Cold-war banknotes in the event 'they' had won

What would have happened if the Cold War had turned into a Hot War and the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact would have steamrolled into Western Europe? More precisely and on-topic: what kind of banknotes would I have used living in the Netherlands?

I love to ponder these 'what if'-questions, to explore the road not taken. Luckily sometimes we get a glimpse of that alternative universe. The Narodowy Bank Polski (National Bank of Poland) has for the first time made public what banknotes would've been in our pockets if countries like Denmark, the Netherlands and West-Germany would have been captured by the Warsaw Pact. Surprisingly they would have been Polish!

"Codenamed E-17, the crisp notes were issued in the 1970s and kept locked in chests deep in the bowels of Poland’s central bank. They were classified as top secret until 2015. (...) Emblazoned with the skylines of several Polish cities, the notes range in value from one to 2,000 zloty and will be on public display at the national mint in Warsaw as of next year."

I am very glad these events haven't come to pass... But then again, from a historical and numismatical perspective, how cool are these notes?!

Steven Wednesday 24 August 2016 at 1:09 pm | | links
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