1 Cent Fort Niagara PoW Camp

Fort Niagara, situated at the mouth of the Niagara River on Lake Ontario, held German prisoners from 1944 through the end of the war and into the repatriation period. The canteen scrip issued there was a deliberate containment measure — allowing prisoners to purchase goods without handling U.S. currency, which could theoretically fund escape attempts or be smuggled out.

The Youngstown printing origin is unsurprising; local commercial printers handled most American PoW camp scrip rather than any centralized government facility. Fort Niagara processed thousands of German prisoners, many transferred from North African and European theater captures.