Catalog
5 Mark Golzern; PoW Camp
| Issuer | Kriegsgefangenenlager Golzern (Mulde) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
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| Currency | Papiermark (1914-1923) |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress text on a light brown underprint, enclosed within a fine guilloche border frame running the full perimeter. The camp designation 'Kriegsgefangenenlager Golzern (Mulde)' is set across the top, with the denomination 'FÜNF MARK' in large bold type at centre, above a multi-line redemption text in German. Two manuscript signatures appear at lower centre, those of the Verpflegungsoffizier (Oberleutnant) at left and the Kommandant (Oberst) at right, with the printer's imprint 'Johannes Pässler, Dresden-N.' along the bottom margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 5 Kriegsgefangenenlager Golzern (Mulde) Der Kriegsgefangene, Inhaber dieses Gutscheines, erhält bei seiner Entlassung nach der Heimat oder Überweisung in ein anderes Lager gegen Rückgabe den Betrag von FÜNF MARK von der Verwaltung für Gefangenengeld des Kriegsgefangenenlagers Golzern (Mulde) ausbezahlt. Der Schein gilt nur innerhalb des Lagers. Verpflegungsoffizier. Kommandant. Oberleutnant. Oberst. Golzern (Mulde) am 2. Februar 1916. (Translation: Prisoner of War Camp Golzern (Mulde) The prisoner of war, holder of this voucher, will receive upon his release to his homeland or transfer to another camp the sum of Five Mark, paid out by the prisoner money administration of the Golzern (Mulde) prisoner of war camp. The certificate is only valid within the camp. Golzern (Mulde) Supply Officer. Commandant. First Lieutenant. Colonel. February 2nd 1916) |
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| Comments |
Golzern was a prisoner-of-war labor camp on the Mulde river in Saxony, and its scrip exists because the German military required PoW camps to maintain internal accounting systems that kept Allied and other foreign prisoners from accumulating Reichsmarks — currency that could theoretically fund an escape. The Pässler firm in Dresden printed camp money for multiple facilities during the war, working essentially as a small commercial stationer servicing the military bureaucracy rather than any central issuing authority.
The 5 Mark denomination is the highest in the Golzern series, which itself is among the better-documented Saxon camp issues in Campgeld scholarship. Netlage and Hartung both catalogued the series, though surviving examples across all denominations remain genuinely scarce.