Lodz Ghetto money
Object numberM1991/014:003
TitleLodz Ghetto money
Description1 Mark note from Litzmannstadt (Lodz) ghetto. Serial number 609713.
These notes seemed to have no value outside of Lodz ghetto. Abraham was incarcerated in the Vilna ghetto from 1941-1943. One might speculate that perhaps the notes were taken by Lodz inmates on their journeys to forced labour camps - Abraham might have received some and kept them.
Part of a collection of currency from Lodz ghetto, concentration camp identification numbers and Arzt (doctor's) armband belonging to Dr Abraham Wajnryb.
Abraham (Abrasha) Wajnryb was born on 7 October 1912 in Kielce, Poland. (He died in Sydney in 1993). He was the second of three children. He was educated at the local Jewish High School. He graduated in medicine at the Warsaw University in 1936, then completed a year internship in the municipal Jewish Hospital (‘Czyste’) and stayed on as assistant in the division of internal diseases. In 1939 he met Dr Nelly Gelman, the woman he was to marry in May that year. Almost immediately he was mobilised into the Polish army and they were separated till January 1940, when they met again in Vilna.
The Wajnryb’s were forced into the Vilna ghetto in September 1941, and were there till 1943. Dr Wajnryb headed the infectious diseases department and supervised ‘Operation Typhus’. Stringent protocols were implemented to keep the ghetto as healthy as possible. When the ghetto was liquidated, he was sent to Kivioli in Estonia, where he laboured in the coal mines, then was evacuated by sea to Stutthof where he logged trees. From there he was distributed as forced labour to Schömberg. On arrival he became prisoner 35529.
In April 1945 he escaped from the camp, along with a group of friends. After liberation he went back to Poland to find his wife. She had escaped from a transportation, had made her way back to Vilna and using forged documents survived on the Aryan side. In August 1945 Abraham learned that she wasn’t only alive, but was serving as a doctor in the Red Army hospital at Bydgoszcz. In June 1946 they immigrated from Poland with the idea of going to Israel. While temporarily delayed in Paris they received migration documents from friends in Australia. Soon after, their son was born and 14 months later, their daughter. Dr Wajnryn and his wife studied for and received Australian medical degrees. They moved to Campbelltown where they established a joint general practice. Years later they moved back to Sydney, where they practiced as doctors.
These notes seemed to have no value outside of Lodz ghetto. Abraham was incarcerated in the Vilna ghetto from 1941-1943. One might speculate that perhaps the notes were taken by Lodz inmates on their journeys to forced labour camps - Abraham might have received some and kept them.
Part of a collection of currency from Lodz ghetto, concentration camp identification numbers and Arzt (doctor's) armband belonging to Dr Abraham Wajnryb.
Abraham (Abrasha) Wajnryb was born on 7 October 1912 in Kielce, Poland. (He died in Sydney in 1993). He was the second of three children. He was educated at the local Jewish High School. He graduated in medicine at the Warsaw University in 1936, then completed a year internship in the municipal Jewish Hospital (‘Czyste’) and stayed on as assistant in the division of internal diseases. In 1939 he met Dr Nelly Gelman, the woman he was to marry in May that year. Almost immediately he was mobilised into the Polish army and they were separated till January 1940, when they met again in Vilna.
The Wajnryb’s were forced into the Vilna ghetto in September 1941, and were there till 1943. Dr Wajnryb headed the infectious diseases department and supervised ‘Operation Typhus’. Stringent protocols were implemented to keep the ghetto as healthy as possible. When the ghetto was liquidated, he was sent to Kivioli in Estonia, where he laboured in the coal mines, then was evacuated by sea to Stutthof where he logged trees. From there he was distributed as forced labour to Schömberg. On arrival he became prisoner 35529.
In April 1945 he escaped from the camp, along with a group of friends. After liberation he went back to Poland to find his wife. She had escaped from a transportation, had made her way back to Vilna and using forged documents survived on the Aryan side. In August 1945 Abraham learned that she wasn’t only alive, but was serving as a doctor in the Red Army hospital at Bydgoszcz. In June 1946 they immigrated from Poland with the idea of going to Israel. While temporarily delayed in Paris they received migration documents from friends in Australia. Soon after, their son was born and 14 months later, their daughter. Dr Wajnryn and his wife studied for and received Australian medical degrees. They moved to Campbelltown where they established a joint general practice. Years later they moved back to Sydney, where they practiced as doctors.
Production placeLodz, Poland
Production date 1940-05-15
Production periodWorld War II (1939-1945)
Object nameghetto money
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- whole width: 120.00 mm
height: 65.00 mm
Language
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Dr Abraham Wajnryb