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Goodbye to Old Love

how the Germans gave up the Mark. On February 28, 2002, people in Germany could pay with Deutsche Mark for the last time. Many Germans do not like the euro at first.

Parting can be viewed in two ways. One can be sad because

of what ends and look to the future with anxiety or look forward to changes and be a real optimist. At the beginning of 2002, the mood in Germany was divided. The country is facing an emotional farewell. From January 1, the Euro becomes the official currency and means of payment in the European Union, including in Germany. And many Germans still keep the stamp in their wallets, and on February 28 they can pay with it for the last time, and then it will go down in history.

But many people in Germany were skeptical and rejected the Euro.

It didn't take long for the euro to get its nickname: the tojro. From the German word "teuer" which means expensive and rhymes with the word "euro" which means euro. Because many people believe that with the new currency everything became very expensive, although with some prices it was the case, but inflation in the coming years was on average lower than during the time of the stamp.

But nostalgia and emotions are sometimes stronger than figures and facts, and the German mark is experienced very emotionally by many in Germany. There was talk in the German press about a "love affair", a few weeks before the introduction of the euro. This can be understood if we look into the recent past because in the collective memory of Germans the brand is associated with "Wirtschaftswunder"

the so-called economic miracle of the 1950s.

In the first years after the end of the war, almost everything was missing in Germany. There is not enough food and the black market is flourishing. And in June 1948, the three Western Allies introduced a new currency in their zones of occupation: the German mark. For many people, everything was better with the currency reform, because overnight the shops were suddenly full of goods, and so, after all, this money became very important to the identity of West Germans: a strong currency symbolizing the new strength of the Federal Republic.

Although East Germany had its own currency, it never had the same prestige as the currency of the West Germans, the reason being that the East Germans were forbidden to trade that currency abroad. After the opening of the German-German border in November 1989, the citizens of East Germany wanted to receive the Mark as soon as possible and they received it on June 1, 1990 when the German Mark became the official currency of the now Federal Republic of Germany. People in East Germany are hoping for a new economic miracle. Not all economic hopes were answered, but the German Mark stands now as a symbol of unity.

The German Federal Bank, "die Bundesbank" will continue to exchange marks for euros without a time limit. More than twelve billion German marks coins and banknotes are still in circulation according to the Bundesbank. Most of them are probably in long-forgotten places hidden in houses and apartments.