Bielschowitz 1-Mark plebiscite note: "Mörderbuben und Banditen" (Upper Silesia, 1921)
Both faces of a 1-mark emergency note issued before the Upper Silesian plebiscite. The back carries a map of the voting area split between "Schlesien" and "Polen", a rhyme saying "murderer-boys and bandits" have made everyone suffer, and an arrow claiming a border strip "goes without a vote to the Czechs if Upper Silesia becomes Polish". A loaded label and a staged loss stand in for an argument about how to vote.
- Date
- 1921
- Period
- Interwar
- Made by
- Gemeinde Bielschowitz (municipal emergency-money issue); printed by Schnauffolls Nachf., Gleiwitz
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- Weimar Germany
- Medium
- Banknotes and coins
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Weimar Republic
- Leader
- Konstantin Fehrenbach
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Elections and party politics, War and the military
- Event
- 1921 Upper Silesia Plebiscite
- Techniques
- Name-callingFear appeal
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons, retrieved September 29, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (German municipal emergency note printed 1921; Commons: PD-GermanGov-currency, PD US expired)
Scan by Wikimedia Commons user 5snake5 of an undated 1921 Bielschowitz Notgeld note (public domain)
Text on the object
[front] Das Gemeindeverwaltungsgebäude Die gemeinnützige Baugenossenschaft Bielschowitz Fiskalische Bielschowitzgrube Rheinbabenschächte 1 Mark 1 Mark zahlt die Gemeinde Bielschowitz für diesen Gutschein bis 30. Juni 1921. Der Gemeindevorsteher [signature] 12488 [printer's line, small print: reading uncertain] [back] 1 Mark (x4) Dieses Geld wird ausgegeben zur Erinnerung an die am 20. März statt- findende Abstimmung in Oberschlesien. Durch Mörderbuben und Banditen haben alle wir gelitten — darum freut sich alt und jung auf den Tag der Abstim- mung, damit wir Ruhe haben hienieden, wie wir's waren ge- wohnt im Frieden. [map labels] Schlesien Polen Abstimmungsgebiet Kreuzburg Rosenberg Oppeln Lublinitz Gross-Strehlitz Tarnowitz Kosel Gleiwitz Beuthen Kattowitz Bielschowitz Myslowitz Rybnik Ratibor Pless Leobschütz Neustadt Hultschin [arrow note at lower left] kommt ohne Abstimmung zu Tschechien wenn Oberschlesien polnisch wird
[front] The municipal administration building The public-benefit building cooperative Bielschowitz State-owned Bielschowitz mine, Rheinbaben shafts 1 Mark 1 Mark The commune of Bielschowitz pays on presentation of this voucher until 30 June 1921. The commune head [signature] 12488 [printer's line, small print: reading uncertain] [back] 1 Mark (x4) This money is issued in memory of the plebiscite to be held on 20 March in Upper Silesia. Through murderer-boys and bandits we have all suffered - therefore young and old look forward to the day of the vote, so that we may have peace here below, as we were used to in peacetime. [map labels] Silesia Poland Voting area [town names as printed] [arrow note at lower left] goes without a vote to the Czechs if Upper Silesia becomes Polish
Blackletter and hand-lettered type. 'Mörderbuben' is read from the image as printed. The small printer's line under the serial number is too small to read with confidence (looks like 'Schnauffolls Nachf. Gleiwitz'). Town names on the map are given as best read; several are small.
