Hello, im visiting in Poland for about 4 days and came across this among some paper just found in the street.
Can't imagine what it would be from. My first thought was it was some sort of shop, but I image the selling of Nazi imagery would be forbidden, although I could be wrong.
The staples also aren't actually there, so this is some sort of photocopied picture.
I was thinking it could belong to a museum too but im not exactly near one. I'd love for any history buffs to maybe tell me if it's legit and whay i should do with it.
Thank you!
by KingCrunty
20 comments
Looks like a photocopy of a document of a WWII-era laborer under Nazi occupation. I can’t even fathom why it would just be laying on the street, maybe someone needed a photocopy for some purpose and lost it.
Yeah, I have one, original at home. Courtesy of Germany etc etc…
>but I image the selling of Nazi imagery would be forbidden
It’s not. You can buy originals of what you shared in antique stores, even online.
>Krzysztof Chłopieszczywiecz
A friend of Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz?
This is an [employment record book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_record_book) – or more precisely an employment record card, which was the equivalent of the book version used in nazi germany proper. See also: [work card](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_card)
Hight quality of the print would suggest it’s some kind of prop. I thought it was real before reading your post.
r/askgermany
Kartka dziadka
If anybody enjoys looking at old documents and trinkets like this, you can go to bazar na kole in Warsaw on Saturdays. PRL stuff, WW2 stuff, RP2 items, faded books and magazines, glassware, old oil paintings. I picked up a sweet Wałbrych porcelain tea set for 100zł. Babcia is in heaven now and she doesn’t need all that weird old stuff anymore. There’s even a classic eatery (aka a miserable little hut) right in the middle there where you can get szarlotka and tea. Go practice your Polish there, nobody will switch to English for you.
maybe some larp prop
My grandfather was taken by Germans as a labourer after they took Poland. He was sent somewhere to Bavaria and given to a family of farmers. They have treatened him realy badly and kept him in a barn, even during winter. That gave him kidney disease, that have killed him years later. His parents were told that he would be released from labouring if they signed the Deutsche Volksliste, making him 4th (?) class German citizen. They did it to save him but as soon as they did he was taken to German army. He finished the war in the Anders Army (Polish side) as a Green Beret and never spoke after the war of the war when he came back (he was really ashamed of the past). He was later a school principal but because of the past with Anders he could not get involved with any politics or governmental jobs, commies made sure of it. (All what I know from my Mom. I was born many years after he passed away.)
Thanks for the info everyone super helpful
Does google hurts people?
You should ask about it on r/germany
probably a time traveler dropped this. put it back where you found
I had no idea that there was a female equivalent of Krzysztof.
Donald Tusk’s document
The Polish language text on the bottom of the front cover states “Work Card.” The inside is the owner’s name: Krzysztofa Chlopieszczywiecz (a female name.) The top inside states: By the regulation of December 20, 1940, Journal or Regulations of GG (General Gubernatorship) I (number one), page 377. The part to the left of the stamp of an eagle with a svastika list is a profession group and profession codes. Unless feels like a copy, a reproduction or a film prop (the staple in the cover is not rusted, strangely), it might be an original that someone lost. If so, you might want to figure out who the owner is, as, if real, this is someone’s priceless family history treasure and that person is in a lot of distress right now over loosing it.
This document was given to people that were working for Nazi Germany (like tailor or factory worker) during second world war. It was given so if you were caught in “łapanka” (which was basically SSmanns arresting civil people and taking them to concentration camps or shot in the head right away) you just show the SSmann this document and they let you go. It was just proof that you are useful for Nazis.
The document in the image is titled “Arbeitskarte / Karta Pracy” and was issued by the Generalgouvernement, which was the Nazi German-occupied area of Poland during World War II. These work cards were used to register forced laborers—mostly Polish civilians—under the German occupation.
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