Time Period: 1948-1990

Currency: German Democratic Republic (GDR) Mark


Timeline

  • 23.06.1948
  • Decree [No. 111] of the (Soviet) Allied Military Authority on the reorganization of the German monetary system in the Soviet occupation zone; effective immediately; effective immediately.
  • 24.06.1948
  • Start of currency exchange:
    - 24.06.1948: Start of issuance of provisional banknotes (Reichsmark notes marked with a sticker). Per person cash up to a maximum of 70 Reichsmark was exchanged at 1 : 1, next up to 5'000 Reichsmark at 1 : 10, excess amounts were invalid
    - 28.06.1948: End of exchange period for cash and demonetization of the unmarked former paper money (subsidiary coins remained valid until 03.04.1949, the lowest value of 1 Pfennig was tolerated afterwards)
    - 24.07.1948: Decree [No. 124] of the (Soviet) Allied Military Authority on the immediate issuance of regular banknotes
    - 28.07.1948: Demonetization of the sticker-marked banknotes.
  • 30.06.1948
  • Conversion of deposits:
    - Up to 100 Reichsmark were exchanged at a ratio of 1 : 1, next up to 1'000 Reichsmark at 1 : 5, excess amounts at 1 : 10
    - Insurance policies were converted at 1 : 3.
  • 01.10.1964
  • Change of the official currency name from "Deutsche Mark" into "Mark der Deutschen Notenbank"
  • 01.01.1968
  • Change of the official currency name from "Mark der Deutschen Notenbank" into "Mark der DDR"

Valuation Regimes

  • 1948-1953
  • Fixed rate against German Mark (Federal Republic), in particular in Berlin the currencies were used interchangeably
  • 1953-1960
  • Fixed rate against Soviet Ruble (1947), multi-tier exchange rate. On 07.01.1958, the so-called "Valuta-Mark" was introduced at par with the German Mark (Federal Republic) for use by western visitors and in transactions between the two German states.
  • 1961-1990
  • Fixed rate against Soviet Ruble (1961)

Rate Arrangements

  • 24.06.1948
  • Fixed
  • German Mark (Federal Republic) at 1 : 1
  • -
  • 29.10.1953
  • Fixed
  • Soviet Ruble (1947) at 1.80 : 1
  • +20.0%
  • 01.01.1961
  • Fixed
  • Soviet Ruble (1961) at 0.405 : 1
  • ±0.0%


Time Period: 1990 (July-October)

Timeline

  • 18.05.1990
  • Treaty between the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany on the establishment of a Monetary, Economic and Social Union; effective 01.07.1990
  • 01.07.1990
  • Start of currency exchange:
    - 01.07.1990: Start of issuance of German (FRG) banknotes and coins
    - 06.07.1990: End of exchange period for cash and demonetization of the GDR currency.
  • 01.07.1990
  • Conversion of deposits:
    - Up to 4000 GDR Mark were exchanged at a ratio of 1 : 1, excess amounts at 1 : 2.


End-year Forex Rates (Units per US Dollar)