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Black fingers, confused customers: bank employees remember the changeover to the euro

2021-12-30T21:22:19.559Z


Sought-after starter kits, black fingers from counting mark coins and Reichspfennige in Asbach-Uralt bottles: Bank employees remember the introduction of euro cash 20 years ago.


Sought-after starter kits, black fingers from counting mark coins and Reichspfennige in Asbach-Uralt bottles: Bank employees remember the introduction of euro cash 20 years ago.

District - Franciska Distler can't stand the smell of coins to this day. This is due to the currency conversion to euro cash exactly 20 years ago. Today the Weßlinger is press spokeswoman for VR-Bank Starnberg-Herrsching-Landsberg. At the turn of the year 2001/2002 she was a trainee, among other things in the Breitbrunn branch. “That was an extreme time,” says Distler. “There were mountains of Deutsche Mark coins on the desks. We counted them for evenings after the counter closed until the fingers were black. ”There was no counting machine in the small branch. And then a woman came with two Asbach-Uralt bottles full of one- and two-pfennig coins. She used the custom of saving bridal shoes. "There were even Reichspfennige from her family in there," says Distler. Today she can laugh about it.

Distler's colleagues also remember the queues in front of the banks, the highly sought-after 10.23 euro starter kits, confused customers and a lot of overtime. Birgit Wischnewski (45), who was working in the securities back office at VR-Bank at the time, speaks for all bankers: "I will know the exchange rate all my life - even when I sleep: 1.95583."

Angelika Frühauf (69), then and now an employee of the VR Bank in Herrsching, describes: “On New Year's Eve, customers stood in endless lines to exchange D-Mark for Euro bills.

The two cashiers could only count the money and store it unsorted in laundry baskets. ”Only in the evening did they get around to storing the huge sums in bundles in the basement vault for forwarding to the Bundesbank.

Cordula Kaiser (44), at that time in the Traubing branch, now a branch manager in Gauting, is still amazed at the chaos: "Amazingly, the cash register still worked late in the evening."

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The Starnberger Merkur reported on January 3, 2002 that there was a "mass rush" on the banks in the district. And also that the customers of the Starnberg butcher's shop Boneberger still mostly paid in D-Mark on the first business day in the morning.

Already in the afternoon it was significantly more euros.

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Markus Raphael (47) worked in the credit department in Pöcking. The cash was brought in by sacks and all employees had to help counting. “It was checked regularly whether the insured amount of the safe was still met. That is why money was transported to the main cash desk, ”explains Raphael. He also remembers lists of registered DM notes from the police. "We had to compare all accepted 1,000 DM notes to see whether they were possibly connected to a crime, which was really insane because of the large number of notes."

Hermine Geng (51) now heads the Herrsching branch.

In 2001/2002 she was so curious at midnight that she drove to her former place of work in Hechendorf.

“Pure excitement: does the ATM really spit out euros from midnight?

That was the big question, "she says.

But that day the sliding entrance door was broken.

But Geng knew what to do: “Since I wanted to prove to our customers that Euros really came out of the machine, I pushed the door open manually and let the customers in.

I stayed with the door open for a few hours until I got really cold. "

Sparkasse employee: "At first it was almost like Monopoly"

Andreas Drott (43), formerly a VR Bank trainee in Wörthsee, tried to reassure an older customer.

"The lady complained about expropriation, the money was only worth half." Drott said to her: "If you buy butter for two D-Marks today, you will pay one euro in the future." Drott continues: "That was my mistake.

Because now a discussion developed between the lady and another older customer, why I buy such expensive butter. "

Colleague Thomas Baar (45) remembers a pleasant private experience: “At that time, the Deutsche Bahn machines still accepted 50 euro bills.

When I bought a single day ticket for the entire network for 9 euros, I received the 41 euros change in coins. "

Robert Schiener from the Gilchinger branch of the Kreissparkasse is aware of the historical moments he was able to experience.

“We only had brand new money.

The coins were shiny.

There won't be anything like that in the crowd, ”he says.

In view of the notes in their original packaging that he was allowed to unpack at the time, Schiener has to think of a popular game: "At first it was almost like Monopoly."

Mark coins and notes can still be exchanged today - but only at the Bundesbank.

Schiener knows: If someone brings a bottle full of coins by now, “the money counting machine still sorts out many a penny”.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-12-30

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