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German Money in Austria 1938-1945
Although the Treaty of Versailles (peace settlement of World War 1)
had explicitly forbidden the unification of Austria and Germany, Nazi Germany was striving to
connect Austria during the late 1930s. This was fiercely resisted by the Austrian Schuschnigg
dictatorship. When the conflict was escalating in early 1938, Chancellor Schuschnigg announced
a plebiscite on the issue on 9 March 1938, which was to take place on March 13.
History of the Anschluss
Germany then pressured Schuschnigg into handing over power to the Nazi party. This well-planned
internal overthrow by the Austrian Nazi Party of Austria's state institutions in Vienna on
March 11 meant that when Wehrmacht troops entered into Austria to enforce the Anschluss on March 12,
no fighting ever took place.
In the contrary the troops were welcomed with cheers and with a Nazi
administration already in place and the country integrated into the Third Reich, a referendum on
April 10 approved of the annexation with a majority of 99.73%. As a result, Austria ceased to exist
as an independent country during World War II.
The Money
In 1938 the Austrian currency was Schilling (with 1 Schilling = 100 Groschen). The Schilling was originally introduced on 1 January 1925 at a rate of 1 Schilling to 10,000 Austro-Hungarian Kronen.
The double-monarchy Austria-Hungary was split into several independent states in 1918, after the
defeat of the Central Powers in World War I. Inflation and economic problems in Austria lead to a
drastic loss of value of the Krone (legal tender in Austria since 1892) in the mid 20th.
In 1938 - just a few days after the Anschluss the Austrian Central Bank (Österreichische
Nationalbank) was taken over by the German central bank
(Deutsche Reichsbank). With it all property (gold, foreign currency etc.) was transferred and German
administrators took over key roles in the bank.
Already on 17 March 1938 a law was issued, which ordered the replacement of the Austrian Schilling by
the German Reichsmark. The Schilling was exchanged at a rate of 1 Reichsmark to 1.5 Schillings. The
German Reichsmark notes and coins were now also used in Austria.
After World War II on 30 November 1945 the Schilling was re-introduced by the Second Austrian Republic.
The exchange rate to the Reichsmark was 1:1, limited to 150 Schillings per person. With a second
"Schilling" law in November 1947 "new" notes were introduced which could also be exchanged in
certain amounts for the old ones. The currency stabilised in the 1950s, with the Schilling being
tied to the U.S. Dollar at a rate of $1 = 26 Schillings.
From 1976 the Schilling was coupled to the Deutsche Mark at a
rate of 1 DM = 7 Schillings. Austria joined the common European currency and the Schilling was replaced
by the Euro in 2002.
Read the complete history of the
Anschluss of Austria to Germany.
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