20 Heller Aschach a. d. Donau POW

Aschach an der Donau was one of the larger Austro-Hungarian internment camps, housing primarily Russian and Italian prisoners during the middle and later years of the war. Like most K. u. K. camp currencies, this Lagergeld was issued to contain the prisoner economy — preventing direct access to Austrian civil coinage that could theoretically fund escape attempts or black-market transactions outside the wire.

Haas & Comp. in Steyr produced several camp note series for Upper Austrian facilities, which gives this issue a regional coherence unusual among the scattered procurement arrangements typical of wartime camp administration. Survival rates are uneven across the Heller denominations; the 20 Heller circulated heavily enough that worn examples are the norm rather than the exception.