2021-05-06 Thu

As a part of the British Empire that often remained outside the theatres of war, India served as a safe haven for housing the Prisoners of War.

Several Prisoner of War Camps were set up in India during World War II for German, Italian and Japanese Prisoners of War. These camps were located in many parts of India. The monetary transactions in these camps were facilitated by the use of Coupons, as other forms of currency were prone to be forged by the inmates and as such were a source of impending economic danger.

The central internment camp was situated at Ahmednagar. Coupons were issued by each wing of the camps which were authorized by the Camp Commandant. These coupons were uniface and were overprinted with the name of the camp and Under-printed “PRISONERS OF WAR” in a semicircle near the top.

The above coupon is the 10 Rupees coupon used in the Bhopal Camp. The Bhopal camp was among the group II camp and consisted of camps between 9 and 16 among which Camp 16 was a hospital.

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