1000 Lir dated 14.09.1944 series A issued by the Sparkasse in Laibach Province Slovenia.
German notes created for use in the former Italian province of Lubiana after Italy withdrew from the war. All notes are dated 28 November, 1944, six months before the end of World War II.. All notes in this series depict local peasants in native costume.
The Province of Lubiana in Italian, Ljubljana in Slovenian and Liabach in German. It was situated along the Italian-Yugoslav border and had once been a part of the Roman Empire. This province was created out of the territory occupied by Italian troops when the Axis invaded Yugoslavia and was further expanded to include large areas of Croatia and the Slovenian capital of Lubjljana. On 3 May, 1941 the area was formally annexed to the Kingdom of Italy under the name Provincia di Lubiana, thus becoming an integral part of Italy. Since the new province also bordered the new state of Croatia, an agreement was reached between the two countries as to where the boundary would be drawn. The Italian occupation forces adopted a more tolerant attitude toward Lubiana than the fascists or Germans had earlier displayed toward conquered peoples. Because of this, tens of thousands of Slovenes from the surrounding area escaped to Lubiana. This ended when the Nazis later took control. Since the province was a part of Italy, it did not at first have paper money of its own, using Banca d'Italia notes instead. All this changed however when Italy quit the Axis and joined the Allies in 1943. Fearful that Yugoslav partisans would seize control, the Germans, who controlled the rest of the former Yugoslavia through their puppet states in Croatia and Serbia, immediately sent troops in to occupy Lubiana. The Germans kept the province within its old borders under the same administration. At the end of World War II the area reverted back to Yugoslavian control..
In 1944 a new issue of bank notes was released by the Germans for use in the province. The notes carried the heading 'Sparkasse der Provinze Liabach' in German and 'Hranilnica Lubjljanske Pokrajine' in Slovenian . Denominations included ½, 1, 2, 5, 10, 50,100, 500 and 1000 lir. The text on the obverse is in German and the reverse in Slovenian. All notes bear likenesses of peasants and farmers in national costumes.