4 Mark Thann, Freiwillige Feuerwehr

Thann's volunteer fire brigade issued this notgeld at the outbreak of the First World War, when the town found itself directly in the combat zone of the contested Alsace front. German and French forces fought over the Thann valley repeatedly between 1914 and 1918, making civilian emergency scrip not merely a monetary convenience but a practical necessity as normal banking channels collapsed under military occupation and shelling.

The watermarked paper is notable for a civic emergency issue of this kind — most fire brigade notgeld from the same period relied on plain stock.