-Caveat Lector-
From
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-2001583315,00.html
}}}>Begin
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 19 2001
The deutschemark
FROM ROGER BOYES IN BERLIN
Obituary for a symbol of German power in the first of an occasional
series on Europe's dying currencies
THE deutschemark, child of crisis, symbol of German power, is dead.
But its faithless consumers barely spared a thought yesterday for the
once rock-hard currency as they thronged outside banks to pick up
packets of parvenu euros.
Dead, but not yet buried: there will be time for mourning in the
first two months of next year, when lame-duck marks will be allowed
to flutter for a little longer, like an arthritic athlete making a
final trot around the stadium. Tears had been expected, but it seems
they will flow only when the death certificate has been signed and
sealed on New Year�s Day.
The mark was an adopted child, dreamed up by American economists. The infant currency
replaced all the improvisations of postwar occupation: the Allied Military mark, the
reichsmark and the blackmarket currency of Chester
field and Lucky Strike cigarettes. In 1948 crates of the currency were shipped from
America into Bremerhaven and taken across the country under heavy escort.
Even then it was a currency that divided rather than united: introduced in the western
zones of Germany, it quickly spawned an eastern rival, the ostmark, in the Soviet
zone. Yet this foundling, from 1957 jealously protec
ted by the Bundesbank, became the apple of the Germans� eye. Its stubborn resistance
to politicians, its muscular buying power, its ability to win friends abroad � all
this stirred the national pride of the Germans.
Fifteen years after defeat in a devastating war, they were becoming Europe�s most
dedicated package tourists; unloved perhaps, but respected for the weight of their
purses. The mark became one of the few national icons of
the West German state. By the 1980s the talk was of mark diplomacy. The currency�s
strength underwrote Germany�s Ostpolitik and was in many ways a substitute for policy.
Bundesbank presidents were treated like statesmen, their words nervously monitored by
a Europe increasingly dependent on the mark. The clumsy description of Germany as an
economic giant and a political dwarf was backhande
d recognition that the mark now counted for more than the German Army or German
diplomacy.
Ultimately, it was the mark that propelled so many East Germans to stampede across the
crumbling Berlin Wall. In a few months during 1989-90, East Germany abandoned four
decades of Communist propaganda and signed up for c
apitalism. The demonstrators chanted: �If the mark does not come to us, we will come
to you.� The ostmark collapsed, as did much of East German industry. Rundown baroque
castles changed hands for a single mark � on condit
ion that the purchaser invested millions in restoration work.
German unity was the zenith of the mark�s career; the mark that had once split the
country had brought it together again. Certainly, the mark�s prewar ancestor, the
reichsmark, must have chuckled from beyond the grave.
In the hyperinflation of 1922-23 a dollar could be bought for 4.2 billion marks. The
lost war and the heavy reparations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles created chaos.
German companies inflated away their debt payments
. Inflation galloped up to 1,300 per cent. Wheelbarrows full of banknotes replaced
wallets. It became cheaper to burn the notes than buy fuel; rooms were wallpapered
with banknotes. This whirlwind inflation influenced sub
sequent generations of Germans. Hitler promised sound financial policies, but the main
task of his Reichsbank soon became the distinctly unsound financing of war.
The modern German has always insisted that the Bundesbank guarantees the stability and
security of the mark � in effect to guard it against politicians, be they dictators or
simply high spenders. As the Bundesbank became
a hollow shell, so anxiety has spread about its successor. How solid is the European
Central Bank? Will it listen closely enough to the Germans, who have just lost their
emotional anchor? To measure the mark�s real achiev
ements it is necessary to go back to the first united Germany. It was the 1875 mark �
based on the gold plundered from the French � that first created a unified currency
out of a jumble of talers and guilders. The idea fo
r a single currency uniting the German states arose out of the German Customs Union in
1834; a single market, it was argued, needed a single currency.
But it took a bloody war to make Bismarck�s coinage a reality and the currency was
duly destroyed by war. The mark was born out of the confusion of the Second World War,
but was killed in peacetime by the Maastricht Treat
y. That represents a kind of progress.
History of Germany's currency
1875 The mark becomes the currency of united Germany
1922-23 Hyperinflation. Introduction of the rentenmark
1933 Hitler takes power. Reichsmark used in all occupied territories
1948 June 20 � mark introduced into western zones
1989 Berlin Wall falls. Mark exchanged one-for-one for ostmarks
1991 European leaders agree to a European monetary union and a single currency
Click here for BT Business. Connections that get results.
Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd.
End<{{{
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe
simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not
believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do
not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not
believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men.
Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it
agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all.
Then accept it and live up to it."
The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
