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Dirty cash from the flood areas: the Bundesbank is cleaning up banknotes
Photo: Boris Roessler / dpa
Large sums of cash were also damaged in the flood disaster in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.
So far, private individuals as well as banks and savings banks have submitted more than 50 million euros to the Bundesbank for reimbursement.
The banknotes, which are often heavily contaminated with sludge, sewage and heating oil, are washed, dried and checked by specialists at the Bundesbank in Mainz.
People shouldn't wait long to hand in their money.
"The bank notes must be processed as quickly as possible before they clump together and become hard as concrete," said Bundesbank board member Johannes Beermann in the analysis center for counterfeit money and damaged cash.
The shrink-wrapped bundles sometimes smell disgusting when they are removed from the plastic film.
Specialists carefully wash the bills, rid them of dirt, dry them, and then smooth them.
Others check and count the bills.
Free service
The service is free of charge for citizens.
The submitted sums have been registered and will be refunded.
However, two important conditions must be met: 50 percent of a banknote must be present "plus one more snippet," as Beermann explained.
In addition, it must not be counterfeit money.
Counterfeiters who tried to smuggle flowers soiled with dirt on the Bundesbank had "no chance," said Beermann.
Private individuals can submit the "flood money" to the Bundesbank, to their commercial bank or send it by post.
The 51 million euros that have so far arrived in Mainz come from the Bundesbank branches in Cologne (25 million), Dortmund (12 million), Koblenz (10 million) and Saarbrücken (4 million).
Usually, 40 million euros arrive at the analysis center in a whole year.
hba / dpa
