Wie eine Rose im Moose — like a rose in the moss — was how the famous author Heinrich Heine described the beautiful city of Osterode, the issuer of these notes. That phrase adorns each note on the rose side. It becomes a bit of a pun when written on a piece of currency, since the word 'moss' (Moos) is a slang term for money, like 'dough' or 'bread' in English. It seems to imply that the town's Notgeld series, too, stands out as particularly beautiful among the banknotes of the world.
Located in the Harz Mountains along Germany's Timber-Frame Road, the city of Osterode is also the starting point of the Harz Witches' Trail, which travels over Germany's highest mountain, Brocken, through Schierke and ending in Thale, both of which issued multiple Notgeld sets featuring witches. The Harz mountains have long been associated with witches, devils, and the supernatural, since prior to the introduction of Christianity.