DescriptionGross-Poritsch was near Zittau, in Saxony.There are several references for prisoner of war notes. One is Prisoner of War and concentration Camp Money of the 20th Century, by Lance K Campbell. Another: Katalog des Papiergeldes der deutschen Kriegsgefangenenlager im 1.Weltkrieg,by Reinhard Tieste.Germany united as a collection of independent entities: kingdoms, duchies, free cities, etc. The finances were an interesting hybrid of local and central control systems. The hybrid system continued into the Weimar Republic, with local banks issuing local notes to supplement those of the central government.Aside from China, other governments started using circulating “banknotes” starting in the 17th century AD. The practice became general in the 19th century. In the 20th century value of paper money in circulation far surpassed the value of coinage. In the 21st century paper money is fading and credit transactions are growing.Paper money, meaning the promise of a government to pay a set amount, and the paper promise allowed to circulate at will, was probably first used in China in the 12th century AD. At that time the merchants and governments of Europe were just writing letters to each other about what they owed.
