Kreuzburg O.S. 25-pfennig note: "97% für Deutschland!" (Upper Silesia, 1921)

Both faces of a municipal emergency note. The front has the town arms and the issuing terms; the back shows two bells ringing out "97% für Deutschland!" over the town skyline, above a line stating that 97% of Kreuzburg's inhabitants voted for Germany in the plebiscite of 20 March 1921. A vote share is put on the money itself as the message, and the size of the majority stands in for any argument.

Date: October 18, 1921
Period: Interwar
Made by: Magistrat der Stadt Kreuzburg O.S. (municipal emergency-money issue); printed by Flemming-Wiskott A.-G., Glogau
Region: Western and Central Europe
Country: Weimar Germany
Medium: Banknotes and coins
Issuer type: State
Regime: Weimar Republic
Leader: Joseph Wirth
Audience: Domestic public
Purpose: Commemorate
Themes: Elections and party politics, Economy and finance
Event: 1921 Upper Silesia Plebiscite
Techniques: Bandwagon
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 a 1921 Kreuzburg O.S. Notgeld note (public domain)

Text on the object

Original (German) · read from the image, not independently checked

[front]
KREUZBURG in OBERSCHLESIEN

Dieser Gutschein
ist nur für den Verkehr
mit den städtischen
Kassen bestimmt

und verliert
einen Monat nach
öffentlichem Aufruf
seine Gültigkeit.

25 Pf          25 Pf
Kreuzburg O/S., den 18. Oktober 1921.
Der Magistrat: [two signatures, read as Reche and Georgi]
FLEMMING-WISKOTT-A.-G. GLOGAU

[back]
25 Pf.          25 Pf.
97% für Deutschland!   97% für Deutschland!  [on the rays beneath the bells]
Bei der Volksabstimmung am 20. März 1921 stimmten in Kreuzburg 97% der Einwohner für Deutschland.
D.R.G.M. 795679

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

[front]
KREUZBURG in UPPER SILESIA

This voucher
is intended only for dealings
with the municipal
cash offices

and loses
its validity one month after
public notice.

25 Pf          25 Pf
Kreuzburg O/S., 18 October 1921.
The Magistrate: [two signatures]
FLEMMING-WISKOTT-A.-G. GLOGAU

[back]
25 Pf.          25 Pf.
97% for Germany!   97% for Germany!
In the plebiscite of 20 March 1921, 97% of the inhabitants of Kreuzburg voted for Germany.
D.R.G.M. 795679 [registered design number]

Blackletter type; the slash in O/S is read from the image. Signatures read as printed surnames, not verified.