1 Pfennig Neunkirchen-Saar; Officer PoW Camp

Prisoner of war camp money from the First World War occupies a genuinely peculiar corner of notaphily — issued by the detaining power for use within the camp economy, with no legal standing outside the wire. The Neunkirchen-Saar facility held officer-grade prisoners, which under the 1907 Hague Convention entitled detainees to certain privileges, including access to canteen goods. This internal currency existed precisely to facilitate that — and to prevent real money from circulating inside the camp.

Neunkirchen sits in the Saar coalfield. Whether the camp's location near industrial infrastructure was incidental to its selection or not, the region was heavily militarized throughout the war.