5 Reichsmark, Reichskreditkassen

A Reichskreditkassenschein, the occupation currency issued by the German military administration and valid only in the territories the Wehrmacht held. The mechanism was extraction: German forces were paid in these notes, spent them locally, and the occupied country's central bank had to redeem them.

The 5 Reichsmark, undated (circulated from about 1940), carries two portraits — a farming youth and an industrial labourer — the "blood and soil" pairing of agriculture and industry favoured in Nazi iconography, with a memorial motif on the back. Part of the same family as the 1, 2, 20 and 50 Reichsmark notes ([[germany-1-reichsmark-reichskreditkassen]], [[germany-2-reichsmark-reichskreditkassen]], [[germany-20-reichsmark-reichskreditkassen]], [[germany-50-reichsmark-reichskreditkassen]]).