5 Mark (Ferdinand von Schill) – German Democratic Republic

In 1976, the currency situation in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was defined by the strict separation of its two distinct monetary systems: the internally used Mark der DDR (East Mark, M) and the externally targeted Forum Check. The East Mark was a non-convertible "soft currency," its value and utility artificially maintained by the state and disconnected from global markets. It was illegal for foreigners to possess, and its official exchange rate was set at parity with the West German Deutsche Mark (DM), a purely political fiction that bore no relation to its vastly weaker purchasing power or the black-market rate.

For essential hard currency, the state operated a parallel system. Western visitors were required to exchange a mandatory minimum of DM for Forum Checks, special vouchers valued at a 1:1 rate with the DM but only usable in exclusive Intershop and Delikat stores. These shops offered high-quality imported goods and luxury items unavailable for East Marks, creating a visible two-tier economy. This mechanism allowed the SED regime to confiscate desperately needed hard currency from Western tourists and from its own citizens, who often received DM gifts from relatives in the West, to service international debt and pay for critical imports.

This dual system underscored the broader economic contradictions of "real existing socialism" in the mid-1970s. While the GDR presented an image of stability and was considered the most prosperous Eastern Bloc economy, its currency regime revealed deep-seated weaknesses. The need to siphon off hard currency highlighted chronic shortages in the planned economy, productive inefficiencies, and a growing dependency on Western credit. The visible privilege of the Intershops, accessible only with Western money, also fostered public resentment, undermining the state's ideology of egalitarianism and exposing the gap between socialist rhetoric and material reality.