10 Mark Ludwig Feuerbach

Ludwig Feuerbach, the philosopher whose materialism directly influenced Marx and Engels, was a deeply uncomfortable figure for the East German state to celebrate — his rejection of religion as human self-alienation cut uncomfortably close to the ideological machinery the SED relied upon. The DDR commemorative program nonetheless issued this piece for the 175th anniversary of his birth, folding Feuerbach into the approved canon of German progressive thinkers.

The .500 fineness was standard for DDR commemoratives of this period, a reflection of the state's chronic hard-currency constraints rather than any minting preference.