2 Marks - Güstrow Kriegsgefangenenlager IX A.K.

Güstrow's POW camp operated under the IX Army Corps and issued its own internal currency to prevent prisoners from accumulating Reichsmarks usable outside the wire. The 2 Mark denomination sits at the upper end of the Güstrow camp money series, suggesting it was intended for canteen purchases of modest value — tobacco, soap, supplementary food — rather than daily small transactions.

1918 dating places this at the final year of the camp's operation. Repatriation of prisoners following the November armistice was chaotic, and most camp scrip was simply discarded or destroyed in the process, which accounts for the relative scarcity of surviving Güstrow pieces in any grade.