GERMANY’S WWII SOCIAL WELFARE NOTES

I collect World War II era lottery tickets and ephemera related to the German social welfare program known as Winterhilfswerk (known by its initials WHW and translated roughly as the “Winter Fund” or “Winter Help Work”). This program was begun in 1931 by the German government, but Adolf Hitler scaled it up in a massive manner in 1933, overseen by the Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt (National Socialist People’s Welfare Organization). Germany had not escaped the worldwide depression, and the program’s slogan “None shall starve or freeze” certainly sounded laudable enough during the dark days of the Great Depression.

But the program soon became a high-pressure giving exercise that makes any modern day public participation program look like a Sunday school collection. Meticulous records of participation and giving were kept and nonparticipation simply was not tolerated.

Assistance for the needy was provided in the form of “relief notes” that were denominated in values of 50 reichspfennig, as well as 1-, 5-, and 10-reichsmark issues. The local WHW office would issue relief notes to approved recipients after stamping them as issued.

The recipients, after filling in their names and addresses on the notes, could then buy from a relatively small list of allowed items at any participating merchant (undoubtedly, not participating was also an ill-advised decision). When the note was redeemed, the merchant stamped his merchant information and certified what had been purchased.

To read the complete article, see:
Social welfare paper ephemera reminder of Germany’s WWII homefront realities (www.coinworld.com/news/paper-money/2016/10/german-relief-notes-are-from-winter-help-work-program.html)

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