Soldau — now Działdowo in northern Poland — issued this emergency coinage in 1918 as the German imperial economy buckled under wartime metal shortages. Iron had replaced copper and nickel in civilian coinage years earlier, and by 1918 municipal authorities across the eastern provinces were filling the gap left by a central government that could no longer supply adequate small change. Soldau sat near the site of the 1914 Battle of Tannenberg, and the town had been briefly occupied by Russian forces before Hindenburg's counteroffensive swept them back — the disruption to normal commerce lingered well past the fighting.
Soldau — now Działdowo in northern Poland — issued this emergency coinage in 1918 as the German imperial economy buckled under wartime metal shortages. Iron had replaced copper and nickel in civilian coinage years earlier, and by 1918 municipal authorities across the eastern provinces were filling the gap left by a central government that could no longer supply adequate small change. Soldau sat near the site of the 1914 Battle of Tannenberg, and the town had been briefly occupied by Russian forces before Hindenburg's counteroffensive swept them back — the disruption to normal commerce lingered well past the fighting.