50 Reichspfennig

Wehrmacht Reichskreditkassen notes were one thing; this Behelfszahlungsmittel — auxiliary payment scrip — was something else entirely. Issued specifically for use by German military personnel in occupied territories, the 50 Reichspfennig denomination was designed to extract local goods and services without exposing the Reich's main currency to the pressures of occupation economics. The occupying forces paid with scrip; the locals were left to redeem it from authorities who had no obligation to honor it at par.

The 1942 dating places this in the period of maximum German territorial reach. Surviving examples turn up across former occupied Western Europe, the Balkans, and North Africa — the scrip followed the army.