25 Pfennig, Gemeinde Süderbrarup, 1920

Gemeinde Süderbrarup

common

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).

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.

Rarity

German municipal Notgeld survives in very large quantities. Catalogued by town in Grabowski and Mehl.

25 Pfennig, Gemeinde Süderbrarup, 1920

What was happening

2 copies in the collection