Talk:Reichsmark

No, even though it was used during the National Socialist (Nazi) period, it's use preceded Hitler and survived him until 1948. The reason it was replaced in a currency reform was to stabalize the (West) German economy as the Soviets had printing plates for the Reichmark as well as the Allied forces. The Russians printed as many Reichmarks as they needed without regard of the post war German economy. The three Allied occupiers of the west German occupation zones wanted to stabalize the economy and thus started issuing the new currency named the "Deutschemark" --81.159.178.193 15:49, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

should something be in here about hitler? maybe that's why it's not used anymore

(One US trillion to one, or one European billion to one). What does this mean, I thought in english its 1 billion and german Milliarden as 1 million in german is millionen. Enlil Ninlil 09:51, 21 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Perhaps Hitler was not the primary factor reichsmark was repalced. Reichsmark existed long before Hitler came to power, and the reason for replacement is written at and . 1012 is written "trillion" in modern English (both American and British), a.k.a the short scale, while the same number is written as derivatives of "billion" in other European languages, a.k.a. the long scale. --Chochopk 10:17, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

War period
What replaced the 1 and 2 RM coins between 1940-45?, was it the 1 and 2 renenmark notes or another! And in 1945 was the 50 reichspfennig withdrawn and replaced with banknotesnotes. Also was there a lower denominations than 50 rpf in occupied Russia and the baltic states? Enlil Ninlil 05:28, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

English translation
I believe Reichsmark should be translated as Imperial Mark, and not Realm Mark, although Reich can mean realm, it can also, and in this case I believe it does, mean Empire. I wanted to post this here before actually changing it myself. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.35.65.211 (talk) 09:54, 3 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I dont believe so, as the currency name itself was the Reichsmark and not Reichs Mark, As is the case with the Angolan Novokwanza. Enlil Ninlil 09:18, 4 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Reich does not mean Empire, as is clear from the fact that the Reichsmark was introduced during the Weimar Republic, which continued to use the name "Deutsches Reich" for the country. Empire is Kaiserreich. Dove1950 15:12, 4 September 2007 (UTC)


 * This is the very first time I've ever seen anyone display an itch to translate the term Reichsmark, and not surprisingly the outcome is a dog's dinner. There are many currencies that, by hook or by crook, could be translated, but people generally have the sense not even to try. Norvo 01:22, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

German gold standard
The article currently states that the Reichsmark was put on the gold standard but then does not specify how much gold was it to be valued at, instead naming a fixed US dollar conversion. That's a currency peg, not a gold standard. The US changed the value of the dollar in 1934. So did the value of the RM change or not? How much gold was the reichsmark worth over time? The introduction of base metal coins tells me that the gold value of the RM was reducing over time. What was it and when? This article seems to be missing or misstating a number of core facts about the life of this currency during the Hitler years.

Update: Nobody seems to be watching this article so I'll at least do a rough cut to flesh out the economic facts, the financial trickery that was the German "economic miracle" under Hitler and how inflation in the real economy was avoided for a time. TMLutas (talk) 18:19, 11 September 2012 (UTC)

Photos on the article
I have looked through the Category:Reichsmark coins of the Third Reich on Wikimedia Commons and have found some very nice photos of coins. It seems that some of the coin photos on this Wiki of WWII coins are grainy and blurry. On the contrary, there are a few photos of WWII coins on the Wikimedia page that are much nicer and may be a nice replacement?... — Preceding unsigned comment added by Otto1943 (talk • contribs) 00:26, 16 September 2013 (UTC)

Done  John Alan Elson  ★  WF6I A.P.O.I. 13:45, 27 July 2014 (UTC)

Merged content
The content of 10 Reichspfennig (World War II German coin) was merged into Reichsmark on 21 August 2016 per WP:Articles for deletion/10 Reichspfennig (World War II German coin). That page now redirects here. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected page, please see its history; for the discussion see AfD. Also see template at the top of this talk page and newly created redirect talk page. Steve Quinn (talk) 01:40, 22 August 2016 (UTC)

Great Depression
I removed the section in "History" about the Great Depression. The section read as follows: "As the market crash of 1929 expanded into the Great Depression, Germany was forced to effectively take the Reichsmark off the gold standard when it imposed exchange controls in July 1931. It retained a gold peg at that time. Hyper inflation ensued to the point it was cheaper to burn reichsmark paper notes than to buy fire wood. The hyper inflation and high rate of unemployment was one reason that allowed the National Socialistic Party to secure power culminating in the appointment of Member of the Reichstag Adolf Hitler as Fuhrer in 1933." This is factually wrong. The hyperinflation occured in 1922 as a result of war reparations after WWII. The problem was fixed with the Rentenmark in 1923 and the Reichsmark was only introduced in 1924. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Qxentio (talk • contribs) 08:01, 13 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Also factually wrong. It couldn't have been after WWII as that ended much later. It was after the Great War. 194.207.86.26 (talk) 09:57, 25 August 2018 (UTC)

