The Deutsche Mark (DM, DEM) was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until re-unification in 1990 and the official currency of Germany from then until the introduction of the Euro in 2002. One Euro was set to be equivalent to 1,95583 DEM. 1 Mark = 100 Pfennig (pennies).
The image displays coins with the values of 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.10, 0.50, 1.00, 2.00 and 5.00 DEM. The other side displays an oak leaf (0.01-0.10), a woman (0.50) planting an oak, the Bundesadler (German eagle; 1.00 and 5.00) and faces of distinguished German politicians (2.00).
The Deutsche Mark was introduced in 1948 by the Western powers once the post-war division of Germany into East and West seemed permanent. The move, intended to protect West Germany from inflation, angered the Russian authorities in East Berlin, who regarded it as a threat and promptly cut off all transport (road, rail and canal) links from West Germany to West Berlin. This led to the Berlin Crisis of 1949.
A mark had been the currency of Germany since its original unification in 1870. Whilst the Reichsmark of the Weimar Republic in the 1920s underwent hyperinflation, the Deutsche Mark was regarded a symbol of West German and subsequently German economic power and stability. In the former GDR the Mark der DDR (Ostmark) was used.
