50 Heller Harth bei Amstetten; PoW Camp

Harth bei Amstetten was one of the Austro-Hungarian prisoner-of-war camps established during the First World War, and this 50 Heller note is a product of its internal scrip economy — issued by the officers' section of the camp specifically to control purchasing within its boundaries and prevent regular currency from circulating among prisoners. These camp-issue notes are catalogued under Campbell rather than Pick because they fall outside conventional central bank issuance entirely.

Paper camp scrip from this period survives erratically. Much was destroyed at war's end or simply discarded by repatriated prisoners who had no use for it.