East German Military Currency
In 1980, East Germany prepared special military banknotes intended to be used in international missions of the National People’s Army (NVA), but they were never issued. These military notes consist of the 1955 series (DN B13 – DN B17) handstamped with the coat of arms and—in some cases—overprinted Musternote (Sample Note) or Militärgeld (Military Money). Preparations were made to introduce them in 1980, but this never occurred. Instead, in 1990 and 1991, these and other old and unissued East German notes and coins were stored in bunkers in massive sandstone caverns in the Thekenberge near Halberstadt. However, a pair of local citizens gained entry to this cache over the next decade and stole some of its contents, including the unissued military notes dated 1955, as well as two unissued notes dated 1985. In response to this theft, the remaining paper money was incinerated between April and 25 June 2002. Only a few genuine military banknotes exist; however, an abundance of 1955 series banknotes survived, as did the coat of arms handstamp. Many military banknotes have since been fabricated and it’s impossible to distinguish them from genuine notes.
Read more about this topic: East German Mark
Famous quotes containing the words east, german, military and/or currency:
“It is the business of thought to define things, to find the boundaries; thought, indeed, is a ceaseless process of definition. It is the business of Art to give things shape. Anyone who takes no delight in the firm outline of an object, or in its essential character, has no artistic sense.... He cannot even be nourished by Art. Like Ephraim, he feeds upon the East wind, which has no boundaries.”
—Vance Palmer (1885–1959)
“Seventeen hundred and fifty-five.
Georgius Secundus was then alive,—
Snuffy old drone from the German hive.”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)
“The military mind is indeed a menace. Old-fashioned futurity that sees only men fighting and dying in smoke and fire; hears nothing more civilized than a cannonade; scents nothing but the stink of battle-wounds and blood.”
—Sean O’Casey (1884–1964)
“One of the reforms to be carried out during the incoming administration is a change in our monetary and banking laws, so as to secure greater elasticity in the forms of currency available for trade and to prevent the limitations of law from operating to increase the embarrassment of a financial panic.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)