Greek banknote 500,000 drachmas, 1944. Greece under Nazi occupation - on the back of the banknote two Nazi stamps - Reichsbetriebgemeinschaft stamp - German Labor Front "Reich property" and swastika "Berlin" - Greece under German occupation. Extremely rare.
Deutsche Arbeitsfront was the national labor organization of the Nazi Party, which took over the various independent trade unions in Germany before Hitler's rise to power. Under its auspices was one of the largest financial institutions - the German Labor Bank, and by virtue of this it is signed here on the banknote. The organization defined itself as "an organization of creative Germans with brains and fists". The DAF was one of the largest Nazi organizations, boasting tens of thousands of employees under its auspices.
The banknote itself was issued by Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος - "Bank of Greece" during the occupation of Greece by the Axis powers. On April 27, 1941, the first German forces entered Athens the capital of Greece, the occupation of Greece was completed with the fall of the island of Crete to the German army on June 1, 1941. At the end of the campaign Greece was under the military occupation of three of the countries of the Tripartite Pact: Germany, Italy and Bulgaria until Italy's surrender to the Allies in September 1943. The German forces forced Greece to pay for the occupation by printing high-value paper banknotes. The drachma surplus caused hyperinflation, and the price of goods and services rose dramatically and unrealistically. For example, during the occupation, the price of corn rose to 9 million drachmas. The worthless paper notes actually gave way to barter of supplies such as olive oil, cigarettes and wheat. Due to the invasion and the harsh economic policy, hundreds of thousands of Greeks died of food shortages during the German occupation.
It is rare to find this banknote with the Nazi affiliation stamps.
Approx. 13.5x6.5 cm. Wrinkles. Good condition.
