Germany Banknotes DDR 5 Mark banknote 1975 Thomas Müntzer
State Bank of the GDR - Staatsbank der DDR
Obverse: Portrait of Thomas Müntzer (1489-1525), German theologian, who became a rebel leader during the Peasants' War & National Emblem of the GDR at upper left.
Reverse: Harvesting machines on wheat field (Combine harvester - Fortschritt E 512 and truck - IFA W50), which was meant to highlight the importance of agriculture in the "Workers and Farmers State" (Arbeiter- und Bauernstaat) that the GDR proclaimed itself to be & the National Emblem of the German Democratic Republic at left.
Watermark: portrait of Thomas Müntzer.
Size: 112 x 50 mm.
Printer: VEB Wertpapierdruckerei der DDR, Leipzig.
Texts: Staatsbank der DDR; Fünf Mark der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. Wer Banknoten nachmacht oder verfälscht oder nachgemachte oder verfälschte sich verschafft, um Sie in Verkehr zu bringen, wird bestraft.
German Democratic Republic Mark Banknotes
1971-1985 Issue
Upon adoption of the deutsche Mark in East Germany on 1 July 1990, the East German mark was converted at par for wages, prices and basic savings (up to a limit of 4000 Mark per person, except a smaller number for children and a larger number for pensioners). Larger amounts of savings, company debts and housing loans were converted at a 2:1 rate whilst so-called "speculative money", acquired shortly before unification, was converted at a rate of 3:1. These inflated exchange rates were intended by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany as a massive subsidy for eastern Germany.
5 Mark DDR 10 Mark DDR 20 Mark DDR 50 Mark DDR 100 Mark DDR
Thomas Müntzer
Thomas Müntzer (ca. 1489 – 27 May 1525) was an early Reformation-era German theologian, who became a rebel leader during the Peasants' War. He believed that the questioning of authority promoted by the Lutheran Reformation should also be applied to the economic sphere. Luther distanced himself from Müntzer, stating that the Reformation he supported did not overthrow the civil order. Müntzer was eventually captured, tortured and decapitated.
Müntzer promoted a new egalitarian society which would practice the sharing of goods. Müntzer's movement and the peasants' revolt formed an important topic in Friedrich Engels's book The Peasant War in Germany, a classic defense of historical materialism. Engels described Müntzer as a revolutionary socialist leader who chose to use religious language – the language the peasants would best understand.
Fortschritt
Fortschritt was an East German brand of tractors, combine harvesters and other agricultural machines made by VEB Fortschritt (part of the IFA) in Neustadt, Saxony. Fortschritt was taken over by Case IH in 1997.
Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau ('Industrial Association for Vehicle Construction'), usually abbreviated as IFA, was a conglomerate and a union of companies for vehicle construction in the former East Germany (German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik - DDR).
IFA produced bicycles, motorcycles, light commercial vehicles, automobiles, vans and heavy trucks. All East German vehicle manufacturers were part of the IFA, including Barkas, EMW (which made Wartburg cars), IWL, MZ, Multicar, Robur, Sachsenring (which made Trabant cars) and Simson.