War Prisoner Money and Medals

The book opens with a clear look at how modern international law tried to protect prisoners of war, tracing the treaties and Red‑Cross conventions that shaped humane treatment in the early twentieth century. It explains why those rules mattered on the battlefield and how their breach, like the tragic massacres at Malmedy and the death camps, shocked the world. By setting this legal backdrop, the author shows the everyday reality of captivity before turning to an unexpected detail of wartime life.

In the second part, the narrative follows the peculiar currency issued especially for POWs—small notes and metal tokens marked with distinctive holes that could only be used inside the camps. The author details how Germany alone produced thousands of varieties, turning the money into a bizarre collector’s market that even the German government exploited for foreign exchange. Meanwhile, Austria‑Hungary kept its issue modest, reflecting a more restrained war economy. Readers gain insight into how a seemingly trivial piece of paper reveals the economic pressures, propaganda, and even the hidden hobby of numismatists during a global conflict.