500 Ost Markių

Lietuvos Ūkio Bankas — the Lithuanian Agricultural Bank — issued this note during the brief window when German Ostmark currency was still legally tolerated in Lithuania alongside the newly introduced Auksinas. The decision to denominate in Ostmarks rather than the emerging national currency reflects the economic chaos of the transition period: the Ostmark had circulated in German-occupied Lithuania since 1915, and the population knew it. Replacing that familiarity overnight was not practical.

The Agricultural Bank itself was a quasi-commercial institution, not a central bank, which makes its note-issuing role unusual for the period.