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500 Zlotys German occupation
| Issuer | Bank of Issue in Poland (Bank Emisyjny w Polsce) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1940 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Paper |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A letterpress-printed landscape vignette occupies the central field, rendering the High Tatra mountains with the Morskie Oko lake in dark blue, golden yellow, and grey-blue tones. The horizontal composition conveys depth through layered mountain silhouettes and tonal contrast between the water and the surrounding peaks. |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
The Bank Emisyjny w Polsce was a German-controlled institution established in April 1940 to replace the Bank of Poland and administer currency in the occupied General Government territory. It had no independence — policy was set in Berlin, and the zloty it issued was deliberately kept inconvertible to isolate the occupied population from Reich financial networks.
What makes this note unusual is its printer. The Polish Security Printing Works, having fallen under German administrative control after the September 1939 conquest, was kept operational and used to produce occupation currency — Polish craftsmen and equipment printing the instruments of their own economic subjugation. Over twelve million of this denomination were run off in the first year of occupation alone.
Leonard Sowiński had designed banknotes for the prewar Polish state.