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The Deutsche Mark (DM, DEM) was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until re-unification in 1990 and the official currency of Germany from then until the introduction of the euro in 1999 (coins and notes were withdrawn from circulation in 2002, it is guaranteed by the Deutsche Bundesbank that all DM cash may be changed into Euro forever). One Euro was set to be equivalent to DEM 1,95583. 1 Mark = 100 Pfennig (pennies).1 History
This 20 Deutschmark note was used during the Third Reich.
A mark had been the currency of Germany since its original unification in 1871. While the Papiermark of the Weimar Republic underwent hyperinflationbillion) Serbian dinar banknote circa 1993, the largest nominal value ever officially printed in Serbia, the final result of hyperinflation. Photo courtesy of National bank of Serbia In economics, hyperinflation is inflation which is "out of control", a c until it was replaced by the RentenmarkThe Rentenmark was a currency issued in November 1923 to stop the hyperinflation ( 1922 & 1923) in Germany. It replaced the Papiermark, which was completely devalued due to the Inflation. The Rentenmark was only an intermediate currency and was soon repla in late 1923Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 Events January 1 Grouping of all UK railway companies into four larg and the ReichsmarkThe Reichsmark (Symbol: RM) was the currency in Germany from 1924 until June 20, 1948. It was replaced by the Deutsche Mark in West Germany and by the East German mark ("Mark der DDR" or "Ostmark") in East Germany. It was introduced in 1924 as a replaceme in the following year, the Deutsche Mark was regarded a symbol of West German and subsequently German economic power and stability. In the former GDR the East German markThe East German mark ( German language: Mark der DDR , commonly called Ostmark "Eastern mark", was the currency of East Germany. Officially it was known as the Mark der DDR (Mark of the GDR) and colloquially it was just known as the Mark''. It was divided (Mark der DDR, unoffically Ostmark) was used.
The Deutsche Mark was introduced in 1948 by the Western powers once the post-war division of Germany into East and West seemed permanent. The move, intended to protect West Germany from the second wave of hyperinflation and stop the rampant barter and black market trade (where American cigarettes acted as currency), angered the Russian authorities in East Berlin, who regarded it as a threat and promptly cut off all transport ( road, rail and canal) links from West Germany to West Berlin. This led to the Berlin Crisis of 1949.
2 Coins
The image displays the obverses of all regular coins, with the values of 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.10, 0.50, 1.00, 2.00 and 5.00 DEM (there is no 0.20 coin, and originally there was no 2.00 coin either). 0.01 and 0.02 are copper-colored, 0.05 and 0.10 are brass-colored, the rest are silver-colored. The reverse displays an oak twig (0.01-0.10), a woman planting an oak seedling (0.50), the Bundesadler (German eagle; 1.00 and 5.00) and faces of the German politicians and scientists Konrad Adenauer (Chancellor), Theodor Heuss (President), Franz-Josef Strauss (Minister of Defense), Ludwig Erhard (Chancellor), Kurt Schumacher (Leader of the SPD), Willy Brandt (Chancellor) and Max Planck (Physicist) (2.00).
A 10 Deutsche Mark banknote from Germany 1993 (http://notes.zapzero.com)
