2 Pfennig - Berlin Kaufhaus des Westens GmbH

The Kaufhaus des Westens — better known as KaDeWe — issued zinc tokens during World War I when the Imperial German government requisitioned copper and nickel for munitions production. Private retailers and municipalities across Germany responded by striking their own Notgeld coinage in substitute metals, and KaDeWe, then already one of Berlin's largest department stores, was among those authorized to circulate such pieces internally. Zinc was abundant, cheap, and deeply unpopular with the public, who correctly suspected it would corrode quickly in pocket wear.