Catalog
50 Pfennigs Buchenwald Concentration Camp
| Issuer | SS-Standort-Kantine Buchenwald |
|---|---|
| Year | 1937-1945 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Pfennigs (0.50 RM) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress text on a pale green guilloche underprint with a scalloped border running the full perimeter. The issuer inscription appears along the top in bold Gothic-style lettering, underlined, with the denomination rendered in large numerals at centre flanked by the currency abbreviation on both sides and separated by double horizontal rules. The word WERTMARKE and a serial number appear in the lower portion of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ᛋᛋ-Standort-Kantine - Buchenwald RM. -.50 RM. WERTMARKE (Translation: SS-Location Canteen - Buchenwald. RM 0.50. Value token.) |
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| Comments |
Camp scrip issued at Buchenwald served no conventional monetary function. The SS-Standort-Kantine system restricted prisoner purchasing power to the camp canteen, where stock was deliberately inadequate and access selectively granted — effectively making the currency a tool of control rather than exchange. Buchenwald's scrip is among the better-documented examples of this system, partly because the camp's records survived Allied capture relatively intact in April 1945.
Forgeries were produced within the camp by prisoner networks. Some circulated undetected.