"Number One in Europe": The Startling Emergence of the Deutsche Mark, 1968-1969.

The article discusses the startling emergence of the Deutsche Mark (DM), the most stable German currency for more than a generation, from 1968-1969 wherein speculators and small savers across Western Europe raced to exchange their currencies for the Deutsche Mark in Germany. The reserves of West Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, has increased by DM 9.4 million in the first three weeks of November 1968 with DM 7.3 billion arriving in just three days of trading. It also examines the learning curve of DM to give way to a more cooperative understanding of the international monetary system. However, the Social Democrats' vision prevailed the cost of awakening expectations among West German workers, which would not easily be satisfied.