by Harry Stevens

Created on: February 13, 2009

The German currency has changed many times over the course of history. The current currency of the country is the Euro. The Euro was not the currency ten years ago; it was the Deutsche Mark. In this article, I hope to present to you both the facts and figures of the past currencies of Germany as well as the present one.

The first currency of Germany was called the Goldmark, or simply the Mark. It was the currency from 1873 until 1914. It had many different coins and banknotes (it had coins all the way up to 20 Marks!). The Mark currency was based on the value of gold. It was the first currency of the unified Germany, and various exchange rates were offered for all of the other currencies of the previous individual German states.

The next currency of the unified Germany was the German Papiermark. This was the currency of the nation from 1914 until 1923. This was the currency of Germany during WWI, and it experienced hyperinflation. This inflation stabilized because the Rentenmark was created in 1924, and given the enormous exchange rate of one trillion Papiermarks to 1 Rentenmark. The Rentenmark only acted as the currency of Germany for 1924, because later in the year, the Reichsmark was created.

The Reichsmark was the third currency of the unified Germany. It acted as the currency of the nation from 1924, through World War II, and until 1948. It replaced the Rentenmark. The currency had 8 different coins (1, 2, 5, 10, 50 Pfennigs, and 1, 2, and 5 marks) and 6 different bills (5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 1000 marks). In 1948, when Germany split into two different nations, the West German nation took the Deutsche Mark, and the East German nation took the Ostmark.

The Deutsche Mark acted as the currency of West Germany from 1948 to 1990, and the unified Germany's currency from 1990-2002. It was a very colorful currency, with bills ranging in color from pink to brown. It had 8 coins and 8 bills. The Ostmark, or the East German mark, was the currency of East Germany while it was in existence. When the two Germanys reunified, the two currencies were given the convenient exchange rate of 1:1.

Finally, the currency of Germany today, as well as much of Europe, is the Euro. The Euro was adopted electronically in 1999, and the bills were first used in 2002. The list of countries that currently use the Euro is Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. The exchange rate for the German mark to the Euro at the time of conversion was approximately 1.95:1. This was a very convenient rate because it was so close to the ratio of 2:1. There are 8 Euro coins and 7 Euro bills.

The history of the German currency is a long one. The German currency has changed so many times that it is sometimes hard to keep track of the list. However, the current German currency, the Euro, is showing promise that it is here to stay. This new currency, according to economists, will not only be a good currency for Germany, but a wonderful currency to have for the majority of Europe.

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