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| Issuer | |
|---|---|
| Year | 1934 |
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| Value | 5 Marks (5 RM) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Schuldschein der Konversionskasse für deutsche Auslandsschulden zu Berlin, aus gegeben auf Grund des § 4 ihrer Satzung. Fünf Reichsmark schuldet die Konversionskasse für deutsche Auslandsschulden dem Inhaber dieses Schuldscheins. Die Einlösung erfolgt nach § 4 der Satzung der Konversionskasse. Berlin, den 28 August 1933 Konversionskasse für deutsche Auslandsschulden (Translation: Promissory note from the Conversion Fund for German Foreign Debts in Berlin issued on the basis of § 4 of their statutes. Five Reichsmarks owed by the Conversion Fund for German Foreign Debts to the owner of this promissory note. Redemption is executed according to § 4 of the statutes of the Conversion Fund. Berlin, August 28, 1933 Conversion Fund for German Foreign Debts) |
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| Reverse lettering | Die Konversionskasse für deutsche Auslandsschulden ist durch § 2 des Gesetzes über Zahlungsverbindlichkeiten gegenüber dem Ausland vom 9. Juni 1933 gegründet. § 4 ihrer Satzung lautet: „Die Kasse darf über die bei ihr eingezahlten Beträge auf Reichsmark lautende unverzinsliche Schuld- scheine ausstellen. Die Bestimmungen über die Einlösung der Schuldscheine trifft die Reichsbank“. (Translation: The Conversion Fund for German Foreign Debts is established by § 2 of the Law on Payment Liabilities Established Abroad on June 9, 1933. § 4 of the statute reads: „The Fund may use the funds deposited with it to issue interest-free promissory notes denominated in Reichsmarks. Provisions for the redemption of promissory notes is the responsibility of the Reichsbank“.) |
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| Comments |
The Konversionskasse notes — Konversionskasse für deutsche Auslandsschulden, to give the full name — were not conventional banknotes but instruments of exchange control, issued specifically to service Germany's foreign debt obligations after the Reich unilaterally suspended cash transfers abroad in 1934. Foreign creditors holding German bonds could receive these instead of hard currency. They traded on secondary markets, generally at a steep discount to face value, and were accepted for certain purchases in Germany — a mechanism that effectively forced creditors to spend their claims within the German economy rather than repatriate funds.
The Reichsbank managed the scheme, but the Konversionskasse itself was a separate entity created precisely to keep this debt quarantine off the main balance sheet.