Zellstofffabrik Waldhof was one of Germany's major cellulose and pulp manufacturers, and its Tilsit plant — situated in what is now Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast — issued emergency iron pieces in 1918 as the imperial coinage system buckled under wartime metal requisitions. By that point, virtually all copper and nickel had been diverted to the war effort, forcing factories, municipalities, and transit operators across Germany to produce their own Notgeld to keep small transactions moving on the shop floor.
Zellstofffabrik Waldhof was one of Germany's major cellulose and pulp manufacturers, and its Tilsit plant — situated in what is now Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast — issued emergency iron pieces in 1918 as the imperial coinage system buckled under wartime metal requisitions. By that point, virtually all copper and nickel had been diverted to the war effort, forcing factories, municipalities, and transit operators across Germany to produce their own Notgeld to keep small transactions moving on the shop floor.