and coins of the ghetto money. These were officially issued by the "Elder of the Jews in Litzmannstadt", the head of the Jewish self-government Chaim Rumkowski . However, the actual control over the ghetto was exercised by the National Socialist rulers who were responsible for issuing the money.

There were banknotes worth 0.50, one, two, five, ten, twenty and fifty marks. In terms of coins, entities of ten pfennigs as well as five, ten and twenty marks made of aluminum and aluminum-magnesium were issued.

literature

  • Yasha L. Beresiner: Theresienstadt: a monetary system that never was. In: The Shekel. March – April 1983, p. 23ff.
  • Eric Brothers: Currency of the Lodz Ghetto: the story of these Holocaust issues is at once intriguing, heart-wrenching and malevolent. 2009.
  • Lance K. Campbell: Dachau concentration camp scrip. 1991.
  • Lance K. Campbell: Prisoner-of-war and concentration camp money of the twentieth century. 1993.
  • Steven Feller: Concentration camp money of the Nazi holocaust: symbol of survival. In: The Shekel. March – April 1983, p. 39ff.
  • Joel J. Forman: Holocaust Numismatics. Released at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, LA. 2008 (engl.)
  • Guy MY Ph. Franquinet, Peter Hammer, Hartmut Schoenawa, Lothar Schoenawa: Litzmannstadt ... a chapter in German monetary history . Self-published by Franquinet, Crailsheim 1994, ISBN 3-9804071-0-1 .
  • Hans-Ludwig Grabowski: The Money of Terror: Money and money substitutes in German concentration camps and ghettos 1933 to 1945: Documentation and catalog based on documents from the contemporary history collection of Wolfgang Haney and from other collections and archives. Regenstauf 2008, ISBN 978-3-86646-040-9 .
  • Peter Hammer: To determine the authenticity of the coins from the Litzmannstadt ghetto. 1992.
  • P. Lauerwald: The camp money from the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp near Nordhausen . In: Contributions to local history from the city and district of Nordhausen. Volume 4, Nordhausen 1979, pp. 38-44.
  • Albert Pick, Carl Siemsen: The camp money of the concentration camps and DP camps 1933–1947. The money, the service regulations, about expenditure and value. 2nd Edition. Heinrich Gietl Verlag, Regenstauf 1993, ISBN 3-924861-09-9 .
  • Andrzej Podczaski: Catalog Papierowych Pieniedzy Zastepczych z Ziem Polskich. Tom V: Okres 1939-1960. Selbstverlag, Warszawa 2008. (The book presents, among other things, the ghetto and camp money, prisoner-of-war camp money, the money from the psychiatric institutions and the bills of the winter relief organization in the General Government; Polish)
  • Rudolf Richter: Emergency money Austria: storage money. H. Gietl Verlag, Regenstauf 1997, ISBN 3-924861-21-8 . (Catalog of the Austrian camp money. Subtitle: POW, concentration, refugee and internment camps in Austria and the former Danube Monarchy in World War I and II as well as 1957 and neighboring areas)
  • Manfred Schulze, Stefan Petriuk: Our work - our hope. Lodz Ghetto 1940–1945. A historical documentation of the postal and monetary system in the Litzmannstadt camp. Mail department of the oldest of the Jews in Litzmannstadt-Ghetto. Phil-Creativ Verlag, Schwalmtal 1995, ISBN 3-928277-65-0 , pp. 105-119. (Money in the Ghetto)
  • Zvi Stahl: Jewish ghettos 'and concentration camps' money. Translation from the Ivrit / New Hebr. by Rebecca Sternberg. D. Richman Books, London / Robert Deutsch, Old Jaffa 1990, ISBN 1-852-64071-5 .
  • Alan York: Fraudulent, counterfeit, forged, spurious and controversial: bank note issues of concentration camps and ghettos. In: The Shekel. March – April 1983, p. 47ff.

Web links

Commons : Ghetto Money  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files