1 99965438+1October1,issued as the unified currency of the EU member states-Euro. After three years' transition, on June, 2002, 65438+1 October1day officially replaced the original ten currencies, such as franc, mark, lira and krona, to become the main currencies in the European continent. Today, the euro has become the currency of 19 EU member countries and 6 non-EU countries and regions, and it is one of the most important circulation means in the world economy. However, during World War II more than 70 years ago, there was another currency that had the nature of the euro to some extent under special circumstances and circulated in most parts of Europe. This is the Deutsche Mark, the legal tender of Germany at that time. Because Germany occupied most of Europe in the war, the circulation of imperial marks greatly expanded and became an important means to plunder the wealth of occupied areas and support the German war machine.
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From June 65438+1 October1in 2002, the euro replaced the original currencies of more than ten European countries and became the unified currency within the EU.
Mark's history
As we all know, before the euro appeared, the traditional monetary unit in Germany was the mark. In fact, the mark was a unit of weight in ancient Germany, about half a pound (227 grams). Its history as legal tender began at 187 1 when Prussia unified Germany.
After the reunification of Germany, the monetary system in Germany is still quite chaotic, and there are various foreign currencies besides the currencies issued by the states. In order to meet the requirements of domestic unified market and promote economic development, Prussia Bank, as the central bank, officially issued the gold standard currency in 1873, which opened the prelude to the unified monetary system. After Prussia, Bavaria, Hesse, Wü rttemberg and other countries also issued goldmark to replace the old coins. From 1876 to 1, the gold standard became the only legal tender of the Second Empire.
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20 goldmark gold coins with the heads of Friedrich III (left) and William II (right). Compared with the later paper standard and imperial standard, the gold standard can be called real money.
Gademark is a currency based on the gold standard. The amount of printing money is determined by the national gold reserve, which claims to never depreciate. In actual circulation, there are various denominations of gold and silver coins and paper money. 1965438+After the outbreak of World War I in August 2004, Germany announced that it would abandon the gold standard. Since then, the issued banknotes are no longer linked to the gold reserve.
Therefore, it is called "paper mark". In fact, the mark currency in circulation during World War I was still goldmark paper money, but there was no physical gold as a guarantee.
After the defeat of World War I, Germany was forced to accept the harsh Treaty of Versailles and pay huge reparations to the victorious country. As a result, the gold standard flowed out in large quantities, and the national gold reserve dropped sharply. The excessive issuance of bank notes made the economic situation in Germany extremely worse, which led to unprecedented hyperinflation, reaching its peak from 1922 to 1923. At that time, the paper label became a real "paper label" because it had become waste paper. Although the face value of paper money is almost astronomical, its purchasing power is almost zero.
■ These two photos truly reflect the hyperinflation in Germany in the early 1920s. Children are piling up wood with big bundles of worthless banknotes, and adults are loading banknotes in wheelbarrows to go shopping.
In order to stabilize the market and restore the economy, Weimar * * and the government of China began to reform the currency system in 1923, replacing the paper mark with the newly issued imperial mark. At that time, the exchange rate of the old and new marks was as high as 1: 1 trillion! In order to ensure the smooth replacement of old and new currencies, the German government first issued the so-called "real estate mortgage mark" in 1923, replacing paper mark with land and industrial fixed assets as collateral, and then converted the real estate mortgage mark into imperial mark according to the ratio of 1: 1. 1924 On August 30th, the German Parliament passed a decree, which formally established the status of the Imperial Mark as the national legal tender. Its auxiliary monetary unit is the Finnish Empire, and the mark of the Finnish Empire is 1 = 100 of the Finnish Empire. The exchange rate between imperial mark and US dollar follows the gold standard before World War I, that is, 1 US dollar is equivalent to 4.2 imperial mark. In fact, the Imperial Mark, like the paper money Mark, lacked the guarantee of gold reserves, but it played a positive role in the stability and recovery of the German economy and continued to be used after the Nazi Party came to power in 1933.
■1924 February issue of100000000000000000000000000000000000 mark paper money, although the face value figure is amazing, but almost worthless, can only be exchanged for1000000 imperial mark.
On the eve of and during World War II, with the expansion of Germany's sphere of influence, the circulation of Imperial Mark also expanded from Germany to the European countries occupied by Germany and became the European currency. 1938, after the merger of Germany, the imperial mark replaced the Austrian shilling as the legal tender of Austria, and the exchange ratio between them was 1.5: 1. In wartime, the German occupation authorities set the exchange rate between the occupied currency and the Imperial Mark for the purpose of safeguarding their own economic interests and plundering wealth resources (see the table below). Usually, this exchange rate is much lower than the reasonable exchange rate in peacetime, so that Germans can buy products and services in the occupied areas at low prices, thus supporting the operation of the war machine.
coin
Like many currencies, the main forms of imperial marks are coins and paper money, among which coins are mainly secondary coins and small denomination main coins. 1924 The original Imperial Mark coins were divided into seven denominations: 1, 2,5, 1 0,50 Finnish marks and1,3 marks. It is worth noting that the 1, 3 mark is only called mark, not imperial mark, which is different from the imperial mark issued after 1925.
