Word: ostmark
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...million citizens of East Germany will be $70 billion richer this week, at least on paper. Even before the day of reckoning this past Sunday, crowds had been standing patiently in line to complete the paper work for converting their ostmark savings into deutsche marks at a rate of 1 to 1 for up to 6,000 marks, and 2 to 1 for anything beyond that. On Sunday itself, cash was being handed out at some 10,000 bank branches, police stations and temporary disbursing points. The vast shift in wealth is part of the price of German unification...
Last week's agreement between the two countries to start immediate negotiations to replace the East German ostmark with the West German deutsche mark provided the starkest reminder yet of the downside of unification. The immediate aim of the monetary union is to stanch the East German stampede to the West, which continues at the rate of 2,000 a day. The theory is that if Easterners were more confident about their country's economic future, they would be less prone to flee. The first step in that process is to replace East Germany's funny money with West Germany...