The Lodz Ghetto Work Pass of Dwosia Spektor

 

The Story of Dwosia Spektor

Dwosia Dlugacz was born on March 20, 1885. She married Josef Spektor, a Hebrew teacher, and they had two daughters and a grandchild. Dwosia's brother, Benjamin Dlugacz, a pharmacist in Lodz, and his wife, Brindla (nee' Jacubowicz), were both born in Bogdanow (near Belchatow) and had a daughter, Ida, and a son, Adam. Before the Germans entered Lodz in September 1939, Adam escaped to Slonim, still in the Russian sector of Poland. Afterwards, he was never heard and was presumed lost when the Germans took the town.

Ida and her parents were forced to move into the Lodz ghetto. Both of Ida's parents died in the ghetto; her father was shot. After Benjamin's death, Ida was questioned by the Gestapo about hidden stock from his pharmacy. Ida saved her own life by telling the Gestapo what she knew. She managed to gather enough money to have both her parents buried in the Jewish cemetery, despite the desperate situation in the ghetto.

After Dwosia's husband died of disease in the ghetto, she took her own life rather than be a burden to her children. Ida Dlugacz and her cousins, together with one cousin's husband and child, were deported to Auschwitz in 1944. Upon arrival, only Ida and one of her cousins were "selected" to live. The cousin's child called to his mother and she managed to cross over to join him, dying with him.

Ida Dlugacz survived the Holocaust and was somehow able to recover her aunt Dwosia's Lodz ghetto work pass, pictured below. The work pass was signed by Hans Biebow, the Nazi administrator of the ghetto, later executed as a war criminal.

It is a horrific story, but only one among millions.

February 23, 1999
Aubrey Jacobus
Aubrey@Jacobyte.com

Image of work pass courtesy of Aubrey Jacobus

Translation

Translation courtesy of Fritz Neubauer and Marilyn Schapiro  

Diagonally over the face of the pass, stamped: "GESTORBEN" ("died")

Handwritten:

"9. Mai 1944" ("9 May 1944")
"f. d. Statistik" ("for the statistic," followed by initials)
"Tgb 6503" ("Tagebuch" or "diary")
 

(Photo)

(no entry)

Signature of the Card owner

(no entry)

Signature of the factory manager

Litzmannstadt-Ghetto, the__of 194_

GHETTO LABOR DEPARTMENT
Identification-Card
Worker No. 59542
Name: Spektor
First name: Dwosia
Date of birth: March 20, 1885
address: Franzstrasse 12
is employed in factory No. 65
House slipper department II
as Shoe weaver
Day employment started: (no entry)
Typewritten addendum: new address: Rembrandt 13
(He) (She) is allowed to be on the streets during curfew hours.
Ghetto Labor Department
Approved by (illegible) No.70.002
Trade learned: Household
Present work: Shoe weaver
Sex: Female
Age on January 1, 1943: 58 years
Working started: January 15, 1943
Unemployed from 194_to 194_ 
Unemployed from 194_to 194_
Unemployed from 194_to 194_
____________________
Workers keep in mind!

Whoever does not have a Worker's Card, will be considered unemployed. If the Worker's Card is lost, inform the Factory Manager immediately, so that he can apply for a Duplicate Card at the Ghetto Labor Department. Such cards have the stamp Duplicate Card and are as valid as the original.

To be followed exactly!
Be careful to keep the card in the protective folder so that it remains legible

Any alterations made by the card holder will be punished

Keep with you at all times

This identification card is not transferable
 

Ghetto Administration 
signed: BIEBOW.
 

PLEASE REFER ALL INQUIRIES TO THE LODZ AREA RESEARCH GROUP MAILING LIST
WEBSITE PROBLEMS ONLY SHOULD BE REFERRED TO THE WEBMASTER.

Hosted by JewishGen, Inc.
Copyright © 1999-2003 Shirley Rotbein Flaum, ©2004-2015 Roni Seibel Liebowitz. All rights reserved.
Lodz ShtetLinks site founded by Shirley Rotbein Flaum (webmaster 1999-2004)