Objects

Twelve tickets of the ration coupons, cut off from the rest. One seal, black rectangular, visible fragmentarily at the bottom left - ended at the cut off part. At the top of the printing an indication of the period: 1945. No inscriptions other than the printing. Most likely the coupons were not used by the Włodawers neither in Uzbekistan nor during the repatriation trip and were brought to Poland.

In her diary, Paulina Włodawer writes that a large part of the goods, including food products, were obtained in the USSR and moreover nonofficially. Furthermore, she states very directly: “I am not at all sure if it actually did not save the economy as well. Were it not for the other, the black market, nothing could possibly be functioning, at least at that time. From large transactions to small things, such as some thread, string or a few glass jars - everything was circulating on the black market, so the bazaars in Tashkent were a center of commercial, and actually of social life as well (colorful, noisy, busy, oriental - the main people entertainment). Everything could be bought here, everything could be sold, the origin of the goods was completely unimportant. The policemen that were wandering around sometimes, understood it as well as all the others (but it was better when there were only the parties interested)'' (entry of 28 April 1981).