10 Lei Red Army Command

Soviet military occupation currency, issued in Romania following the August 1944 armistice. Goznak printed the entire Romanian occupation series in Moscow before the Red Army even crossed the Prut — the notes arrived with the troops, a logistical detail that tells you something about how thoroughly the Soviets planned the political as well as military dimensions of the campaign.

The issuing authority named on the note never functioned as a bank in any conventional sense. It existed solely to extract Romanian economic resources through currency — occupation lei could be spent freely, but Romanian authorities were given no equivalent hard currency in return.