German Notgeld
Glauchau-Stollberg
Translating and interpreting Notgeld is rife with difficulties. First, there is the language problem and I, with only a high school German (and that was a long time ago). Second is the language problem, as it isn’t all modern German language. Some have Dutch or Danish words creeping into the text of these local currencies. There’s High German, Low German (Platt Deutsch), and other regional language issues which might include slang words that have all but been lost. Colloquialisms abound – think of : Main street, a main street, a Maine street, etc. Or perhaps a sofa, a couch, a davenport, settee, lounge, etc. Not all of these are readily translatable to the non-native speaker, even if it is an online translation device. Then we come to the historical aspect. Names of places change, borders change, and when it comes to Notgeld – well, it can depict anything. Some strange and mundane, some ancient and some recent. And if it isn’t all spelled out in text, one must try to infer it through artwork, if possible. Such was the case here with this Glauchau issue.
This set of Notgeld were receipts given for donations made to the Glauchau German Protection Association. This association was unknown to me, and I certainly learned a lot while researching this Notgeld series.
To start with, I thought that this was a German Protection League would be something akin the Abwehr or the Brown-Shirts so often depicted in films about the rise of the Nazi party, and that perhaps there was a fund-drive and donations were made to those organizations.
The Abwehr, a German counter-intelligence group that was formed in 1920, and their main mission was to prevent foreign espionage and to commit the same in hostile countries if possible. Though the Treaty of Versailles prohibited Germany from having an intelligence department and conducting any spying, espionage or similar activities, the Abwehr simply ignored this condition. Offices were opened in conjunction with military districts and in neutral countries. During the 1920’s the Abwehr mission would expand to be a full intelligence organization with multiple mission-related sections. The Abwehr was famously brought down by a Tea Party.
Hannah Solf hosted the tea party with intellectuals who were part of the Nazi Resistance. Unbeknownst to the other guests, one of the attendees was a Gestapo agent. The agent reported the long suspected anti-Nazi sentiment held by the members at the tea party, some with Abwehr connections. The result was that most members at the tea party were executed. Frau Solf and her daughter were not executed, likely due to Frau Solf being a widow of a WWI German foreign minister. Hanna Solf and her daughter were incarcerated throughout the rest of WWII. Many others not at the tea party were also arrested and killed. As a result, the Abwehr was dissolved. However, the Abwehr had maintained files detailing many war crimes committed by the Nazi Party and kept them hidden. Unfortunately, these files were later found and were reported as being destroyed before they could be reproduced.
The SA, or Sturmabteilung – translated to Storm Troopers, but become more commonly known as the Brown-Shirts, was an early paramilitary group that helped the Nazi Party obtain power. The SA was originally formed for protection during rallies and protests, attacking political opponents, influencing local elections, intimidating ethnic groups – mainly Jews, and obstructing justice. As the SA grew, their leader, Ernst Rohm, had gained too much power and was setting his eyes on merging the SA and the German Military. Rohm also let it be known that he wanted to start a German Socialist revolution.
Even though the acronym NAZI stands for National Socialist German Workers’ Party” (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), the socialist part was very low key and not what is now thought of as socialism. Hitler was not about to let Rohm do to Germany what the Socialists did to Russia. Before this could happen, Hitler had his SS Troops take action in what was known as the Night of the Long Knives – where Rohm and several other SA leaders were executed. The role of the SA was then reduced to training men for their Home Guard, similar to Reserve or National Guard units.
However, it turns out that the German Protection League was not associated with the military, a political party, nor was it really a governmental led organization. It was part of the Folk (Völkisch) movement, which sprung out of the nationalists that had risen in response to what many in Germany thought of as unfair war reparations and post war land grabs. This manifested in violent protests and rallies that were mostly anti-Semitic in nature. They used intimidation and often resorted to violence in rallies against political opponents, foreign organizations and the Jewish population as well as other non-German races. This is very much like many of the modern Antifa and BLM groups in western society today, which do bear a striking resemblance in their methods and actions.
The German Protection league, along with the Brown-Shirts, were key organizations that played a key role in ushering in violent extremism, anti-Semitic fervor, and paved the way for the Nazi Party to assume control of the entire country. The SA organization and the Völkisch movement had almost identical ideologies, methods and goals. They wanted to make certain that there was a ‘pure’ Germanic race without any foreign influences in government or in the racial makeup of the country and spread propaganda espousing these ideals.
Let’s now explore this set of Notgeld/Spendenscheine and see if we can figure out a little more of what was happening in the region in and around Glauchau at the time.
In this note below, what seems to be a civilian is steadfastly prohibiting a soldier fromadvancing further. Could this be related to the wish to stop Polish influence in Silesia?
