25 Pfennig, Gemeinde Süderbrarup, 1920

Gemeinde Süderbrarup

This copy

Accession: OM-00535
Series year: 1920
Actually issued: 1920
Signatures: This issue carries no bank manager or cashier signature.
Grade: AU (IBNS)
Estimated from the archival scan. Folds, soiling and edge condition are visible at this resolution; paper crispness, pinholes, small repairs and pressing are not.
Estimated value: $8 indicative
Category benchmark scaled for grade — an order of magnitude, not an appraisal. Priced 2026-10-03.
Dimensions: 90.8 × 56.4 mm (±0.5, from the scan)
Themes: Notgeld Serienschein Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig plebiscite Satirical Anti-Danish Weimar Republic

The type

Type: 25 Pfennig, Gemeinde Süderbrarup, 1920
Printer: Not established
Rarity: common

SüderbrarupGermany, 1920 borders

Symbology

Dragon devouring Germania: Denmark as a monster consuming Schleswig — an allegory for the loss of North Schleswig in the 1920 plebiscite.
"Ob Schwer auch getroffen / Deutschland wird leben": "Though hard hit, Germany will live." One of two patriotic mottos flanking the map.
"All unser Hoffen, ist sein Erheben": "All our hope is its rising." The second motto, on the right side of the map.
Paul Nielsen, Aug. Ehrhardt, J. Carstensen: The three members of the Gemeindevorstand (municipal board) who signed the note. Local officials of Süderbrarup, a village in the Angeln region of Schleswig-Holstein.
"Die 14 Punkte": "The 14 Points." Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), the 28th President of the United States, announced his Fourteen Points in January 1918 as a basis for peace. Point 12 addressed the non-Turkish peoples of the Ottoman Empire but it was the broader principle of national self-determination that authorised the Schleswig plebiscite. The clock-like design on the back numbers the points 1 through 14 around its face, treating them as a ticking countdown to Germany's losses.
Slesvig plebiscite stamp: A reproduction of the CIS (Commission Internationale de Surveillance) plebiscite stamp issued during the occupation of the plebiscite zones.
Map of Schleswig-Holstein: Shows the full peninsula with towns including Flensburg, Sonderburg, Hadersleben, Glücksburg — all contested in the plebiscite.

What was happening

Süderbrarup is a village in the Angeln region of Schleswig-Holstein, just south of the line that divided the 1920 plebiscite zones. This note is one of the most politically charged in the collection.

The front shows a map of the Schleswig-Holstein peninsula with Denmark, the Ostsee (Baltic) and Nordsee (North Sea) labelled. A monstrous dragon representing Denmark devours a female figure — Germania, or Schleswig personified. The mottos read: Ob Schwer auch getroffen / Deutschland wird leben and All unser Hoffen, ist sein Erheben. The text Gültig bis zur einmonatlichen Kündigung i. der Schleswig-Holsteinischen Landpost makes the note valid until one month's notice is given through the postal system.

The back shows a clock-like design with the 14 points (Wilson's Fourteen Points) and a reproduction of the Slesvig plebiscite stamp, explicitly linking this Notgeld to the political crisis. Signed by Paul Nielsen, Aug. Ehrhardt, and J. Carstensen (Gemeindevorstand).

This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 25 Pfennig, Gemeinde Süderbrarup, 1920 in the collection.

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