That’s it: finding a cigar box at the back of the old closet, a clothes chest in the attic, and in it – lots of banknotes. But wait, what is that: Those are still German marks. The blue hundred, the brownish Fuffi with the Holstentor on it, the over-30 generation remembers. But no problem, the Bundesbank accepts the currency that was replaced by the euro 22 years ago for an indefinite period.
And that doesn’t happen all that rarely. From January to the end of November, more than 91,000 exchanges brought in a good 53 million German marks. The Bundesbank gave a little more than 27 million euros for this. It is the second time in a row that more German marks were exchanged for euros than in the previous year. It could stay that way: “We expect that a lot of D-Marks will be exchanged in the next few years,” says Burkhard Balz, member of the Bundesbank’s board. “Especially when cleaning up inherited houses and apartments, German marks are likely to be found.”
At least theoretically, there should still be a lot of Deutsche Mark lying around in boxes and suitcases, in piggy banks and under mattresses. According to the Bundesbank, the total value still outstanding at the end of November 2023 was almost 12.2 billion marks, around 6.24 billion euros. “I am always impressed by how much D-Mark has not yet found its way back to the Bundesbank, even in the third decade after the national currency was replaced by the euro,” says Bundesbanker Balz.
You can send not only banknotes to the Bundesbank, but also D-Mark coins. Notes worth 5.7 billion marks and coins worth 6.6 billion marks have not yet been returned. As with the changeover at the turn of the year 2001/2002, exchanges are made at the same rate as 22 years ago. For 1.95583 D-Mark you get one euro.
Wonder where all the money went. Some things are probably lost or forgotten, some are kept nicely by collectors. Some people just hang on to the old money. Like the woman who was so annoyed that her husband had sent the princely sum of 20.78 marks back to the Bundesbank. He then stood on the mat at the Bundesbank in Mainz, as Bundesbanker Balz explains. There the helpful money guards managed to locate the letter.