mark

mark, former monetary unit of Germany.

The early history of the term can be traced back at least to the 11th century, when the mark was mentioned in Germany as a unit of weight (approximately eight ounces) most commonly used for gold and silver. As a unit of account, it was employed during the Middle Ages for the payment of large sums; the small silver coins of varying size and quality were melted and cast into lumps on which were stamped the weight and purity of the silver. These coins were called Usualmarks.

In the 19th century the mark was a common small coin in the German states, but its value varied between states. The gold mark, equal to 100 pfennig, was adopted to replace the taler and the guilder in 1873, soon after the creation of the German Empire, and became the standard of value and the money of account for the empire. After World War I the mark collapsed as Germany suffered from hyperinflation. To stem currency instability and to stabilize the economy, the gold mark was replaced by the Rentenmark in 1924, at which time a U.S. dollar was worth 4.2 billion marks. During the era of Nazi Germany (1933–45), the Reichsmark became the country’s official monetary unit, and the currency was adorned with the swastika. In 1948 the deutsche mark (DM; “German mark”) was introduced in West Germany, and over the next several decades it developed into one of the world’s leading currencies, challenging the dollar and pound sterling on international markets. In 1990 the deutsche mark became the official currency of reunified Germany; East German marks became obsolete and were exchangeable at parity with the West German mark. In 2002, however, the deutsche mark ceased to be legal tender after the euro, the monetary unit of the European Union, became the country’s sole currency.