Tons of GDR banknotes were stored deep underground near Halberstadt. They should have rotted, but instead they were found by treasure hunters in the summer of 1990. What happened to the millions?
Halbertstadt in the summer of 1990. Maren, Robert and Volker have known each other since childhood. Rather by chance, they found the GDR millions in an abandoned mine. The giant chamber of banknotes was stored there to rot. This is what the viewers of the movie "Two to One" can see, which is on the screens in Germany, but the rather incredible story is actually very close to reality, writes ARD.
GDR banknotes should have rotted
During the unification of Germany, the citizens of the GDR also accepted the currency of the FRG - the German mark. As of July 1, 1990, GDR banknotes are no longer an official means of payment, the German public law media recalls. The banknotes are handed over to the State Bank of Berlin, which stores them in an abandoned mine near the town of Halberstadt in Saxony-Anhalt. The money is walled up and plastered – so that there are no doubts that it will soon rot, as confirmed by an examination from 1992, writes ARD.
But it doesn't quite work out that way, explains Christine Falk, spokeswoman for the KfW Credit Bank for Reconstruction and Development. “The banknotes were over 600 million - a total of 3,000 tons of cash. 60 meters underground in a maze of shafts.“
Halberstadt treasure attracts treasure hunters
„The Treasure of Halberstadt“ however, it does not remain hidden – but ten years pass from its storage to the invasion of treasure hunters in the shafts. In 2001, the KfW bank received information that banknotes from the mine were in circulation, according to spokeswoman Falk. “These were banknotes with denominations of 200 and 500 marks, which were never put into circulation in the GDR, so there was no way they could have been found in an attic.“
KfW is the bank that becomes the legal successor of the State Bank in East Berlin, which is why it also becomes the owner of the banknotes stored underground. She is also responsible for them, Christine Falk, who had the opportunity to see the banknotes in the early 2000s, told ARD.
„We established that there was a hole in the concrete wall of one of the shafts through which someone managed to penetrate. "We had to act immediately and make a decision whether to leave the money there," Falk told ARD. Then the bank considers that there is too great a risk of someone risking their life in any subsequent penetration – to get hurt or something even worse happen.
298 truckloads of GDR banknotes were destroyed
In March 2002, KfW began to withdraw the money from the mine. After the walls of the underground shelter were destroyed, the money was brought to the surface from the shaft located at a depth of 300 meters. Even underground, with a special device, the banknotes were cleaned of sand and gravel and placed in containers. A total of 298 banknote trucks then take their load to the waste incineration plant in Buschhaus, where the securities are now finally destroyed.