1924 edition 1 and 2 finney coins are copper coins with face value on the front and a bunch of wheat ears on the back; 5, 10, 50 finnish copper-aluminum alloy material, with face value on the front and several staggered wheat ears on the back; 1, 3 mark coin is made of pure silver with purity of 500, with face value on the front and traditional German eagle emblem on the back. 1925 issued a silver coin with a face value of 1 2 imperial marks, and the same material was 500 silver. At the same time, a small number of silver commemorative coins with a face value of 3,5 imperial marks were issued. 1927, 50-fin nickel coins began to circulate, and the normal circulation version of silver coins with a face value of 5 imperial marks also came out. 193 1 year, the normal circulation version of three imperial mark silver coins began to enter the market.
■ The above picture shows the Imperial Finni coins issued between 1924 and 1936, which are 1 Finni, 2 Finni, 5 Finni, 10 Finni and 50 Finni from top to bottom respectively. Pay attention to the manufacturer's logo directly above or below the back of the coin.
■ 1 DM silver coin issued by kloc-0/924, please note that the unit below the face value of the coin is "mark" instead of "imperial mark".
■ 1 British mark and 2 British mark silver coins issued in 1925.
■ 193 1 year issued three pieces of silver coins of imperial marks.
■15 pieces of silver imperial marks issued in 927.
■ 1934 Friedrich Schiller Silver Commemorative Coin with a face value of 2 imperial marks and Schiller's head on the front.
■ 1932 issued four Imperial Finni coins, which were only cast in that year and never produced again, so they were called "Bruening Tal".
1927, 1 imperial mark silver coins stopped production. Since then, due to the lack of precious metals, Germany began to use more and more nickel, aluminum, zinc and other metal coins, and the quality continued to decline. 1933 issued 1 imperial mark nickel coins, and at the same time issued a new version of 2,5 imperial mark silver coins. Compared with the old version, the size of the new silver coin is smaller, but the higher purity 625 silver and 900 silver are used to ensure its value. 1933 to 1939 also issued a small number of silver commemorative coins with a face value of 5 imperial marks. 1935 issued 50-fin aluminum coins, which were changed to 50-fin nickel coins from 1937, and then 1939 resumed production of 50-fin aluminum coins.
■ 1 imperial mark nickel issued in 937. Note that the back of the coin still maintains the traditional eagle emblem pattern, not the Nazi eagle emblem.
■ 1939 version of 50 finney aluminum coins, used to replace nickel coins with the same face value.
Starting from 1936, except for 1 imperial mark coins and some 5-imperial mark silver coins with Hindenburg's head issued in 1936, all coins have the Nazi eagle emblem on the back. There are two styles of Nazi eagle emblems on Imperial Mark coins. One is that the emblem with garland under the eagle is larger in size, and the other is that the eagle pattern is more prominent and the emblem is smaller in size. Since the early 1940s, most coins have adopted the second style of Nazi eagle emblem.
■ Compared with 1936 version of the 5th Imperial Mark Coin (left) and 1938 version of the 5th Imperial Markcoin (right), this coin has the head of Hindenburg on the front, but the eagle emblem pattern on the back has changed.
■ The picture above shows German coins issued between 1936 and 1945. From top to bottom, it is 1 finney, 2 finney, 5 finney, 10 finney, 50 finney, 2 Reichmark. Pay attention to the style difference of Nazi eagle emblem on the back of coin.
During World War II, copper coins and copper-aluminum alloy gold coins were replaced by zinc coins and aluminum coins, 2 Fenni coins were no longer produced, and 1, 2,5 imperial mark coins stopped casting and were replaced by banknotes with the same face value. Although nickel coins of the same denomination were gradually replaced by re-produced 50-fin aluminum coins from 1939, the production of 50-fin nickel coins did not stop until 1944. Since 1940, a large number of low-quality and small denomination zinc coins have been circulating in Germany and occupied areas. The last batch of coins marked with _ were 1, 5, 10,50 fen 1944 and 1,10 fen 1945, which were made earlier.
■ The above picture shows the zinc coins issued during World War II, namely 1943 edition 1 finney zinc coin and 1940 edition 10 finney zinc coin.
banknote
The first edition of Imperial Mark banknotes was issued in 1924 by Imperial Bank of Germany and state-owned banks in Bavaria, Saxony and Baden, with face values of 10, 20, 50, 100 and 1000 respectively. From 1929 to 1936, the second edition of Imperial Mark banknotes is issued with the same face value as the first edition. 1939 The new version of the 20-imperial mark banknotes adopted the design style of 100 Austrian schilling, and in addition, 1942 5 imperial mark banknotes were printed and circulated.
■ The above picture shows the first edition of Imperial Mark banknotes issued from 1924 to 1929, with 100 mark, 20 mark, 50 mark, 100 mark and 1000 mark from top to bottom respectively.
■ The above picture shows the second edition of Imperial Mark banknotes issued from 1929 to 1936, with 100 mark, 20 mark, 50 mark, 100 mark and 1000 mark from top to bottom respectively.
