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!
2 Reichsmarks Dachau Concentration Camp
| Issuer | Konzentrationslager Dachau |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 2 Marks (2 RM) |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Printed in black letterpress on tan paper, the obverse bears the heading 'Konzentrationslager Dachau' at top, separated by a ruled line from the large bold legend 'PRÄMIENSCHEIN' below. A handwritten prisoner number field ('Häftling Nr.') appears at centre-left within a lined box, with the denomination 'WERT: RM. 2.—' in bold type beneath. The lower portion carries the issue date line 'Ausgegeben am:', a printed expiry notice stating the voucher lapses 14 days after issue, the print code 'V/100 X. 44 1285' at lower left, and a stamped serial number prefixed by 'No' at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse is entirely plain, printed on unadorned tan paper with no text, vignettes, or markings of any kind. |
| 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 |
Dachau's camp currency was not a prisoners' scrip in any meaningful economic sense — it was a tool of psychological control. Inmates could theoretically use it at the canteen, but access to the canteen was itself a privilege that the SS routinely withheld. The notes circulated in a closed system where the issuer also controlled every point of redemption, making the currency functionally worthless while maintaining the bureaucratic theater of a wage economy.
By 1944, Dachau held tens of thousands of prisoners across its network of subcamps. These notes were printed on-site. Their survival rate is surprisingly high relative to genuine circulation — many were preserved by prisoners as evidence, or confiscated and retained by liberating Allied forces in May 1945.