Nazi Germany, 1 Rentenmark note, owned by a Jewish man held in Lodz ghetto and multiple concentration camps 2013.223.3 front

1937 German 1 (eine) rentenmark note owned by Abe Fingerhut. Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, and one week later occupied Lodz where Abe lived with his wife and infant son, Jozek. In February 1940, the family was put in the Jewish ghetto which was closed in with barbed wire. Abe, a tailor, worked in the ghetto textile industry. Conditions were terrible in the ghetto: it was extremely overcrowded, food was scarce, and disease and malnutrition were common. Jozek died in July 1941. The day before the ghetto was liquidated on August 4, 1944, Abe was sent to Auschwitz. In September, he was transferred to Siegmar-Schoenau labor camp, a subcamp of Flossenburg, where he was assigned prisoner number 26495. In January 1945, he was marched to Hohenstein-Ernstthal labor camp. Abe was liberated by Soviet troops on May 7, 1945, on a forced march to Flossenburg. He returned to Lodz and discovered that his parents, Samuel and Chana, had been sent to Chelmno killing center and his wife died while in forced labor service. Abe lived with a group of other survivors, but they felt threatened by the Soviet occupation and fled west. Abe went to Lampertheim displaced persons camp in Germany. He emigrated to the United States in 1947.

1937 German 1 (eine) rentenmark note owned by Abe Fingerhut. Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, and one week later occupied Lodz where Abe lived with his wife and infant son, Jozek. In February 1940, the family was put in the Jewish ghetto which was closed in with barbed wire. Abe, a tailor, worked in the ghetto textile industry. Conditions were terrible in the ghetto: it was extremely overcrowded, food was scarce, and disease and malnutrition were common. Jozek died in July 1941. The day before the ghetto was liquidated on August 4, 1944, Abe was sent to Auschwitz. In September, he was transferred to Siegmar-Schoenau labor camp, a subcamp of Flossenburg, where he was assigned prisoner number 26495. In January 1945, he was marched to Hohenstein-Ernstthal labor camp. Abe was liberated by Soviet troops on May 7, 1945, on a forced march to Flossenburg. He returned to Lodz and discovered that his parents, Samuel and Chana, had been sent to Chelmno killing center and his wife died while in forced labor service. Abe lived with a group of other survivors, but they felt threatened by the Soviet occupation and fled west. Abe went to Lampertheim displaced persons camp in Germany. He emigrated to the United States in 1947.