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2 Kronen Marchtrenk; PoW Camp
| Issuer | K. u. K. Kriegsgefangenenlager Marchtrenk (Imperial and Royal Prisoner of War Camp Marchtrenk) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 2 Crowns (2 Kronen) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress on white paper with an overall orange guilloche underprint of interlocking floral and geometric lattice patterns forming a decorative border. At centre, a small Imperial double-headed eagle vignette is positioned beneath the large denomination numeral '2', flanked by matching numerals on either side, with the camp authority title in two lines above and the inscription 'LAGERGELD' below the eagle. The lower register carries two manuscript signatures attributed to the Referent (left) and the Lagerkommandant (right), separated by a handwritten serial number, with the printer's imprint at foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | K. U. K. KRIEGSGEFANGENENLAGER MARCHTRENK ZWEI KRONEN 2 LAGERGELD Referent. Lagerkommandant. HAAS & COMP. STEYR. (Translation: Imperial and Royal prisoner of war camp Marchtrenk. Two krone camp money. Consultant. Camp commander.) |
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| Comments |
Marchtrenk, in Upper Austria, held Russian prisoners taken during the opening campaigns on the Eastern Front. The camp's internal currency was a practical necessity — Austrian authorities needed to prevent PoW scrip from circulating outside the wire, and ordinary Kronen could not be permitted in prisoner hands. Haas & Comp. in nearby Steyr handled production for several such camps in the region, making this a locally sourced solution to a logistical problem that was essentially the same across the Habsburg PoW system.
Camp issues from 1915 are among the earliest Austrian PoW scrip, predating the more formalized Lagergeld designs that appeared later in the war.