German Occupation/WW2/Concentration Camp Notes

German concentrantion camps for prisoner of war (Kriegsgefangenen - Lagergeld)

A central issue of notes for prisoners of war was created by Wehrmacht and circulated in at least 30 camps. The only official purpose of these notes was to purchase items in the camp canteens, but since that facilities were never well stocked, the notes had little value, and seems that they were used by prisoners mostly for gambling.

The notes are printed in front only, with a red triangle in the centre. They are printed on watermarked paper and serially numbered.

Issued notes are 1, 10, 50 reichspfennig and 1, 2, 5, 10 reichsmark.
20 reichsmark note was printed, but not issued, only specimen are known.











petronius

 

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The Nazi invasion and occupation of Ukraine was brutal - people whom had been oppressed and murdered by the Soviets, their language and culture suppressed etc were then subjected to the ethnic cleansing of the fascists invaders.

Zentralnotenbank Ukraine was authorised by the German high command in March 1942 with the objective of replacing USSR currency then in circulation in what would become the new colony. The original notes as prepared were mostly in Ukrainian language, but in keeping with the new master's perfidy the designs were changed to mostly German language while on the reverse of the notes bore small amount of Ukrainian language text to facilitate ease of identification for the "untermenschen" that were not so "privileged" to have been born "Aryan".




As with 500 Karbovanetz note, 200 Karbovnets note is somewhat rare nowadays as it was large denomination for where it was issued.





These notes did of course see some circulation, primarily west of the Dnepr river where more of the fascist filth were in occupation. They lost all value when the fascists were driven from the country by the lesser of the two evils - the Soviets.

 

I include this next note - on the surface one would think it is German - but like so many things the fascists filth stole - they stole whole countries, they even stole banknote designs. In this case, when they stole Austria they also stole the design for a new 100 Schilling note that was going to be released in 1938:



Notice the young Austrian woman with her edelweiss flower. This note design was used along with the 1929 dated note design from ca. 1940 until the introduction of the DeutschMark in 1948.



Notice the very "Austrian" appearance especially on the reverse.

But Austria finally got her note design in 1947:



Notice the similarity of the reverse and layout to the 1939 dated note issued by the fascist filth:

 

Bohemia and Moravia was made a "protectorate" puppet state by the fascist vermin when the proud Czechoslovak nation was eradicated with the tacit complicity of the British and French AKA "The Western Betrayal". Notes were issued by the new puppet government which again stole basic layout of design of the notes from previous Czechoslovak issues:









Portrait on reverse of note resembles a young Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom a bit:







Notice in contrast to Ukrainian occupation notes the usage of the Czech language was balanced with the German - but the fascist vermin saw that their language was prominent with it's top placement.

 

What I also find interesting is the use of "regular" (Antiqua) characters instead of the Fraktur script. The official reason for switching from Fraktur - that the nazis had initially promoted - to Antiqua was that the former were suddenly found to be Jewish ("Schwabacher Judenlettern"). So as from late 1940/early 1941, Antiqua was used.

However, since a complete change would have been costly, and Hitler was primarily concerned about financing his war, it was primarily in the German occupied territories that Antiqua was introduced. (On German coins, you would find Fraktur until the end of the war, and even on the 1945-48 coins issued by the allies.) The real reason for using Antiqua, of course, was a practical one: Following nazi orders that you cannot read is difficult ...

Christian

 

Kind of ironic that the first thing they did, once the country had gotten rid of the dictatorial regimes in the early 1990s, was to split - peacefully! - into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.

As for whether Nazi Germany "stole" Austria ... oh well. Guess you will know where Hitler was originally from, and also that the country had an Austrofascist regime before the Anschluss. We're not talking about a shining example of parliamentary democracy here. The two notes, I don't see why one should be a copy of the other, or be "stolen". Many coins and notes use design elements that can be found on other/earlier issues ...

Christian

 

Unlike practically everywhere else - they did it civilly like an amicable divorce - no one died for a ridiculous cause and no animosity lingers. They get along in contrast Jugoslavia and the USSR split up and started shooting and creating new and never-ending animosities. I like Czechs and Slovaks, great people.

 

Where all began...occupied Poland.

Hans Frank, governor of occupied Poland, announced on March 27, 1940, the establishment of the Bank of issue in Poland (Bank Emisyjny w Polsce), that issued two series of notes.

10 zlothych, March 1, 1940, first issue (in circulation from April, 8)





20 zlotych, March 1, 1940. first issue

 

5 zlotych, August 1, 1941, second issue





50 zlotych, August 1, 1941, second issue





100 zlotych, August 1, 1941, second issue




petronius

 

Thanks Petronius for posting the Polonia notes - sometime I want to work on collecting more of the pre-war notes from Poland.

 

I don't have notes of Poland before of the war, but there is another significant note of German occupation.

First of all, before the establishment of the issuing Polish Bank, Germans overprinted two earlier 100 zlotych notes, dated 1932 and 1934. The red overprint says "Generalgouvernement fur die besetzen polnischen Gebiete" (General governement for the occupied Polish territories).
These notes were used for only two months, from end of January to end of March 1940, and today are very rare.

I don't have this note in my collection, indeed I never really seen it in 17 years that I collect WWII notes and coins.

This picture, of 1932 note, is from an old Italian magazine.



petronius

 

Hi,
edited - forum rules


Uwe

 

Reichskreditkassenscheine (Reich's credit treasury notes)

These are the occupation notes used by Germans in most of the occupied countries.

They were issued by the Reichskreditkasse, a bank specifically created for this purpose, under the control of the Reichsbank. The non-convertible notes issued by this bank, were called Reichskreditkassenschein (Reich's credit treasury notes), and used for the first time in Poland, since 2 October 1939, but they remain in circulation only briefly.

Then, they were issued and used in Belgium, Denmark, Greece, France, Luxembourg, Norway, Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and, for a short time, in North Italy, during the early weeks of Salò Republic (September-October 1943).

Their face value was 50 reichspfennig, 1, 2, 5, 20 and 50 reichsmark







petronius

 

When the German Army entered in a foreign country, a decree was issued, making the Reichskreditkassencheine legal tender at a specific exchange rate, usually unfavorable to the currency of the occupied country, with respect to pre-invasion exchange rate between reichsmark and local legal tender.

German soldiers received their pay in Rechskreditkassenscheine notes, and because they were legal tender only in the occupied areas, it had to be spent there. Its value was forfeited on return to Germany. Branch offices of Reichskreditkasse were opened in all major cities of the occupied areas, to facilitate the normalization of commerce and to speed the pay of troops following occupation.







petronius

 

interesting thread ....

 

Yeah, I'm perfectly fine with Slavic people.

My grandfather was eight when the Germans invaded and he remembers when they came through.

Yes, I am awesome, thanks.

 

Hi,

this is a "Verrechnungsschein" issued by the German Forces at the end of 1944. These notes were used for travelling forces and to pay fees in the occupied contries. The rules were printed on the backside.