Euro banknotesBanknotes of the euro, the common currency of the eurozone (euro area members), have been in circulation since the first series (also called ES1) was issued in 2002. They are issued by the national central banks of the Eurosystem or the European Central Bank. The euro was established in 1999, but "for the first three years it was an invisible currency, used for accounting purposes only, e.g. in electronic payments". In 2002, notes and coins began to circulate.
Bulgarian levThe lev (лев, plural: лева, левове / leva, levove; ISO 4217 code: BGN; numeric code: 975) is the currency of Bulgaria. In old Bulgarian the word "lev" meant "lion", the word 'lion' in the modern language is lаv (ɫɤf; in Bulgarian: лъв). The lev is divided in 100 stotinki (стотинки, singular: stotinka, стотинка). Stotinka in Bulgarian means "a hundredth" and in fact is a translation of the French term "centime". Grammatically the word "stotinka" comes from the word "sto" (сто) - a hundred.
East German markThe East German mark (Mark der DDR ˈmaʁk deːɐ̯ ˌdeːdeːˈʔɛʁ), commonly called the eastern mark (Ostmark ˈɔstmaʁk) in West Germany and after reunification), in East Germany only Mark, was the currency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Its ISO 4217 currency code was DDM. The currency was known officially as the Deutsche Mark from 1948 to 1964, Mark der Deutschen Notenbank from 1964 to 1967, and from 1968 to 1990 as the Mark der DDR (Mark of the GDR). The mark (M) was divided into 100 Pfennig (pf).
OstpolitikNeue Ostpolitik (German for "new eastern policy"), or Ostpolitik for short, was the normalization of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, or West Germany) and Eastern Europe, particularly the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) beginning in 1969. Influenced by Egon Bahr, who proposed "change through rapprochement" in a 1963 speech at the Evangelische Akademie Tutzing, the policies were implemented beginning with Willy Brandt, fourth Chancellor of the FRG from 1969 to 1974, and winner of the 1971 Nobel Prize for Peace for his efforts to place this policy at the acme of the FRG.
Austrian schillingThe schilling (German: Schilling; ˈʃɪliŋ) was the currency of Austria from 1925 to 1938 and from 1945 to 1999, and the circulating currency until 2002. The euro was introduced at a fixed parity of €1 = 13.7603 schilling to replace it. The schilling was divided into 100 groschen. Following the Carolingian coin reform in 794 AD, new units of account were introduced including the schilling which consisted of 12 silver pfennigs. It was initially only a coin of account but later became an actual coin produced in many European countries.
Berlin BlockadeThe Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. The Soviets offered to drop the blockade if the Western Allies withdrew the newly introduced Deutsche Mark from West Berlin.
Yugoslav dinarThe dinar (Cyrillic script: динар) was the currency of the three Yugoslav states: the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (formerly the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes), the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia between 1918 and 2003. The dinar was subdivided into 100 para (Cyrillic script: пара). In the early 1990s, economic mismanagement made the government bankrupt and forced it to take money from the savings of the country's citizens.
Croatian kunaThe kuna (sign: kn; code: HRK) was the currency of Croatia from 30 May 1994 until 31 December 2022. It was replaced by the euro (€, EUR) in 2023. The kuna was subdivided into 100 lipa. It was issued by the Croatian National Bank and the coins were minted by the Croatian Mint. In Croatian, the word kuna means "marten" and lipa means "linden (lime) tree", both references to their historical use in medieval trading.
Socialist Unity Party of GermanyThe Socialist Unity Party of Germany (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, zotsi̯aˈlɪstɪʃə ˈʔaɪnhaɪtspaʁˌtaɪ ˈdɔʏtʃlants; SED, ˌɛsʔeːˈdeː), informally known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany) from the country's foundation in October 1949 until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. It was a Marxist–Leninist communist party, established in April 1946 as a merger between the East German branches of the Communist Party of Germany and Social Democratic Party of Germany.
Dutch guilderThe guilder (gulden, ˈɣɵldə(n)) or florin was the currency of the Netherlands from the 15th century until 2002, when it was replaced by the euro. The Dutch name gulden was a Middle Dutch adjective meaning "golden", and reflects the fact that, when first introduced in 1434, its value was about equal to (i.e., it was on par with) the Italian gold florin. The Dutch guilder was a de facto reserve currency in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. Between 1999 and 2002, the guilder was officially a "national subunit" of the euro.
