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1 Pfennig Ellwangen; Officer PoW Camp
| Issuer | Kassenkommission - Offizier-Gefangenenlager Ellwangen |
|---|---|
| Year | |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 95 x 60 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Kein öffentliches Zahlungsmittel 1 Pfennig Nur im Ofizier-Gef.-Lager Ellwangen gültig |
| Reverse description | Plain white paper bearing a large oval violet ink stamp applied by hand at centre. The stamp encloses a crowned heraldic shield with laurel branches, surrounded by the circular legend "Kassenkommission - Offizier-Gefangenenlager Ellwangen" and a small star at the base. |
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| Comments |
Ellwangen, a small town in Württemberg, housed one of Germany's officer-grade prisoner of war camps during the First World War. The internal scrip issued there was a practical administrative solution — Allied officers were entitled under the Hague Convention to receive pay, and camp authorities needed a controlled currency that couldn't be spent outside the wire. The Kassenkommission, the camp's own treasury committee, managed the issue directly rather than routing it through civilian banking channels.
The 1 Pfennig denomination is the lowest in the Ellwangen series, and low-value notes from camp scrip systems tend to survive in worse condition than higher denominations — they circulated hardest among men who had nothing else to do but use them.