Catalog
5 Pfennigs Wiesa; Officer PoW Camp
| Issuer | Offizier-Gefangenen-Lager Wiesa bei Annaberg |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
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| Printer | Johannes Pässler, Dresden, Germany |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress on pink underprint, with a red handstamp applied at right. The Saxony coat of arms appears as a central vignette, flanked by the denomination numeral '5' in each corner. The text block carries the full redemption terms in Gothic script, with 'FÜNF PFENNIG' set in large bold type at centre. Two manuscript signatures appear at lower left and lower right, with the printer's imprint 'JOHANNES PÄSSLER DRESDEN-N.' along the bottom margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 5 OFFIZIER-GEFANGENEN-LAGER WIESA BEI ANNABERG Der Kriegsgefangene, Inhaber dieses Gutscheines, erhält bei seiner Entlassung nach der Heimat oder Ueberweisung in ein anderes Lager gegen Rückgabe den Betrag von FÜNF PFENNIG von der Verwaltung für Gefangenengeld des Offizier-Gefangenenlagers Wiesa bei Annaberg ausbezahlt. Der Schein gilt nur innerhalb des Lagers. Postoffizier Leutnant Wiesa bei Annaberg, 1. Januar 1916. Kommandant Rittmeister JOHANNES PÄSSLER DRESDEN-N. (Translation: Officer prisoner of war camp Wiesa near Annaberg. The prisoner of war, holder of this voucher, receives upon his release to the homeland or transfer to another camp upon return, the amount of five pfennigs paid by the administration for prisoner money of the officer prisoner of war camp Wiesa near Annaberg. The note is valid only inside the camp. Postal Officer. Lieutenant. Wiesa near Annaberg, January 1, 1916. Commandant. Cavalry Captain) |
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| Comments |
Wiesa bei Annaberg was a small officer prisoner-of-war camp in Saxony, and like dozens of similar German installations during the First World War, it issued its own internal scrip rather than allowing hard currency to circulate among the detainees. The legal authority for camp-issued notgeld rested on German military administrative orders that explicitly permitted commandants to run closed monetary systems — partly to prevent hoarding of Reich coinage, partly to limit the economic leverage of prisoners.
Johannes Pässler of Dresden handled a number of these camp issues, which accounts for the relatively clean typographic execution on what were, functionally, throwaway instruments. Very few circulated beyond the wire.