They moved 25 billion Deutschmarks through a collapsing country. What could possibly go wrong?
Early summer 1990: West German money transporters carrying billions of Deutschmarks roll towards the former GDR. From the inner-German border, the People's Police and the heavily armed National People's Army take over guarding the transports. Over 25 billion Deutschmarks are transferred from West to East within a few weeks. On July 1, 1990, the German-German monetary union takes place. The citizens of the former GDR were to hold the D-Mark in their hands from this point onwards, but a huge amount of work had to be done before this could happen. 441 million banknotes had to be printed and 102 million coins minted. This is because the organizers of the Bundesbank barely had time to prepare for the largest money transport in history. Many contemporary witnesses describe their experiences in the documentary, which gives an insight into the exciting months before monetary union, the consequences of which still have an impact today.
Direction
Turns central banking into genuine suspense
Production
Incredible archival footage of money mountains
Director
Johannes Thürmer
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The Bundesbank printed so many notes they briefly ran out of secure storage, stashing pallets in salt mines and former military bunkers.
This operation remains the largest physical currency transfer in modern history—crypto bros, take notes.
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