Spende fur obershl. (esien) die arbeitsgemeinschaft 25 pfennigs
Glauchau-Stollberg vom Duetschen Schutzbund
Donation for Upper Silesia from the Glauchau-Stollberg working group
25 pfennigs from the German Protection League
At left we see a proud member holding what might be a ballot for the upcoming Plebiscite vote in Upper Silesia.
Spende fur obershl. (esien) die arbeitsgemeinschaft 50 pfennigs
Glauchau-Stollberg vom Duetschen Schutzbund
Donation for Upper Silesia from the Glauchau-Stollberg working group
50 pfennigs from the German Protection League
Abstimmungszettel – Voting slip
Volksabstimmung – Referendum
Simmung – Vote
The distinctive artwork on this 50 Pfennig Notgeld Spendenschein (donation receipt) above shows the city with its industrial center being fortified by a wall of voter ballots, which were seemingly (perhaps hopefully?) effective in keeping soldiers and a specter of death from infiltrating into the area. It would appear that these fortifying walls in the above note illustration (Abstimmungszettel – Voting slip, Volksabstimmung – Referendum, Stimmung – Vote) were the referring to the hoped for outcome of the Plebiscite votes.
Wenn schlesiens Werke Polen greift Sans Deutschland auf die kohlen pfeift
If Silesia Works Poland takes effect Without Germany blowing the whistle
In the above depiction of the 2 Mark Spendenschein Notgeld we can just barely make out the industrial area (coal mine) of Glauchau in the background and, more prominently, the soldier making his way in. The text talks about Silesia, which was a North Central section of Europe that was a part of the Prussian empire, then Germany and was later in Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. If Silesia is able to work, then Poland with be able to function (take effect) without Germany raising any complaints (blowing the whistle).
After World War I the area known as Upper Silesia was under dispute between Germany and Poland, with both countries were trying to get as much of it as possible. This was not an uncommon occurrence in German areas after WWI. As borders were changed, many border areas known as Plebiscites were voting on which country would have sovereignty. Such was the case in Silesia. While the votes were in Germany’s favor, there were three uprisings by the Poles retaliating against this between 1919 and 1921.
So, what’s all this got to do with Glauchau? Glauchau was well within the German state of Saxony, west of Dresden and South of Leipzig but was close to the Silesia region. While Glauchau wasn’t part of any plebiscite action, it certainly would have been aware of it going on, and the matter of the plebiscite vote would affect the German economy, especially large coal mine operations within the area. This would be of concern to Germany as a whole, not just Glauchau. These Donation Receipts (Spendenscheine) were for contributions to the German Protection League in Selesia or for their work within Silesia. The German Protection League, though racist, fascist and violent, and full of lies and deceit, did in some degree give hope with promises of changing the immediate economic and social conditions for something better. It did bring about change, but it was not a change that was of any good at all.
Der Zettel Zahl Bannt Tod und Qual
The number of the piece of paper Banishes death and torment
Again with the reference to these voting ballots protecting death and, in this case, torment as well. Obtaining Silesia would have greatly increased economic viability to the region and to Germany as a whole. As it turned out, later disputes wound up with Germany losing 20 percent of the region to Poland. This division would be changed as WWII started and Germany invaded Poland.
Fears of torment over losing some land area is understandable, but fear of death? Well, with the economic disaster that followed WWI – and ushered in Notgeld in all its various versions – there was a great lack of food and goods available to the people. Many of them did indeed suffer greatly for years as a result. While we look at these bits of Notgeld paper, we can often get too involved with the fun images shown on them and stories they refer to. We should not forget the real-life hardship that caused Notgeld to be issued in the first place, and that was endured by almost everyone at that time.
A list of more pertinent references:
https://www.gcsehistory.com/faq/plebiscites.html#:~:text=What%20happened%20in%20the%20plebiscite,partitioned%20between%20the%20two%20countries.
https://notgeld.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silesian_Uprisings
https://www.britannica.com/topic/SA-Nazi-organization
In the Garden of Beasts – Erik Larson
Time Life WWII Series Prelude to War
https://www.google.com/search?q=translate+german+to+english&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS1091US1091&oq=tr&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBggDEEUYOzIGCAAQRRg5MhAIARAuGMcBGLEDGNEDGIAEMg0IAhAuGIMBGLEDGIAEMgYIAxBFGDsyDQgEEAAYgwEYsQMYgAQyDQgFEAAYgwEYsQMYgAQyBwgGEAAYgAQyEAgHEC4YxwEYsQMY0QMYgAQyEAgIEC4YxwEYsQMY0QMYgAQyBwgJEAAYjwLSAQkzMTMzajBqMTWoAgiwAgHxBc8BPoT6vaTZ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8