Scheinfeld Displaced Persons Camp scrip, 50 cent note

Scrip, valued at 50 cents distributed in Scheinfeld displaced persons camp (DP) in Scheinfeld, Germany from April until July, 1946. The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) team 596 issued three denominations of scrip: 10 cents, 50 cents, and 1 dollar. The scrip was used in the canteen until July, but was abandoned due to food shortages. During World War II, many Lithuanians were deported to Nazi Germany as forced laborers. Toward the end of the war, many more escaped Lithuania before the advancing Soviet army, fearing a continuation of the mass arrests and deportations the Soviets inflicted on the public during their occupation under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Consequently, after World War II, Germany had a large population of Lithuanian displaced persons (DPs). The Scheinfeld DP camp was established on April 28, 1946, by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). An agency that provided DPs with food, clothing, medicine, and helped to repatriate people to their home countries. The camp housed 1,500 Lithuanian displaced persons who had been transferred from Regensburg DP camp, and was overseen by UNRRA team 569. The camp was located on the grounds of the 17th century, Schwarzenberg castle, and included a hospital, dental clinic, sanitation office, drug store, canteen, bakery, clothing store, two restaurants, and laundry and shoe repair services. In the barrack section, a large hall held various programs, concerts, lectures, and plays. The camp was closed in the autumn of 1949. It was thought that all the notes were destroyed, until approximately 15 sets were discovered in England in the 1970s.