War Prisoner Money and Medals

By Guido Kisch
Reprinted from THE NUMISMATIST 1963
The guarantee of humane treatment for prisoners of war is an achievement of modern international law. This interesting and important legal problem was discussed at great length at several international conferences at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. A kind of ethical and legal code resulted consisting of a comprehensive body of rules and regulations, both written and unwritten. The International Red Cross played an important part in the development and crystallization of those humanitarian ideals as they are embodied today in the provisions of the international law concerning prisoners of war. Its rules have been explicitly or tacitly accepted and to a great extent put into practice by most of the civilized nations of the world. Their disregard, as in the recently reported case of 115 helpless American military prisoners of war murdered in cold blood by the Germans near Malmedy, or in the notorious death camps of Oswiecim and Belsen-Bergen, is a relapse into barbarism, characteristic of the Hitlerite hordes. As a rule, however, the status of prisoners of war is universally respected and they receive a fair treatment from all nations, in accordance with the rules of international law. They may be employed by their captors for certain labors, but must be accorded fair living conditions.
Considerations of war economy and corresponding military precautions created the necessity of issuing special money for the use of prisoners of war. A shortage in currency is often an unavoidable result of national war conditions. It would be greatly increased, of course, if the actual use of national currency would be permitted also to the rising numbers of captives. The issuance of special currency for the exclusive use of war prisoners is therefore an act of national defense in wartime. The use of this special type of money, for which both paper and metal are employed, is restricted in a twofold way. Its circulation is limited to war prisoners, and—even more strictly—to definite internment camps. The prisoners’ specially made money, often easily distinguishable through a round or square hole in the center, is excluded from general monetary circulation. The prisoner is not able to buy articles in the ordinary channels of the national commerce. Moreover, he is left without means in case of escape.