ww2 captured enemy money

[nicolas75]

Hello

 

I sometimes see testimonies of allied troops that caught Germans POWs with a lot of cash currencies on them

 

Dumb question but once on allied side hands does German nazi reichmarks worth something in value for immediate change ?

 

Best regards

[JasonT]

The reichmarks were is use till just after the war. However, allied occupation currency was also in circulation. Depending on the time during the war, the reichmark was nearly worthless due to massive inflation. Maybe others can chime in as well, but allied soldiers would probably only be able to use captured reichmarks if they were buying something locally, but even then cigarettes or american dollars were better to use if you wanted to purchase something. Most soldiers seemed to keep a few just as souvenirs.

[Blacksmith]

Interesting topic. Would be good if someone with a economic understanding of German currency value would add their thoughts. I've never really given this much thought, other than I know pre-war RM value was awful - which some tie to the reparations burden of the Versaille Treaty coming out of WWI.

[lettow]

Money taken from a POW was supposed to be receipted and forwarded to a finance office and credited to the POW.

 

Outside of Germany itself a German soldier should only have had in his possession local currency, Reichskreditkassenschein (Government Credit Office notes which were used as occupation currency by the Germans), Behelfszahlungsmittel (Auxiliary Payment Certificates) or Verrechnungsschein (German Clearing Notes). These latter two were for use in military establishments only. None of them were valid in Germany and taking regular issue RM notes out of the country had been prohibited since 1933. Just as US military personnel may have had regular US dollars on them despite it being prohibited it is probable that many German soldiers had regular RM notes on them also particularly as the Allied advance kept the German military close to home. The Reichsbank was fiercely protective of the German economy before and during the war and often butted heads with Hitler's economic advisors.

 

The RM was not worthless due to massive inflation. Pre-war RM remained in circulation until the currency reform of 1948 when it was exchanged 10-1 for DM. It traded 1-1 for Allied Military Currency until the currency reform. The Allied Military Government maintained the wartime price and wage controls that the Nazis had put in place until the currency reform which kept inflation in check. It also resulted in a currency overhang which was the economic reason for the currency reform. Black marketing and the currency imbalance that resulted from it was more the result of illicit trade in goods (particularly cigarettes which became a medium of exchange themselves) than currency manipulation.

 

US military personnel were not paid in dollars after the invasion of Italy where the yellow seal notes were used briefly but then withdrawn. They were paid in the local currency (pounds, francs, lire, etc.) except in China where they were paid in US dollars or Indian rupees due to massive inflation there. In the occupied countries troop pay was made in Allied Military Currency. The economic reason for this is to put the occupation cost onto the occupied country. The Germans and Japanese did the same thing. Military expenditures in occupied countries were also made in Allied Military Currency in occupied countries. US personnel were not paid in dollars again until MPC was introduced in September 1946.

 

Allied Military Currency could be spent on the economy and regular issue local currency would have been received as change. The Reichsdruckerei was completely destroyed by Allied bombing during the war and the Reichsbank had to resort to borrowing Allied Military Marks from the AMG to meet currency demand as they had no ability to print new money and attempts to allow the Germans to begin printing RM notes were thwarted by the Russians.

 

Walter Rundell's books Military Money and Black Market Money are excellent treatises on currency control during the war and occupation particularly in Europe.

[lettow]

This is an example of the Reichskreditkassenschein.

[lettow]

Auxiliary Payment Certificate

[lettow]

Clearing Certificate

[Blacksmith]

Very informative Lettow, thank you.

[nicolas75]

Thanks a lot !

[patches]

Indeed, great post lettow

[TheMariner]

Great info, solid job! Something I have seen a lot of but never even considered the in's and outs of how the system worked! Thanks for sharing

[Garandomatic]

Very informative. I'll have to give my currency collection a new look.

[36thIDAlex]

Thought these might apply, here are some Marks and Allied Military Currency (top left) that my great-grandfather brought back from the war. He served in the 36th Infantry Division for awhile so he went through all three of the countries. He also wrote some American values on the bottom (4 cents for 2 francs, 10 cents for a mark, and 5 cents for a half mark). Not sure if this is something the troops had to pay in exchange for the currency or what exactly. Not sure why but interesting note, the Lire has "Allied Military Currency" written in English but the marks are in German.

 

[lettow]

The official exchange rate was 10RM = $1.00. The four notes on the right are regular German notes. The lower left note is 1923 hyperinflation notgeld of 1,000,000 marks from tje town of Pirmasens.

 

The US printed Italian AMC (some notes were printed by the US Bureau of Engraving and others by Forbes Lithograph). The location and denomination were printed at the last minute for operational security.

 

Greater planning went into production of AMC marks including coordination with the Russians who insisted on being permitted to print them for their own use. The Allies could not agree on the languages to use for AMC marks and compromised on only using German.

[texman1985]

I remember growing up and hearing about GIs coming home from Germany with loads of silver 2 and 5RM coins.

[Dogsbody]

Hello everyone. Happy New Year and my best wishes to you all.

 

I'd like to add some bank notes that might be of interest.

 

The top one is a 1943 bank note from the Netherlands that features the signature of Central Bank President and nazi sypathiser Rost van Tonningen (During the occupation of the Netherlands the Germans started to place Nazi sympathisers at important places in the Dutch society to make sure that everything went along the lines of German policy/politics). This note was legal tender at that time and pobably also used by German troops occupying The Netherlands.

 

The bottom two are US printed notes that were issued to (airborne)troops that were to fight or stationed in The Netherlands. At first glance they somewhat resemble US dollar notes.

More about these notes can be found here: http://www.battledetective.com/battlerelic12.html

 

 

 

 

Rene