Exchange rates

Discussions on the economic history of the nations taking part in WW2, from the recovery after the depression until the economy at war.
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admfisher
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Exchange rates

#1

Post by admfisher » 31 Aug 2002, 05:54

Does anyone know how I go about getting an exchange rate between the RM, and the Pound and US dollar. Even in 35 would be nice.

Then there is the conversion of the yen to the pound and dollar as well.

I find it surprising that we dont really know who was spending what.

For me it's more for the ship construction.

Thanks for any help.

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Marcus
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#2

Post by Marcus » 31 Aug 2002, 08:55

1 Reichsmark = $0.40 in 1944.

/Marcus


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admfisher
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Exchange rates

#3

Post by admfisher » 31 Aug 2002, 22:48

Thanks for the coversion rates. This will help some. But I imagine the RM was not a popular currency thus it's low value.

Grant

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Christian Ankerstjerne
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#4

Post by Christian Ankerstjerne » 31 Aug 2002, 23:04

Actualy, the DM/$ conversion rate was not much different, about 0.5 - but you're probably right few people have wanted/needed this currency...

Christian

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admfisher
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exchange rate Bis/Iowa

#5

Post by admfisher » 01 Sep 2002, 03:09

Ok we now have the Bismarck at a cost of 7 872 000 US dollars. The price of the Bismarck is from Siegfried Bryers BB and Bc's.

The Iowa class was apparantly around 100 000 000 per ship. This apprx. Now this would of been in 44. The Bismarck would of been three years before. So the rate is going to be different.

This is a huge difference. The exchange rate is .40 x 1 rm.

What were the sources you used to get these figures Marcus?

eaglestar78
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Re: Exchange rates

#6

Post by eaglestar78 » 08 Nov 2012, 23:44

Circa 1935 - 1944

$1 USD = 2.5 RM ( .40 USD)
.21 UK Pound (4.20)
2 Japanese Yen (.50)
5.3 Polish Zloty (.18)
37 French Francs (.025)
5.3 Russian Rubles (.18)
4 Swedish Krona (.25)
16 Czech Crowns (.06)
.30 Swiss Francs (3.5)
100 Italian Lira (.01)
1.25 Canadian Dollar (.75)

1944-1948
10 RM (.10)
100 French Franc (.01)
100 Italian Lira (.01)
see Occupation currency Japan Wiki

Some books on WW2 by W. Breuer have currency rates
At a library old newspapers on microfilm carried the exchange rate daily from the 1930's til the 1980's

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LWD
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Re: Exchange rates

#7

Post by LWD » 09 Nov 2012, 17:27

One has to be careful about exchange rates. For instance the ReichMark was held at an artificially high rate for political purposes. This may or may not be relevant to what you are looking into. For (a lot) more details see Wages of Destruction

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Re: Exchange rates

#8

Post by eaglestar78 » 22 Dec 2012, 22:13

Swiss Francs 28.5 cents or 3.5 to $1USD
Belgian Francs same as French francs
Japanese Yen .25 cents or 4 to $1USD
Spanish Pesetas and Portugese Escudos 2.3 cents or 44 to $1USD

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Gorque
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Re: Exchange rates

#9

Post by Gorque » 02 Jan 2013, 21:57


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Guaporense
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Re: Exchange rates

#10

Post by Guaporense » 06 Jan 2013, 17:13

"In tactics, as in strategy, superiority in numbers is the most common element of victory." - Carl von Clausewitz

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Re: Exchange rates

#11

Post by eaglestar78 » 10 Jan 2013, 03:19

4.67 Dutch Guilders (.21) to $1USD 1943

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Re: Exchange rates

#12

Post by tonyp » 15 Jan 2013, 14:54

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.

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Re: Exchange rates

#13

Post by eaglestar78 » 23 Feb 2013, 00:32

Great job everyone who contributed the above information - it has been a hot topic and difficult to souce acurate info Thank you

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