2 Mark Eschwege; P.O.W. Camp

Eschwege was a Prussian town in Hesse-Nassau that housed a dedicated officers' prisoner-of-war camp during the First World War. The Kommandantur issued its own denominated scrip specifically because officers — under the Hague Conventions — could not be compelled to work, and were instead paid a monthly allowance against which they drew camp currency. The 2 Mark denomination sat at the practical middle of most canteen transactions.

Camp scrip of this type was never redeemable outside the wire, and most was destroyed or discarded at repatriation. Eschwege issues are sparsely documented in the major references, and surviving examples of any denomination are genuinely uncommon.