2 Pfennigs Großporitsch; PoW Camp

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.