Buchenwald subcamp scrip, -.50 Reichsmark note for use in Rottleberode

Scrip, valued at .50 Reichsmark, distributed in Rottleberode, a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. While held at the camp, inmates were compelled to work, and a special currency was issued to incentivize work output, though the money had no real monetary value. Buchenwald operated 134 subcamps, and issued two different types of special currency. The exchange scrip had Außenkommando, outside command, printed across the front, and was issued to inmates working in the Buchenwald subcamps. The canteen scrip, which did not have Außenkommando printed on it, was used in the main camp. Both types of notes were issued in .50, 1, 2, and 3 mark denominations. Rottleberode opened as a subcamp of Buchenwald in March 1944, when prisoners were sent to excavate caves in the area. In October 1944, Mittelbau (Central Construction) concentration camp (also called Dora-Mittelbau and Nordhausen) in Germany, took over administration of Rottleberode. Under both administrations, inmates worked as forced laborers for the Junkers aircraft factory. The subcamp was evacuated in April 1945, as Allied forces approached. The prisoners were sent on forced marches to Niedersachswerfen subcamp and Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany. The majority of them did not survive.