2 Mark Łódź Ghetto

The Łódź Ghetto scrip — issued by Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski under the title "Der Älteste der Juden in Litzmannstadt" — was a deliberate instrument of enclosure. By forcing internal exchange through a currency accepted nowhere outside the ghetto walls, the German administration severed the Jewish population's ability to transact with the surrounding city. Rumkowski himself, a deeply controversial figure who believed cooperation might secure survival, signed every denomination personally.

The watermarked paper is notable given the circumstances of production — security printing under ghetto conditions, almost certainly using materials controlled by the German authorities rather than sourced independently.