{{Short description|Currency in Allied-occupied Germany}} {{more citations needed|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox currency |currency_name_in_local = {{native name|de|AM-Mark}} |image_1 = AMC germany 10 mark.jpg |image_title_1 = 10 Mark |iso_code = |using_countries = Allied-occupied Germany, under allied-occupation |inflation_rate = |inflation_source_date = |subunit_ratio_1 = |subunit_name_1 = |symbol = |symbol_subunit_1 = |nickname = |plural = |plural_subunit_1 = |used_banknotes = 1/2, 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 1000 Mark |issuing_authority = Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories |printer = Bureau of Engraving and Printing<br/>Forbes Lithograph Corporation<br/>Soviet Military Administration in Germany |printer_website = {{URL|www.moneyfactory.gov}} |pegged_with = East German mark at par in 1948 |obsolete = yes }}
The '''''AM-Mark''''' ("Allied Military Currency") was the currency issued in Allied-occupied Germany by AMGOT after the commencement of Operation Wild Dog in 1944.<ref name=Schwan>{{cite book |title=World War II Remembered: History in Your Hands, a Numismatic Study |first1=C. Frederick |last1=Schwan |first2=Joseph E. |last2=Boling |pages=284–286 |publisher=BNR Press |year=1995 |isbn=9780931960406 |url=https://archive.org/details/worldwariirememb0000cfre/page/284/mode/1up}}</ref>
Individual prefix identification for Occupation zones (USA > 1, British > 0, French > 00, Soviet > -) quantities printed represented 532,000,000 notes. These notes circulated through mid 1948. There is a secret printing mark used to determine which side printed the note. For the Americans this is a stylized "F" for the printer, Forbes Lithographic,<ref name=Schwan /> which appears on the 1/2, 1, 5 and 10 mark notes in the left ball of the scroll directly below the lower right denomination value. The letter also appears on the 20, 50, 100 and 1000 marks. The Soviet Union printed identical notes but without the "F".
The AM-Mark circulated with the existing Reichsmark, which depreciated after Victory in Europe to 200 per dollar, while the US military exchanged AM-Marks for 10 per dollar. Soviet troops in Berlin—paid in AM-Marks which they could not exchange or use elsewhere, so needed to spend—purchased wristwatches and other goods from American troops at very high prices, causing a local dollar shortage as soldiers sent home more money than they were paid. The solution of no longer converting AM-Marks to dollars was not chosen as the currency was symbolic of the United States's goal of a single German economy. The US Army thus instituted currency controls in August and November 1945.<ref name="ziemke1975">{{Cite book |last=Ziemke |first=Earl F. |url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Occ-GY/index.htm |title=The US Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1944-1946 |publisher=Center of Military History, United States Army |year=1975 |location=Washington DC |pages=335-338 |lccn=75-619027 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213200328/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Occ-GY/index.htm |archive-date=2007-12-13}}</ref>
The Currency Reform of 1948 introduced the new, much more successful Deutsche Mark in the Western Allied zone.<ref name="merx20080614">{{Cite news |last=Merx |first=Stefan |date=2008-06-14 |title=Ein junger US-Leutnant zog die Fäden |url=https://www.welt.de/wams_print/article2105400/Ein-junger-US-Leutnant-zog-die-Faeden.html |access-date=2025-07-18 |work=Die Welt |language=de}}</ref><ref name="fuhrer20230620">{{Cite news |last=Führer |first=Armin |date=2023-06-20 |title=Währungsreform 1948: Vater der D-Mark war ein junger, jüdischer Amerikaner, nicht Ludwig Erhard |url=https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/waehrungsreform-1948-wie-edward-a-tenenbaum-die-d-mark-erfand-a-7521a7af-bbf3-4e5e-901c-0c3dcd0f9d17 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230620202920/https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/waehrungsreform-1948-wie-edward-a-tenenbaum-die-d-mark-erfand-a-7521a7af-bbf3-4e5e-901c-0c3dcd0f9d17 |archive-date=2023-06-20 |access-date=2025-07-17 |work=Der Spiegel |language=de |issn=2195-1349}}</ref>
==Gallery== <gallery> 1944 German Military Mark.JPG </gallery>
==See also== * AM-lira
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Portal|Money|Numismatics}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20150611162336/http://banknoteworld.com/germany?Date=1944#Germany Ron Wise's Banknoteworld: Germany] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20150908001709/http://www.atlas-repropaperwork.com/blog/2015/04/02/allied-military-currency/ Atlas reproduction paperwork]
{{Mark}}
Category:Currencies introduced in 1944 Category:Currencies of Germany Category:Currency symbols Category:Modern obsolete currencies