■ 1939, the new version of the 20th Reich Mark banknotes adopted the unreleased style of 100 Austrian schilling.
■ 5 Deutsche Mark banknotes issued in 1942.
Wartime currency
During the war, Germany also issued Imperial Mark coins and paper money to circulate in the occupied areas, in which the coins were made of zinc with a face value of 5 fen and 10 fen, especially with a round hole in the middle; The denomination of paper money is 50 finnies, 1, 2,5,20,50 imperial marks. The circulation capacity of the above imperial mark currency in the occupied area is the same as that of the original currency. Coins in occupied currency were minted in 1940 and 194 1 year. They were first minted in Germany, then minted in Belgium and France, and the manufacture and distribution of paper money continued the war.
■ The above picture shows 5-fin coins and 10-fin coins made in 1940, which are used for circulation in occupied areas and are characterized by a round hole in the middle.
■ The above picture shows Imperial Mark banknotes issued by 1938 to 1945, which are mainly used for circulation in occupied areas. From top to bottom, it is 50 fenny, 1 minute, 2 points, 5 points, 20 points and 50 points respectively.
From 1942 to 1945, Germany also issued a military version of Imperial Mark, only in the form of paper money. The first edition of military standard banknotes is printed on one side, with face values set to 1, 5, 10, 50 Finnish marks and 1 Finnish marks, and the conversion ratio between military standard and imperial symbol is 1: 10, that is, 1 military standard = The second edition of military standard banknotes is printed on both sides, and the face value is adjusted to 1, 5,10,50 marks, which is equivalent to the normal imperial symbol. Forbes also printed a batch of imitation German military symbols with the same face value as the imitation imperial military symbols.
In addition to occupation symbols and military symbols, the Germans even issued currency for concentration camps and prison camps, but it was only issued in a small area in a specific area and did not have real monetary function.
■ The picture above shows 5 military standard banknotes copied by the Allied Forces.
■ The picture above shows 10 Finney notes used for circulation in prison camps.
The demise of imperial symbols
1945 After Germany surrendered in May, the four victorious countries occupied Germany by region. In the occupied area, the original imperial mark was allowed to continue to circulate, and the imitation mark banknotes issued by the occupation authorities also circulated in parallel. In addition, during the period from 1945 to 1948, the occupation authorities also manufactured a small number of imperial mark coins, which were manufactured during the period from 1945 to 1946, with face values of 1 and 10 respectively. These postwar coins are similar in style to those of the same denomination in the later period of the war, but the _ symbol on the eagle emblem on the back has been removed.
■ After the end of World War II, the victorious countries allowed the imperial symbols to continue circulating, issued a small number of coins, and removed the Nazi symbols on the back of the coins. The above picture shows the 1946 version of 10 finney and the 1948 version of 5 finney.
Although the Imperial Mark was still the legal tender in circulation after the war, it has been extremely devalued, and the excessive issuance of paper money by the occupation authorities has aggravated inflation. In fact, many places in Germany would rather barter things than use the worthless imperial mark, so it is imperative to carry out monetary reform. In fact, as early as 1945, 165438+ 10, the imperial mark was replaced by the Austrian shilling in newly independent Austria. 1947, the French franc was used as the legal tender in the Saar region, and the Saar region returned to France. From June 65438 to June 0948, the increasingly divided western countries and the Soviet Union carried out monetary reforms in their respective occupied areas almost at the same time, replacing the imperial mark with the new German mark in the western occupied areas, and began to issue new versions of the mark in the Soviet occupied areas. This move means the split between East Germany and West Germany. With the end of the cold war, the history of imperial seal has come to an end.
■ 1948 The first edition of West German mark banknotes issued in the occupied areas of Britain, America and France, with face value of 1 mark.
■ 1948 The first edition of East German mark banknotes issued in the occupied Soviet area, with a face value of 1 mark.
Related question and answer: What is the name of the German currency? The currency used in Germany now is the euro. German currency was originally "mark" and stopped circulating on July 24, 2002.
The history of German currency: Deutsche Bank issued Deutsche Mark, with 65,438+0 Deutsche Mark equal to 65,438+000 finnies, and 5,65,438+00, 20,50,65,438+000,200,500 and 65,438+0000 in circulation.
In 2002, the German mark officially stopped circulating, and the euro became the legal tender of Germany. Germany was one of the first countries to use the euro.
Euro is the currency of EU 19 countries. The 19 members of the euro are Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Greece, Malta and Cyprus.
Extended data:
The symbol of the original German currency "Deutsche Mark" is (German Deutsche Mark) -DEM, and the symbol of the current euro is "_".
Countries that officially use the euro are: Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Greece, Malta and Cyprus. The overseas territories of some euro-zone countries, such as French Guiana, reunion island, St. Pierre Island, Miquelon Islands and Martinique, also use the euro.
Generally speaking, the euro is the official currency of 23 countries and regions, and the exchange rates of official currencies of 28 countries and regions are linked to the euro.
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