MODERN EUROPE Fifty fears of the Deutsche Mark: Central Bank and the Currency in Germany since 1948. Edited by the Deutsche Bundesbank. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp. xxvi, 836. $90.00.

Abstract

This volume was written in commemoration of West Germany's postwar currency reform and its product, the Deutschmark. In June 1948 the U.S. Army distributed a new currency in the Western occupation zones of Germany. These banknotes, which had been printed in the United States, carried no signatures and made no mention of an issuing authority. But they did carry the name Deutsche Mark. Seldom has a military initiative created such a successful brand name, but that is not the theme of this book. Its purpose, rather, is to burnish the Bundesbank's once-formidable reputation as an inflation fighter. As the European Central Bank is taking a decidedly different course, the magic of the Bundesbank is vanishing at an amazing speed. The Bundesbank has been downgraded to a mere member bank, has suffered severe budget cuts, and has had to lay off half its personnel. Meanwhile, those who remain regard the new system with apparent bewilderment and sometimes outright fury.