German Mark

Deutsche Mark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Deutsche Mark (DEM, DM) or German mark was the official currency of West ... In July 1948, a completely new series of East German Mark banknotes were issued. ...
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German gold mark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
German gold mark. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jump to: navigation, search ... just Mark) is the name used for the currency of the German Empire from ...
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deutsche mark: Definition from Answers.com
deutsche mark ( ) n. ( Abbr. DM ) The primary unit of currency in Germany ... In July 1948, a completely new series of East German Mark notes was issued. ...
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Old German Money
The national German currency Mark came into existence in 1871 after the Grand German unification. Before that the old German money used to be a local issue with the ...
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Deutsche Mark Facts (Euro, Deutsche Bundesbank) @ TopEuros.com
The Deutsche Mark or German mark was the official currency of West Germany and, ... Mark, known as the Goldmark Before unification, the different German states ...
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German mark - Definitions from Dictionary.com
... of German mark at Dictionary. ... 1 result for: German mark. Browse Nearby Entries. WordNet - Cite This ... search, or try your search for "German mark" at: ...
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{{Infobox Currency| currency_name_in_local = Deutsche Mark | image_1 = Deutschemarknotes.png| image_title_1 = Banknotes| image_2 = Dmark-coins-front.jpg| image_title_2 = Coins| iso_code = DEM| using_countries = Germany, Montenegro, Kosovo [1979 [1998 [1999 [2002, [Bulgarian lev at par]| symbol = ℳ, DM| symbol_subunit_1 = Pf.| plural = Mark| plural_subunit_1 = Pfennig| used_coins = 1, 2, 5, 10, 50 Pfennig, 1 DM, 2 DM, 5 DM| frequently_used_banknotes = 5 DM, 10 DM, 20 DM, 50 DM, 100 DM, 200 DM, 500 DM| rarely_used_banknotes = 1000 DM| issuing_authority = Deutsche Bundesbank of [West Germany and, from 1990 onwards, all of unified Germany. It was first issued under Trizone in 1948 replacing the German Reichsmark, and served as the Germany's official currency from its founding the following year until 1999, when the Mark was replaced by the euro; its coins and banknotes remained in circulation, defined in terms of euros, until the introduction of euro notes and coins in early 2002. The Deutsche Mark ceased to be legal tender immediately upon the introduction of the euro — in contrast to the other eurozone nations, where the euro and legacy currency circulated side by side for up to two months. However, DM coins and banknotes continued to be accepted as valid forms of payment in Germany up until 28 February 2002.

The Deutsche Brundesbank has guaranteed that all DM cash may be changed into euros indefinitely, and one may do so at any branch of the Bundesbank. As of 2006 there are still promotions every now and then where Mark are accepted in shops.

One euro is set to be equivalent to DM 1.95583.

One Deutsche Mark was divided into 100 Pefennig; in colloquial German, the 10 Pfennig coin was called a Groschen.

History A Mark had been the currency of Germany since its Unification of Germany in 1871. Before that time, the different List of German Confederation member states issued a variety of different currencies, though most were linked to the Vereinsthaler, a silver coin containing 16 2/3 grams of pure silver. Although the Mark was based on gold rather than silver, a fixed exchange rate between the Vereinsthaler and the Mark of 3 Mark = 1 Vereinsthaler was used for the conversion.

The first Mark, known as the German gold mark, was introduced in 1873. With the outbreak of the First World War, the Mark was taken off the gold standard. The currency thus became known as the German papiermark, especially as high inflation, then hyperinflation occurred and the currency became exclusively made up of paper money. The Papiermark was replaced by the German rentenmark in late 1923 and the German reichsmark in 1924.

The Deutsche Mark was introduced on 21 June 1948 by the Western Allies (the USA, the United Kingdom and France). The old Reichsmark and Rentenmark were exchanged for the new currency at a rate of 1 Deutsche Mark = 1 Reichsmark for the essential currency such as wages, payment of rents etc, and 1 Deutsche Mark = 10 Reichsmark for the remainder in private non banks credit balance, with half frozen. Large amounts were exchanged for 10RM to 65 pfennigs. In addition, each person received a per capita allowance of 60 Deutsche Mark, the first of DM40 and the second DM20.http://www.bundesbank.de/download/volkswirtschaft/mba/2002/200203_en_dmark.pdf Accessed 31-12-2006

The introduction of the new currency was intended to protect western Germany from a second wave of hyperinflation and to stop the rampant barter and black market trade (where American cigarettes acted as currency). The move angered the Soviet authorities, who regarded it as a threat. When the Deutsche Mark was introduced in West Berlin, the Soviets promptly cut off all road, Rail transport and canal links between the three western zones and West Berlin. This led to the Berlin Blockade.

