2 Deutsche Mark

The Deutsche Rentenbank was not a central bank but an agricultural credit institution, yet it found itself issuing emergency currency in the immediate postwar period because no proper monetary authority yet existed in the Western occupation zones. These 2 Mark notes were part of the June 1948 currency reform that replaced the Reichsmark — one of the most abrupt monetary transitions in modern European history, executed over a single weekend.

Each household received a per-capita allowance of 40 Deutsche Mark in the new currency; businesses received small operational floats. The reform instantly drained black markets and restocked shop shelves within days, which contemporaries found almost surreal after years of scarcity.

Print run of just over 12 million is modest relative to higher denominations in the same series.