20 Reichsmark, Reichskreditkassen

Reichskreditkassenschein — Zwanzig Reichsmark

Reverse of 20 Reichsmark, Reichskreditkassen — Reverse 600 dpi

This copy

Accession: OM-00561
Serial: N 0537282
Series year: 1939
Actually issued: 1939
Signatures: This issue carries no bank manager or cashier signature.
Grade: AU (IBNS)
Estimated from the archival scan. Folds, soiling and edge condition are visible at this resolution; paper crispness, pinholes, small repairs and pressing are not.
Estimated value: $36 indicative
Category benchmark scaled for grade — an order of magnitude, not an appraisal. Priced 2026-10-03.
Dimensions: 150.9 × 73 mm (±1.1, from the scan)
Themes: Second World War Occupation currency Portrait

The type

Type: 20 Reichsmark, Reichskreditkassen
Portrait: Albrecht Dürer, "Der Baumeister"
Printer: Not established
Rarity: common

Inscriptions

Obverse — occupation currency

Ausgegeben auf Grund der Verordnung über Reichskreditkassen. Hauptverwaltung der Reichskreditkassen.

Issued under the ordinance on Reich Credit Banks — legal tender only in occupied territory, redeemable by the occupied country's own central bank.

Symbology

Dürer's "Der Baumeister": A portrait after Albrecht Dürer's drawing "The Architect," lending Renaissance prestige to Nazi occupation currency.
Brandenburg Gate: Berlin's triumphal gate on the reverse.
Reichsadler with swastika: The eagle of the Third Reich on money valid only where the Wehrmacht stood.

What was happening

A Reichskreditkassenschein, occupation currency legal tender only where the Wehrmacht stood. Undated, issued from 1939, it was one of the most common notes used to pay German forces across occupied France and the occupied Soviet territories.

The portrait is taken from Albrecht Dürer's drawing Der Baumeister ("The Architect"), captioned on the note, with the Brandenburg Gate on the back — the Third Reich dressing its occupation money in the German Renaissance. Not to be confused with the 1929 Reichsbank 20 Reichsmark ([[germany-20-reichsmark-1929]]), a different note of a different issuer; this one belongs with the other Reichskreditkassen values ([[germany-1-reichsmark-reichskreditkassen]], [[germany-50-reichsmark-reichskreditkassen]]).

This account belongs to the type, not this copy — it is shared by every 20 Reichsmark, Reichskreditkassen in the collection.

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