Using the information from Götz Aly's book:
Hitler's Beneficiaries: Plunder, Racial War, and the Nazi Welfare State:
From the very beginning, a major element in Germany’s successful exploitation of occupied countries was the manipulation of official exchange rates. In France, German occupiers lowered the exchange rate for 100 francs from 6.6 to 5 reichsmarks—a devaluation of just under 25 percent. This automatically raised soldiers’ salaries, which were paid in francs but calculated in reichsmarks. (The franc would, of course, have inevitably become softer under German occupation, but even in late 1942 the exchange rate in Zurich was 16 percent higher than the one set by German occupiers.) Similar action was taken with the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The Czech crown remained the official currency but was devalued by a third. In 1939 the Reich also intervened in Poland and in 1943 in Nazi-occupied northern Italy, where the exchange rate between the lira and the mark was lowered from 100 to 13.1 to 100 to 10. But even that is dwarfed by the 470 percent devaluation of the Russian ruble in 1941. Those responsible for the new exchange rates knew exactly what they were doing. Privately, they acknowledged that the reichsmark was “greatly overvalued in comparison with [other] European currencies.”
The footnotes refer to the following sources:
Chmelda-Bericht, p. 18, NID-14615; “Der Druck auf die französische Währung,” Bank-Archiv, 1942, pp. 484-85; Rass, “Menschenmaterial,” p. 240.
Benning, “Die sogenannte ‘Stabilität’ der Währungsrelationen in Europa,” Feb. 12, 1944, BA R 8136/3773, pp. 68-69.
The end of the book also has the following:
Rates of Exchange Set by Germany, 1939-45:
Albania = 100 Albanian francs = 81 reichsmarks (RM)
Belgium = 100 belgas (=500 Belgian francs) = 40 RM
Belgium = from 1943 on: = 25 RM
Bulgaria = 100 leva = 3.1 RM
Croatia = 100 kuna = 5 RM
Denmark = 100 crowns = 52.3 RM [see note #1 below]
Finland = 100 marks = 5.1 RM
France = 100 francs = 5 RM
General Gov't of Poland = 100 zlotys = 50 RM
Greece = 100 drachmas = 1.67 RM (the value of the mark constantly increased)
Great Britain = 100 pounds = 991 RM
Hungary = 100 pengo = 60.9 RM
Italy = 100 lira = 13.2 RM
Italy = from September 1943 on: = 10 RM
Luxembourg = 100 francs = 10 RM [see note #2 below]
Netherlands = 100 guilders (or Dutch florins) = 132.7 RM
Norway = 100 crowns = 56.9 RM [see note #3 below]
Protectorate of Bohemia & Moravia = 100 crowns = 10 RM
Romania = 100 lei = 1.67 RM [see note #4 below]
Switzerland = 100 francs = 58 RM
Serbia = 100 dinar = 5 RM
Slovakia = 100 crowns = 8.6 RM
Ukraine = 100 karbowanez = 10 RM
USA = 100 dollars = 250.2 RM
USSR = 100 rubles = 47.2 RM
USSR = 100 rubles = 10 RM (from June 22, 1944 onward)
Official price of gold during World War II:
Gold = $35 per fine ounce = $1,125 per kilogram = 4,869.80 Swiss francs per kilogram = 2,784 RM [see note #5 below]
1 gold pound = $10 = 25 RM
Note #1: At the beginning of the occupation, 100 Danish crowns were worth 50 RM. For a while, the rate was 100 to 49, and in the end it was 100 to 52.3. On the discussion concerning this exchange rate, see BA R 2/60244.
Note #2: Also, for a time, 12.5.
Note #3: Originally 60 RM, then 56.9 RM.
Note #4: An agreement between the main administration of the Reich Credit Bank and the Casa Autonoma de Finantare si Amortizare in Bucharest in January 1941 set the internal exchange rate at 100 lei = 2 RM. See BA R 2/30703.
Note #5: Source: Goldtransaktionen im Zweiten Weltkrieg, p. 4.
by admfisher on 31 Aug 2002 04:54 
