Catalog
50 Reichspfennig Reichskreditkassenschein
| Issuer | Reichskreditkassen (Hauptverwaltung der Reichskreditkassen) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1940-1945 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Green on tan underprint. The face is headed by a bold Fraktur Gothic inscription reading "Fünfzig Reichspfennig", flanked on each side by a circular guilloche medallion containing the numeral "50" above the abbreviation "Rpf". The central field carries Gothic-script text citing the legal authority of issue and the issuing authority, with a red serial number at lower centre, a small Nazi eagle at lower left, and an embossed official stamp at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 50 Reichspfennig Geldfälschung wird mit Zuchthaus bestraft |
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| Comments |
The Reichskreditkassen were not a conventional central bank — they were military occupation finance institutions, established by decree in March 1939 and deployed ahead of Wehrmacht advances to replace local currencies before the Reichsbank infrastructure could follow. These Pfennig-denomination notes were essentially small-change tools for occupied territories, circulating alongside full Reichsmarks in France, the Low Countries, Greece, and elsewhere depending on the theatre.
With over twelve million printed across the five-year run, surviving examples are common. What they document is mundane and disturbing in equal measure: the administrative machinery of economic absorption.