In a collection of World War II-era currency I acquired this week was a fine example of a Konversionkasse, 5 Reichsmark note, dated 1934 and issued by Nazi Germany. Beginning in 1934, all Jews who were able to emigrate from Germany were blocked from removing any major assets or funds. In lieu of their assets, they were issued “Konversionskasse,” a sort of promissory note supposedly backed by the Reichsbank, but in general these were impossible to ever redeem. In 1933 most Jews were able to remove their assets when leaving Germany, by 1935 the conditions significantly worsened and at most 10 percent of the value was redeemable.
Aside from the Konversionkasse, German Jews from the early years of Nazi rule were attacked by various levies and taxes intended to impoverish them. In April 1938, an executive order forced Jews to declare all assets valued at over 5K Reichsmark. A 20 percent tax levy was then imposed on all Jewish-owned assets. In addition, on November 24 and December 3, 1938, a decree allowed the confiscation of Jewish property for the sake of war preparation. The later decree allowed confiscation of Jewish businesses at will. Jews were also forced to sell properties requested by the authorities at well-below market costs, paid for with the Konversionkasse, which were in effect worthless.
