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2 Pfennigs Großporitsch; PoW Camp
| Issuer | Kriegsgefangenenlager Groß-Poritsch |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
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| Printer | Johannes Päßler, Dresden |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed voucher on cream paper with a decorative border of interlocking geometric meander pattern. A blue guilloche underprint centres the denomination ZWEI PFENNIG in bold majuscules. The heading reads Kriegsgefangenenlager Groß-Poritsch with denomination numeral 2 in each corner; date Groß-Poritsch, 1. Februar 1916 and a Kommandant/Major facsimile signature appear at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Reverse is unprinted, showing only the faint bleed-through impression of the obverse letterpress and guilloche underprint visible through the thin paper stock. |
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| Comments |
Groß-Poritsch was a World War One prisoner-of-war camp in Silesia, and like dozens of similar facilities across the German Empire, it issued its own internal currency to manage canteen transactions without introducing Reichsmark into the camp economy — partly to prevent hoarding, partly to restrict what prisoners could purchase. The printer, Johannes Päßler of Dresden, handled a considerable volume of this kind of small-denomination camp scrip during the war years.
At 2 Pfennigs, this is the lowest denomination in the Groß-Poritsch series. Survival rates for these issues are unpredictable — some camps destroyed remaining stocks at armistice, others simply abandoned them.