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½ Rouble Irkutsk
| Issuer | Lager-Tabori (POW Camp), Irkutsk |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
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| Currency | First Soviet Rouble (1917-1922) |
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| Obverse description | Printed in orange on cream paper, the face is enclosed within a decorative outer border of repeating oval links. A central rectangular cartouche carries the large stylised denomination inscription '1/2 RUBEL' in bold Art Nouveau letterpress. To the right, a circular guilloche medallion with radiating sunburst lines frames a monogram cipher. Horizontal wavy line fillers occupy the background field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Plain cream paper reverse bearing a circular violet handstamp applied at centre, reading 'Лагерь-Табори / БОН / Иркутск' around the circumference, validating the voucher for camp use. A typeset serial number in black is printed vertically at left. |
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| Comments |
Irkutsk hosted several large prisoner-of-war camps during and immediately after World War One, holding primarily Austro-Hungarian captives — Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, and others swept up in the mass surrenders on the Eastern Front. Camp scrip of this kind was a practical necessity: Russian military authorities needed to control internal camp economies, pay for labor, and prevent hard currency from circulating freely among thousands of captives. The "Lager-Tabori" designation itself is a hybrid — "Lager" German, "Tabori" Hungarian — reflecting the multinational composition of the prisoner population it was designed to serve.
By 1919 the war was over, but many captives remained stranded in Siberia as the Russian Civil War raged around them. This scrip was issued into that chaotic interregnum.