D-Mark Story

This is one of those German economic stories that gets dragged out about every two years.

Seventeen years ago.....Germany flipped from the old Deutsche Mark/Pfennig era....to the Euro.  Banks were opened up on day one....to swap the currency. 

As of today, because the Bundesbank still tracks this stuff.....12.55 billion D-Marks are still unrecovered (roughly 6 billion US dollars).  It's roughly half in bills, and half in coins (if it really matters).  Somewhere....the money still exists. 

The Bundesbank will admit that they have around 70 to 100 million D-Marks that flow in each year from various points, and swap it for Euro.  By law, they still have to exchange the money today. 

I sat and gazed over the story by ARD (public TV, Channel One). 

Where does the 70 to 100 million D-Marks each year come from?  Unknown.  My general guess is that some Germans come to some safe in Opa's old house and when they crack it open....there's 50,000 to 100,000 D-Marks laying there, with no explanation.....other than Opa having passed on five years ago and he always seemed secretive. 

Around five years ago, some analyst was chatting about this in some interview and felt that the bulk of coins were simply taken by tourists as mementos.  I've got some collection in a drawer, with about forty D-Marks in coins.  Maybe a lot of folks are that way.

Money held by mafia units?  Well, that's another possibility.  You could have some group with cash bag in the back of some vault, with five-million in D-Marks.  Explaining how you came across the bag?  That's a minor issue in getting a good decent story, and not having a bunch of idiots checking out your background.