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1 Reichsmark - Winterhilfswerk
| Issuer | Winterhilfswerk des Deutschen Volkes (WHW) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1940 |
| Type | Vouchers |
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| Obverse description | Printed in purple-rose on cream paper. Large swastika underprint at left; denomination tablet at lower left inscribed 'RM 1' with guilloche band across the centre reading 'WERTSCHEIN'. Upper right vignette within a ruled frame shows two eagles facing each other; 'KRIEGSWINTERHILFSWERK' legend at top and bottom. Serial letter and number in red at upper left. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed in purple-rose on cream paper with a light guilloche underprint. Upper section provides a handwritten recipient name and address field headed 'Eigenhändige Unterschrift und Anschrift des Betreuten'. Lower left carries the redemption terms text with the Reichsbeauftragter's printed signature; lower right lists the three redeemable goods categories — 'Lebensmittel', 'Bekleidung', 'Brennstoffe' — alongside a merchant stamp and signature space. |
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| Comments |
The Winterhilfswerk des Deutschen Volkes was the Nazi regime's annual winter relief drive, framed as a national welfare campaign but functioning as a compulsory fundraising mechanism — donations were rarely voluntary in any meaningful sense. These Reichsmark-denominated notes were issued as charitable tokens, not legal tender, intended to be contributed and redeemed within the campaign framework rather than spent in ordinary commerce.
Giesecke & Devrient, the Leipzig firm that printed them, was simultaneously producing genuine Reichsbank currency — an odd situation in which the same presses served both the state's monetary system and its propaganda apparatus. The 1940 campaign ran during the first full winter of the western war, when the regime was particularly invested in projecting domestic solidarity.