5 Marks

The Polska Krajowa Kasa Pożyczkowa was established by German occupying authorities in December 1916 to replace the Russian ruble in the territory of the Kingdom of Poland — a fiscal instrument of occupation dressed in Polish institutional clothing. The Mark it issued was pegged to the German Mark but administered separately, giving the Germans monetary control while offering Poles the symbolic conceit of a national institution.

Printing at the S. Manitius press in Łódź kept production inside occupied territory, unusual for an emergency wartime currency. The watermark is the only meaningful security feature, which proved inadequate — counterfeiting of the early series was a documented problem within the first year of circulation.