In the former GDR, the East German mark (initially also called the Deutsche Mark) was introduced a few days afterwards in the form of Reichsmark and Rentenmark notes with adhesive stamps to stop the flooding in of Reichsmark and Rentenmark notes from the West. In July 1948, a completely new series of East German Mark notes was issued.

The Deutsche Mark was first issued by the Allied Military. Later in 1948, the Bank deutscher Länder took over issuance, followed, from 1960, by the Deutsche Bundesbank. It earned a reputation as a strong store of value at times when other national currencies succumbed to periods of inflation. It became a source of national pride and an anchor for the country's economic prosperity, particularly during the years of the Wirtschaftswunder in the 1950s. In the 1990s, opinion polls showed a majority of Germans opposed to the adoption of the euro; polls today show a significant number would prefer to return to the Mark.

The Deutsche Mark played an important role in German re-unification. It was introduced as the official currency of German Democratic Republic in July 1990, replacing the East German Mark, in preparation for unification on October 3. Ostmark bank accounts were exchanged at a rate of 1:1 for the first 4000 Mark and 2:1 for larger amounts, rates which many economists have criticized as being too generous and a key cause of the subsequent economic problems in the new German states.

Coins The first DM coins were issued by the Bank deutscher Länder in 1948 and 1949. From 1950, the inscription Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany) appeared on the coins.{]|Denomination|-|2 DM|1957-2001|Cupro-nickel|German eagle
1969-1987: [Konrad Adenauer
1970-1987: Theodor Heuss
1979-2001: Kurt Schumacher
1988-2001: Ludwig Erhard
1990-1994: Franz Josef Strauß
1994-2001: Willy Brandt|Denomination|}

There were a considerable number of [Coinage of the Federal Republic of Germany, which actually had the status of legal tender but were rarely seen outside of collectors' circles.

In addition, on 27 December 2000, the German government enacted a law authorizing the Bundesbank to issue, in 2001, a special .999 pure gold 1 DM coin commemorating the end of the DM. The coin had the exact design and dimensions of the circulating cupro-nickel 1 DM coin, with the exception of the inscription on the reverse, which read "Deutsche Bundesbank" (instead of "Bundesrepublik Deutschland"), as the Bundesbank was the issuing authority in this case. A total of one million gold DM coins were minted (200,000 at each of the five mints) and were sold beginning in the summer of 2001 through German coin dealers on behalf of the Bundesbank. The issue price varied by dealer but averaged approximately $165 in U.S. dollars.

German coins bear a mint mark, indicating where the coin was minted. D indicates Munich, F Stuttgart, G Karlsruhe and J Hamburg. Coins minted during WW2 include the mint marks A (Berlin) and B (Vienna). The mint mark A was also used for DM coins minted in Berlin beginning in 1990 following the reunification of Germany. These mint marks have been continued on the German Euro coins.

Banknotes There were four series of DM banknotes:

The first was issued in 1948 by the Allied military. There were denominations of ½, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 DM, with two designs of 20 and 50 DM notes.
The second series was introduced in 1948 by the Bank deutscher Länder, an institution of the western occupation government. The designs were similar to the US Dollar and French franc, as the job of designing and printing the different denominations was shared between the Bank of France and the American Bank Note Company. There were denominations of 5 and 10 Pfennig, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 DM.
The third series was introduced in 1960 by the Bundesbank, depicting neutral symbols and famous paintings and buildings. There were 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 DM denominations.
The fourth was introduced in 1990 by the Bundesbank to counter advances in forgery technology. The notes depicted German artists and scientists together with symbols and tools of their trade. This series added a 200 DM denomination, to decrease the use of 100 DM banknotes, which made up 54% of all circulating banknotes, and to fill the "gap" between the 100 DM and 500 DM denomination. Nevertheless the 200 DM denomination was rather rare.

In the latter two series, the 5 DM denomination was rarely seen, as were the ones with a value greater than 100 DM.

Banknotes of the fourth series (1990–2002) from Germany 1993 showing Carl Friedrich Gauß ( http://www.germannotes.com)

The design of German banknotes remained unchanged during the 1960s, 70's and 80's. During this period, forgery technology made significant advances so, in the late 1980s, the Bundesbank decided to issue a new series of Deutsche Mark banknotes. The colours for each denomination remained unchanged from the previous series but the designs underwent significant changes and a 200 DM denomiation was introduced. Famous national artists and scientists were chosen to be portrayed on the new banknotes. Male and female artists were chosen in equal numbers. The buildings in the background of the notes' obverses had a close relationship to the person displayed (e.g., place of birth, place of death, place of work), as well as the second background picture (Lyra and the musician Schumann). The reverses of the notes refer to the work of the person on the obverse.

