5 Heller Kleinmünchen; PoW Camp

Kleinmünchen, a suburb of Linz, held Russian prisoners captured on the Eastern Front — the camp was operational by late 1914 and issued its own internal currency to prevent prisoners from accumulating spendable Austrian kronen. These camp notes functioned within the canteen system, restricting what prisoners could buy and from whom. The 5 Heller denomination sits at the low end of the Kleinmünchen series, consistent with small canteen purchases.

Locally produced rather than commercially printed, the note's survival rate is low. Camp scrip was rarely preserved by prisoners on repatriation, and Austrian camp administrators had no incentive to archive it.