Removal of unsourced material
I am going to go ahead and remove a large section someone placed at the beginning of this article as it's completely unsourced and makes dubious claims. I will provide an opportunity for anyone interested to find sources for this material if they are able. --1.159.4.242 (talk) 06:17, 25 July 2020 (UTC)
 * I think it's better that this material be merged with the corresponding article on NSDAP economics, it's valuable content and I suspect it's an extract copy-pasted from another article where the citation is probably to be found. I'm doing a general clean up and will probably find it.--124.182.197.81 (talk) 15:51, 4 June 2022 (UTC)

Moving content to relevant pages
A number of separate currencies used at the same time as the Reichsmark have been merged with this page and this has caused a lot of confusion.

Lagergeld was from what I gather a work token issued internally in prison/concentration camps, it's not related to the reichsmark nor was it in general circulation. It should go into the pages of the prison/concentration camps where it was used so as not to confuse readers.

In finance "dummy currency expansion" is typically referred to as "expansionist monetary policy" in English. Again this will clear up confusion. I can see why these were added but I think simply noting the Nazi policy and linking to the relevant pages is sufficient for those interested in finance. nobody wants the entire nazi fiscal policy history doubled up on this page, which I imagine is mainly used by coin collectors.

Happy to hear from other editors, I'm just cleaning up finance pages --124.182.197.81 (talk) 16:13, 4 June 2022 (UTC)

Page vandalism
It seems a user here keeps vandalizing the page by adding “Reichtangle,” a meme from the Polandball community, as a user of the Reichsmark. Please watch out for further edits like that, thank you. Arkadelaide (talk) 06:35, 8 September 2022 (UTC)

Rotate left or right, it's just not right!
Considering the Reichsmark was in circulation from 1924 (a whole nine years before the "austran painter" took power), would it be possible to use "non-Third" Reich marks (i.e. Weimar era coin and banknote) photos at the very start of the article? The "sun wheel" being put into our face so ominously just serves to deter many upright people from reading the article. Shock value is not something an encyclopaedia should aim for. Etomcat (talk) 23:41, 25 December 2022 (UTC)

Inflation adjustment
I've wrestled a bit with the topic of how to perform inflation adjustment on values quoted in RM. I've found three "correct" approaches and I've listed the wiki code below. As with other uses of the inflation template, these only apply to consumer goods and not capital expenditures, and the results are intended to orient the reader rather than truly provide mathematical precision.

The Reichsmark was introduced at the end of hyperinflation in 1924 and circulated through the first half of 1948. This time included the Great Depression, World War II, and the military occupation of Germany, during which allied-issued money and cigarettes (for black market goods) also were in use. The switch to West and East German Marks (and from East to West) used a 1:1 rate for wages, rents, etc., but with a less favorable rate for converting savings. (It appears Template:Inflation/DE/dataset uses 1:1). Changing from DEM>EUR was done at a rate of 1:.

The Deutsche Bundesbank offers this table with purchasing power equivalents between RM and Euro. One could also convert the amount to a postwar value (e.g. 1950), and apply the inflation template and D-Mark conversion there. They caution that many of the conversions are imprecise, as the inflation figures are based on consumer prices that were set by the government, even if few goods were available at the official prices and actual (black market) prices could vary wildly. Out of the three, I trust the Bundesbank the most, even though (or rather, because) they emphasize the inherent uncertainty of such an undertaking, particularly for the years of upheaval.

To convert in 1931:
 * Directly using the Convert template:
 * (equivalent to €0 in )
 * (equivalent to €0 in )
 * Using the 1930s RM/USD gold standard fixed exchange rate and USD inflation:
 * In 1931, the Reichsmark was fixed at an exchange rate of per U.S. dollar, making  equal to $47,600.
 * The Bundesbank table above indicates for 1931 that each Reichsmark is worth €4.40 in 2022. (You should include the link above as a citation.)
 * (equivalent to €0 in 2022)
 * (equivalent to €0 in 2022)
 * (equivalent to €0 in 2022)

For the Inflation template, I tried applying the DM>EUR conversion (" / "), but the result is then much lower than either of the other two. In the interest of accuracy over precision, I left it out.

I hope this helps.-Ich (talk) 20:30, 2 November 2023 (UTC)