PM&M / Resources / Vocabulary :

Currencies

People are often confused when they stumble across German monetary values using the short term 'Mark'. Next to sharing that common name in every day use, some also shared the same currency shorts/signs. Especially US authors often confuse Goldmark/Papiermark/Reichsmark, regardless of which time period they are actually talking about. The following different currencies were all commonly referred to as 'Mark':

• 1873-1914: Goldmark, currency sign 'M'.
• 1914-1923: Papiermark, currency sign 'M'.
• 1923-1948: Rentenmark, currency sign 'RM'.
• 1924-1948: Reichsmark, currency sign 'RM'.
• 1949-1990: East Germany only, dubbed 'Ostmark', officially 'Mark der DDR', currency sign 'DDM'.
• 1949-1990: West Germany only, dubbed 'Westmark'/'D-Mark', officially 'Deutsche Mark', currency sign 'DM'/'DEM'.
• 1990-2002: D-Mark, officially 'Deutsche Mark', currency sign 'DM'/'DEM'.