2 Pfennigs Eglosheim; PoW Camp

Eglosheim, a small town near Ludwigsburg in Württemberg, hosted one of the many German prisoner-of-war camps that issued their own internal currency during the First World War. These Lagergeld notes were a deliberate administrative tool — they prevented prisoners from accumulating Reichsmark that could fund escape attempts or be smuggled out, while also allowing camp authorities to control what could be purchased at the canteen.

The orange-red paper itself functioned as a security measure of sorts: colored stock made counterfeiting with ordinary materials more difficult and simplified denomination identification by guards with limited German literacy.