Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Pfennig Wiesa; Officer PoW Camp
| Issuer | Offizier-Gefangenen-Lager Wiesa bei Annaberg |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Yes |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Black letterpress text on green guilloche underprint, with the denomination numeral '50' repeated in each corner. The camp title and full redemption text appear in a central text block, with the denomination spelled out in bold capitals across the middle of the note. Two manuscript signatures appear at lower centre, identified by printed titles as Postoffizier/Leutnant (left) and Kommandant/Rittmeister (right), with the printer's imprint of Johannes Pässler, Dresden at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 50 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 FÜNFZIG 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 fifty 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) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Wiesa, a small village near Annaberg in Saxony, housed one of the many officer prisoner-of-war camps Germany operated under the 1907 Hague Convention framework, which required detaining powers to provide officers with pay commensurate with their rank. That obligation created a practical problem: German currency could not be permitted to circulate freely among prisoners who might use it to fund escapes. Camp-specific Lagergeld was the administrative solution — a closed scrip redeemable only within the wire.
Johannes Pässler of Dresden printed this note, a firm that handled a number of such Saxon camp issues in 1916. The Camb#3601 reference places it within a reasonably well-documented but physically scarce series; officer camps held far fewer men than enlisted camps, meaning print runs were correspondingly small.