Jewish Ghetto Banknotes - Warsaw

Note: These are actual banknotes but with "fantasy" stamps to create pieces of interest which in fact never existed.

I purchased two amazing artifacts of history. These are banknotes used in the German Jewish Ghetto in WARSAW. The "Fine Rentenmark is stamped " Jude Warschau" with the Star of David on both sides and on the back there is another stamp with a swaztika and " Konzcrationslager Oramenburg"

This was added to the description of the notes:

"The Warsaw Ghetto was established by the German Governor-General Hans Frank on October 16, 1940. At this time, the population in the Ghetto was estimated to be 400,000 people, about 30%[1] of the population of Warsaw; The ghetto was split into two areas, the "small ghetto", generally inhabited by richer Jews and the "large ghetto", where conditions were more difficult; the two ghettos were linked by a single footbridge. The Nazis then closed the Warsaw Ghetto from the outside world on November 16, 1940, by building a wall, topped with barbed wire, and deploying armed guards."

In 1943 the Ghetto was destroyed by Germans. All the people were killed or sent to concentration camps."

There were different types of banknotes used both in the Ghettos and concentration camps. If anyone has a good link or information regarding these two in particular, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

 

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Wow----> Very nice collection there.. If I could touch that money, I`d be able to tell you some history and stories.

 

As a collector of WWII militaria I'd caution you to be VERY careful with any items that relate to the ghettos or concentration camps. I have only owned 1 piece that I could ever tie to something like this. There are many many fake and fantasy items related to these 2 subjects. I have seen fake stamps like these on armbands trying to make them seem like they came from the ghettos. I have no clue about these pieces...I have no idea what one is supposed to look like... I just want to caution you that if you can't find a reference for these stamps there might be a more sinister reason. It would not surprise me if the fakers are doing this these days taking a $3 note and applying a fake stamp on it and then selling it for significantly more.

 

Thanks, Matt. I was hesitant in buying these because I suspected that they might be faked notes. I've seen several notes that are listed on different Holocaust sites which are similar but all lack the swaztika. Once I received them, I thought I would post them anyway and see what responses I got. From what I can tell upon examination is that if they are faked, they were done a long time ago. The stamps are faded from age. However, the swaztika is a different colored ink from the circular part of the stamp which leads me to think someone added the swaztika at another time.

Having been in the antiques business, I'm familiar with fakery. One summer, three different people swore up and down that they had the Fuhrer's underwear that their Granddad had brought back with them from the war. The worn out garments all had "A.H." embroidered on the waistband. Someone was having fun putting these out in the marketplace.

 

Very cool notes there! I'm going to echo Lost Dutchman's concern on the overstamps though. You should check them against other known stamps just to be certain. I've definitely heard of people makig new stamps and putting them on old notes.
Cool notes no matter what, though!

 

Ok, I looked around and I finally found where I read this. I was on a site that was selling Iranian banknotes. Apparently the Germans issued notes to their territories in Hamadan, and these had Persian style overprints on them. Not the same as yours. :smile

 

Thanks, Dave. I'll keep searching the sites as well. There's a militaria show coming up in November. I'll take the notes there and have them examined by a buddy.

 

The standard guide to WWII ghetto scrip and concentration camp money is Silent Witness by Feller.

The momumental reference World War II Remembered by Boling and Schwan also has some listings of this scrip.

 

Thank you!

Silent Witness is on it's way. Have to wait until the weekend to order World War ll Remembered.

 

I will be the bearer of bad news. The notes are genuine notes but the overstamps are fantasies. An understanding of the history and background of German financing of the war and the paper money issued during the war will show why the overstamps are not genuine.

The notes in the OP are a one rentenmark and a five reichsmark note. These notes were issued by the Rentenbank and the Reichsbank for circulation in Germany itself prior to the war. In 1934, the German finance ministry and the Reichsbank imposed strict currency controls over the RM. It became inconvertible and could not be taken out of Germany. These restrictions were so complete that special paper money known as Bordanweisungen (ship's money orders) was used on German cruise ships during the 1930s to keep RM notes from leaving the country.

