Concentration Camp and Ghetto Currency

[CARL]

The Dachau piece is a fantasy item. KL Dachau scrip had a totally different appearance. Later in the thread, I will show the correct format. The other examples are originals, with the Buchenwald token being a nice slanted leg variant of the 1st type 2RM token. The Litzmannstadt Zwei mark note is a well worn example, commonly found in this state.

Regards,

Carl

[douglas2496]

Thanks very much for your help. I look forward to seeing some genuine Dachau notes.

[CARL]

The SS made money everywhere, from the exploitation of slave labourers through to selling materials obtained through deportations and mass murders. One area that is often overlooked is the currency that was exchanged by prisoners who had just arrived at a ghetto or transit camp. Many inmates were forced to hand over their savings, precious stones and the like in exchange for camp or ghetto money. In reality, they were being robbed by their SS masters as the tokens and notes were virtually worthless. At locales such as Theresienstadt, banks were set up where prisoners could make deposits of their new currency, which they were led to believe would be exchanged for genuine money later. This patently never happened, yet prisoners could do little about it. Relatives were also encouraged to send money to the prisoners, which was then exchanged for camp money at a rate that was most convenient for the SS. At Theresienstadt for example, 1RM would acquire 10Kronen of ghetto money. The image below shows a scarce Theresienstadt Spar-Karte (savings card). This example is a late period piece, that was issued to a woman who arrived at Theresienstadt on one of the final transports to leave Prague for the ghetto, hence the lack of entries due to the shortage of time to accrue any currency.

Regards,

Carl

[CARL]

KL-Buchenwald.

The KL, near Weimar, opened in 1937 as KL-Ettersberg, changing its name just two weeks later. Almost eight years later, the camp finally closed in April 1945, having claimed an estimated 55,000-60,000 victims. KL-Buchenwald had well over one hundred subcamps and external kommandos, including Allendorf, Giessen, Jena and Rottleberode, some of which had their own specific camp scrip. Many of the subcamps had their name overstamped onto the Buchenwald scrip.

Two varieties of note were produced. Type 1 notes are headed "SS-Standort-Kantine - Buchenwald", with a large twin RM print mark either side of a centralised value. Below this, "Wertmarke", a serial number and asterix are present. The denominations were 0.5RM, 1RM, 2RM and 3RM. The period type 1 notes have two slight variations, with the legs of the "M", in the "RM" print mark being present both in vertical and slanted form. Slight differences in the rounded or angular form of the "1" can also be found. All denominations should measure approximately 104x75mm. No watermarks should be present, but traces of fire damage may be. American forces who liberated the camp in April 1945, found bundles of the notes, some of which had been burned by the camp staff before the US troops arrived.

Shown below are original examples of the type detailed above.

[CARL]

KL-Buchenwald Type 2 notes.

Notes printed with a large diagonal "Aussenkommando" (outside work), were used in many of the subcamps. The names of some of these camps were overstamped on the face of the notes, including known examples from Rottleberode, the most common, Schwerte (Ruhr) and Altenburg. The overstamp markings appear in different colours, namely red, blue, violet and black.

Type 2 notes are the same size as the notes without Aussenkommando markings, and also bear the asterix, serial number, value and "Wertmarke" markings, although the design differs from the type 1 examples. The serial numbers are generally four or five digits.

[douglas2496]

Very interesting, thank you.

[CARL]

The counterfeit notes.

One of the most common KL/ghetto related scrip on the market, is the reproduction 2RM example with diagonal Aussenkommando marking. Several flaws often reveal their nature to the trained eye, including the white paper - originals were produced using a very low grade off-white paper, hence the almost fragile condition of many period examples found today, the larger than original serial number digits (5mm instead of the correct 4mm), and often inconsistent background "petal pattern" - originals always appear uniform with no faded areas. These pieces started to appear during the 1980's. Other faked Buchenwald examples bear huge denomination values, watermarks and incorrect design formats.

Original examples should always appear in the following colours...

Types I and II:

0.50RM - pale green
1RM - blue
2RM - red
3RM - light brown

[CARL]

Detailed images below, show the diagonal Aussenkommando markings on an original second type 2RM example, and a close-up of a sub-camp overstamp marking. Notice the uniform petal pattern in the background. Reproduction pieces generally display lusterless areas in comparison.

[CARL]

Compare to this more modern production, a second type 2RM Aussenkommando example. These appear fairly close at first, yet upon closer inspection, several flaws can be found. The high serial number, i.e. beginning "99.." are also a subject of interest. It is indeed questionable that period produced tokens reached that figure, with most legitimate examples bearing lower serial numbers.

[CARL]

A rather large lot of camp currency sold earlier today, on a well known dealer's site. The winning amount of the auction was several hundred dollars. Unfortunately, almost all of the pieces are reproduction or fantasy items, including several examples similar to the Aussenkommando marked Buchenwald tokens shown in the last post, and another example of the Oranienburg fantasy piece, also shown earlier in this thread.