War Prisoner Money and Medals

by Guido Kisch

WAR PRISONER MONEY AND MEDALS

By
Guido Kisch

Reprinted from
THE NUMISMATIST
1963

I
Internment Camp Money

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.

These are the ideas and motives underlying the issuance of separate money for prisoners of war.

Austrian War-Prisoner Money Used in the Officers Prison Camp Mühling
(Courtesy of the American Numismatic Society)

During the First World War such money was produced by the warring nations of Europe. In Germany, where 635,000 allied prisoners were confined at the end of the war, it was called Gefangenenlagergeld; in France, with the greatest number of German war prisoners (400,000), it was known as monnaies des camps de prisonniers. In Germany production reached tremendous amounts and resulted in almost unbelievable varieties, far surpassing the needs dictated by war economy and military policy. Röttinger’s catalogue of German internment camp money lists about 1360 different places of issue and authorities competent to issue such money. There were thousands of types and varieties. All kinds of material were used and all types of style imaginable were represented. From these facts another motif comes to light which prompted that mass production of war prisoner money. Apparently this new type of currency quickly attracted the attention of numismatists, first in the lands of its origin, then in the adjacent neutral countries, and later in the entire world. The interest of collectors and students once awakened was soon exploited by the German government through a mass export of complete sets of prisoner currency to foreign countries. Thus a means was provided of obtaining valuable and badly needed foreign exchange for a worthless kind of currency. In fact it was a practically worthless kind of money, worthless even from the numismatic point of view. For the almost innumerable varieties impaired the collector’s interest who could not entertain any hope ever to obtain a complete collection. While Germany continued this practice for the duration of the war, in line with her general inflationary policy, Austria-Hungary seems to have kept the issuance of her war prisoner money within the limits of the actual war needs.