After the war began, the Germans created an office, the Reichskreditkassen (the Reich Credit Office), which was responsible for issuing RM denominated notes in the occupied parts of Europe. These notes are known as Reichkreditkassenschein and here is an example of one.



The Reichskreditkassenschein were issued in Poland during the war as occupation currency. The Germans used these notes in many places in Europe (the Channel Islands, France, Greece, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, etc.) and forced them upon the local populace in the same manner that JIM notes were forced on the locals in Japanese occupied countries. The Reichskreditkassenschein were withdrawn in most places in Europe once the Germans were able to obtain sufficient local currency or were able to establish German controlled note issuing banks in the occupied countries. The only places in Europe that RM notes circulated outside Germany during the war was the Eupen Malmedy area of Belgium and in parts of Luxemburg that were annexed into Germany.

In Poland, the German controlled note issuing authority was the Bank Emisyjny w Polsce (Emission Bank of Poland). Here is an example of the notes from this bank.



These notes did circulate in Poland including in the Warsaw Ghetto. These notes are known to have propaganda overprints that were applied by the Poles during the Ghetto Uprising. Genuine overprints are scarce and copies have come on the market in the last few years.

The German military also did not use RM notes in occupied countries. The German Army had two different distinct types of paper money that it used during the war. The first were Behelfszahlungsmittel (Auxilliary Payment Certificates) and the other were Verrechnungsschein fur die Deutsche Wehrmacht (Clearing Coupons for the German Army). Here are examples of both of these.





I bring up these notes because there are also fantasy overprints on RM notes in the market from German military units. You will usually see these as SS and death's head units. Stay away from these also.

As for the Oranienburg stamp, Oranienburg was the site of the first concentration camp established by the Germans before the war. Oranienburg is located in Germany itself. The Germans issued notes specifically for use in the Oranienburg camp. These notes look nothing like the RM notes used in the rest of Germany. More importantly, Oranienburg was closed in 1934 before the OPs notes were even issued.

You will not find any of these notes in either WWII Remembered or Silent Witnesses.

 

Excellent information, lettow! You've confirmed my suspicions. Regardless of the cost, they will find a spot in my collection of counterfeit notes and I'm glad to have these examples. It's a great way to show others how it's possible to be defrauded. I'm going to contact the seller and see what his response is.

 

I will be interested in the response. At one time, I took it upon myself to contact Ebay sellers of these notes and explain to them why they were not genuine. I stopped doing so for two reasons. First, most of them did not respond. Those that did were often rude. More importantly, I realized I was arming them with information that would allow them to create overstamps that would be more difficult to determine whether they were fantasies.

 

I've pm'd the seller. As soon as I get a reply (if I get a reply), I'll post it here.

The same problem applies to counterfeiters. As soon as you identify their faults, they take steps to correct them. Just making buyers aware that these fakes exist is one way to make them wary of what they're buying.

 

Excellent info lettow! Even if the news wasnt the best, it was very informative writing! The time period and subject are very emotional for alot of people. Its horrible folks would try (i should say succeed) in trying to profit on it! Even worse they do so with un-genuine artifacts!

 

Great information Lettow! It's posters like yourself that make this forum so informative and special. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

 

No answer from the seller....don't expect I'll get one.

 

Maybe he saw this thread and skipped town. ...

 

Thanks for posting this information.

 

I received a response from the seller tonight:


"Hi
I understad that everything is possible. But I sold several banknotes with Oranienburg stamps and Gross -rosen to Israel (3 buyers 14 banknotes ) and Germany 2 buyers 10 banknotes (even to Oranienurg elementary school) and all buyers were hapy .NOBODY complined that the banknotes and stamps are NOT REAL !!
I even checked them in Edmonton Coins store and and the ovner told me that similar banknotes he already sold several times in his store..
When I wass elling on ebay copy of Jewish Ghetto Litzmannstadt banknotes .I got many emals from ebay buyers , that banknotes like this are FANTASY banknotes !!!"

 

And how many times do Chinese counterfeits float around duping chains of [uninformed] buyers? That explanation doesn't mean anything these days.