Word: reichsmarks
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Sixth Sense. Flick rode high under the Nazis, with enough holdings in coal and steel to make him a reichsmark billionaire. During his imprisonment, 75% of his wealth was confiscated, and after his release Allied authorities forced him to sell the remainder of his coal interests. At first this seemed a bitter blow, but when the coal industry hit a depression in 1958 Flick turned out to be set with plenty of cash. With an unerring sixth sense for economic trends, he resisted advice to concentrate all he had in steel, decided that most growth would be in autos, chemicals...
...Berliners were told to plant potatoes in their flower pots, in order to ease the burden on the strained food supply system. Sailors on the Baltic were ordered to scuttle their ships should there be danger of capture by the enemy. Bank clerks read the Swiss quotation for the Reichsmark: 2,500 to the dollar. Every German could hear the shocking official broadcast...
...Breslau came the propaganda stories: a 4,000,000 Reichsmark collection for the Nazi Winter Help fund, as if millions mattered now; a ceremony to mark the 132nd anniversary of the founding of the Order of the Iron Cross, as if Breslau's cross was not heavier than iron. But shrilly Joseph Goebbels praised Breslau, and perhaps someone in distracted, fear-filled Germany paid heed...
...Germany the 60-hour week was standard and heavy fines were waiting for all who shirked. Sixty express trains had been withdrawn. Mailboxes, could no longer be emptied; people had to post their letters at a post office. Mass arrests of unreliable people were a daily occurrence. The Reichsmark was worthless. A poll of 250 Germans showed that 80% thought the war was lost, only 5% still believed in victory. The rest were hoping for a compromise...
After weighing the evidence, Franco decided to sign a 100-million Reichsmark credit agreement with the Nazis, ostensibly liquidating his debt to Hitler for services rendered during the Spanish Civil War, actually enabling Germany to secure fresh supplies of strategic materials. Probable first German purchase: 800 tons of precious wolfram now stored on the French border and needed for armor-piercing steel. Probable second purchase: more wolfram, stored in Spain...