500 Złotych

This note belongs to the so-called "lubelskie" series, named for Lublin, the seat of the Soviet-backed Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN) that authorized a new currency as it moved to displace the London-based Polish government-in-exile. The series was printed in Moscow and introduced into circulation as the Red Army advanced westward through Polish territory in late 1944 — the currency was as much a political instrument of the new order as it was a practical replacement for the wartime złoty.

Counterfeiting of the lubelskie notes was a documented problem almost immediately after introduction, partly because the security provisions were modest for a denomination of this size.