WW2 German Concentration Camp Money

Concentration camp currency — known as Lagergeld — was a form of internal scrip issued to prisoners in certain Nazi concentration camps. It had no value outside the camp and could only be exchanged for a limited range of goods at the camp canteen, typically tobacco, food supplements, or basic personal items.

The Lagergeld system served a cynical administrative purpose: it created the appearance of a normal economic exchange while keeping prisoners in a state of total dependency. The currency was typically earned through forced labour and could be confiscated or cancelled at any time by camp authorities.

Examples of concentration camp currency are among the rarest and most historically significant pieces of Holocaust-era material culture. They are preserved by collectors and museums as direct physical evidence of the dehumanising systems operated within the camps.