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5 Francs - Camp de concentration de Garaison Hautes-Pyrénées
| Issuer | Camp de Concentration de Garaison, Hautes-Pyrénées |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916-1918 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Francs |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Brown letterpress print on cream paper with a decorative chain-link border and rosette cornerpieces. The camp authority inscription and large denomination text CINQ FRANCS are centred within the frame, with a faint blue underprint visible across the note body. Signature lines for Le Comptable and Le Directeur appear at the lower portion, flanking a handwritten serial number. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | G G 5 Francs 5 Francs ☆ PRÉFECTURE DES HAUTES PYRÉNÉES ☆ CAMP de CONCENTRATION de GARAISON REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE HP HP (Translation: Hautes-Pyrénées prefecture. Concentration Camp of Garaison. French Republic.) |
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| Comments |
Garaison was not a military prison camp but a civilian internment site — one of dozens established across France during the First World War to hold enemy nationals, primarily German and Austro-Hungarian civilians caught inside French borders at the outbreak of hostilities. The camp occupied a former pilgrimage sanctuary in the Hautes-Pyrénées, a detail that gives the site an unusual character among French internment facilities.
Camp scrip of this type was issued to allow internees to purchase goods within the camp economy while preventing French currency from circulating among a population considered a security risk. L. Cassan Aîné was a regional Toulouse printer with no particular specialization in security documents, which shows — the notes are typographically plain and easily replicated, a known vulnerability the authorities apparently accepted.