by Lydia Black

Created on: May 19, 2008

On 1 January 2002, the Euro became the legal currency of Germany and eleven other European states, namely Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, the Republic of Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Together, these countries form what is known as the Eurozone.

In Germany, the previous currency had been the Deutsche Mark (DM). The Deutsche Mark had been the currency of West Germany since 1948 and after German unification in 1990, East Germany also adopted the Deutsche Mark. When the Deutsche Mark was replaced with the Euro in 2002, one Euro was equivalent to DM 1.95583. As this ratio was very close to 2:1, this made it relatively easy for Germans to get used to the value of their new currency.

The Euro is a metric currency, which means that one Euro is made up of one hundred cents.

Euro notes come in five, ten, twenty, fifty and one hundred, two hundred and five hundred Euro denominations and the notes have the same design throughout the Eurozone.

The notes have three special security features to prevent fraud. These features are known as "feel", "look" and "tilt". "Feel" refers to the fact that when you feel a Euro note, it has a distinctive raised texture. "Look" refers to the watermark, the security thread and the see-through register, all of which can be seen from both sides of the note. Finally, "tilt" refers to the fact that when you tilt a five, ten or twenty Euro note, a shifting image on the foil strip is visible of the front side of the note, and on the back, an iridescent stripe can be seen. On the higher value notes, on the front there is a holographic image on a foil patch, and on the back the value of the note is printed in bright, color-changing ink.

The coins come in one, two, five, ten, twenty and fifty cents, and in one and two Euros. One side of the coins is constant throughout the Eurozone but the other side is engraved with various national designs. However, all coins, no matter which country they originated from, are legal tender in all other Eurozone states.

In Germany, the coins are grouped into three series and each series has a different national design.

The first series comprises the one, two and five cent coins. Like the old Geman pfennigs, these coins have a picture of an oak twig on them. Rolf Lederbogen came up with the design for these coins.

The ten, twenty and fifty cent coins form the second series. These all have a picture of the Brandenburg Gate on them and were designed by Reinhard Heinsdorff.

Finally,

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