WAR PRISONER MONEY AND MEDALS
By
Guido Kisch
Reprinted from
THE NUMISMATIST
1963
I
Internment Camp Money
The guarantee of humane treatment for prisoners of war is anachievement of modern international law. This interesting and importantlegal problem was discussed at great length at several internationalconferences at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentiethcentury. A kind of ethical and legal code resulted consisting of acomprehensive body of rules and regulations, both written and unwritten.The International Red Cross played an important part in thedevelopment and crystallization of those humanitarian ideals as theyare embodied today in the provisions of the international law concerningprisoners of war. Its rules have been explicitly or tacitly acceptedand to a great extent put into practice by most of the civilized nationsof the world. Their disregard, as in the recently reported case of 115helpless American military prisoners of war murdered in cold blood bythe Germans near Malmedy, or in the notorious death camps of Oswiecimand Belsen-Bergen, is a relapse into barbarism, characteristic of theHitlerite hordes. As a rule, however, the status of prisoners ofwar is universally respected and they receive a fair treatment from allnations, in accordance with the rules of international law. They maybe employed by their captors for certain labors, but must be accordedfair living conditions.
Considerations of war economy and corresponding military precautionscreated the necessity of issuing special money for the use ofprisoners of war. A shortage in currency is often an unavoidable resultof national war conditions. It would be greatly increased, of course, ifthe actual use of national currency would be permitted also to the risingnumbers of captives. The issuance of special currency for the exclusiveuse of war prisoners is therefore an act of national defense in wartime.The use of this special type of money, for which both paper and metalare employed, is restricted in a twofold way. Its circulation is limitedto war prisoners, and—even more strictly—to definite internment camps.The prisoners’ specially made money, often easily distinguishablethrough a round or square hole in the center, is excluded from generalmonetary circulation. The prisoner is not able to buy articles in theordinary channels of the national commerce. Moreover, he is left withoutmeans in case of escape.
These are the ideas and motives underlying the issuance of separatemoney for prisoners of war.
Austrian War-Prisoner MoneyUsed in the Officers Prison Camp Mühling
(Courtesy of the American Numismatic Society)
During the First World War such money was produced by the warringnations of Europe. In Germany, where 635,000 allied prisonerswere confined at the end of the war, it was called Gefangenenlagergeld;in France, with the greatest number of German war prisoners (400,000),it was known as monnaies des camps de prisonniers. In Germany productionreached tremendous amounts and resulted in almost unbelievablevarieties, far surpassing the needs dictated by war economy and militarypolicy. Röttinger’s catalogue of German internment camp money