The new security features were: a windowed security-thread (with the notes denomination in microprinting), watermark, micro-printing, Intaglio (printmaking) (viewing-angle dependent visibility as well as a braille representation of the notes denomination), colour-shifting ink (on the 500 and 1000 DM denominations), a see-through register and UV-visible security features.

First to be issued were the 100 and 200 DM denominations on 1 October 1990 (although the banknote shows "Frankfurt, 2. Januar 1989"). The next denomination was 10 DM on 16 April 1991, followed by 50 DM in autumn the same year. Next was the 20 DM note on 20 March 1992 (printed on 2 August 1991). The reason for this gradual introduction was, that public should become familiar with one single denomination, before introducing a new one. The change was finished with the introduction of the 5, 500, and 1000 DM denominations on 27 October 1992. The latter three denominations were rarely seen in circulation and were introduced in one step. With the advance of forgery technology, the Bundesbank decided to introduce additional security features on the most important denominations (50, 100, and 200 DM) as of 1996. These were a hologram foil in the center of the note's obverse, a matted printing on the note's right obverse, showing its denomination (like on the reverse of the new €5, €10, and €20 Euro banknotes), and the EURion constellation on the note's reverse. Furthermore, the colors were changed a bit to pastel to hamper counterfeing.

{], Wiepersdorf estate and buildings of historic Berlin|rowspan="8"| As portrait| [1 August 1991 [1992 [2001, [Gaussian distribution, historic buildings of Göttingen, a small map showing the [triangulation of the Hanover (state) performed by Gauss| 2 January 1989 [1991, buildings of the city of [Meersburg pen and a beech-tree, referring to her work [Die Judenbuche] 1991 [1992, buildings of Old-[Würzburg, the ground plan of a famous chapel, Kreuzkapelle, in [Kitzingen [1989 [1991 ], buildings of historic Leipzig and a lyre|rowspan="2"| [1 October 1990 ], buildings of historic Frankfurt, the formula of Arsphenamine, the [Rod of Asclepius surrounded by simplified cell structures], an insect, buildings of ancient Nuremberg, [inchworm, butterfly [1991 [1992 and [Jakob Grimm Brothers Grimm, buildings of historic Kassel|-!colspan="13"| Hologram variant|-|align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| |align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| | 50 DM| 25.56|rowspan="3" colspan="5"| As previous|rowspan="3"| [2 January 1996 [1998 [2001 [1997|-|align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| |align="center" bgcolor="#000000"| | 200 DM| 102.26|-|colspan="13"||}

Spelling & Pronunciation The German name of the currency is Deutsche Mark (grammatical gender) ; its plural form in standard German was the same as the singular. In German, the adjective "deutsche" (adjective for "German" in grammatical gender grammatical number nominative form) is capitalized due to its part in a proper name, while the noun "Mark", like all German nouns, is always capitalized. The English loanword "Deutschmark" had a slightly different spelling (possibly due to the silent E in English) and a plural form. In Germany, the currency's name was often abbreviated as Mark (grammatical gender) or sometimes D-Mark (grammatical gender) with the latter term also often used in English. Like Deutsche Mark, D-Mark and Mark have no plural form, the singular being used to refer to any amount of money (e.g. eine (one) Mark and dreißig (thirty) Mark). Sometimes, a plural form of Mark, Märker was used as either as diminuitive form or to refer to a (physically present or small) number of D-Mark coins or bills (e.g. Gib mir mal ein paar Märker (Just give me a few Mark (-bills or -coins)) and Die lieben Märker wieder (The lovely money again (with Irony undertone)).

The subdivision unit is spelled Pfennig (grammatical gender) , which (unlike Mark) does have a commonly used plural form: Pfennige , but the singular could also be used instead with no difference in meaning. (e.g.: ein (one) Pfennig, dreißig (thirty) Pfennige or dreißig (thirty) Pfennig). The official form was singular.

The mark as a major international reserve currency Before the switch to the euro, the mark was considered a major international reserve currency, second only to the US dollar.

References See also

Euro
German euro coins
Coinage of the Federal Republic of Germany
German papiermark and Notgeld
German reichsmark
Economy of Germany

External links

German historical Banknotes and Old Paper Money from Germany

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Overview of German Mark from BBC online
Historical US Dollars to German Marks currency conversion, 1913-2005
Coins 2

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Thesaurus Legend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms. Noun: 1. German mark - formerly the basic unit of money in Germany. Deutsche Mark, Deutschmark, mark