bavarikon4UPaper money in Greece
Greece gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in the 1820s. The Kingdom of Greece was established in 1832 after the Greek Revolution and remained in existence until 1973, with one interruption between 1924 and 1935 in which Greece became a republic after a referendum decided to abolish the monarchy in 1924. After the end of the Greek military dictatorship, which began in 1967, a referendum was held in 1974 to abolish the monarchy and introduce the Republic.
It was during the Greek Revolution that the country's first paper money was issued. The provisional government issued government bonds which were accepted as means of payment at all state coffers. The National Finance Bank was founded in 1831 just before the monarchy was established. It issued banknotes in the new currency, the phoenix, for a short period.
Following a long period of preparations, the National Bank of Greece was finally established in 1841 and the drachma was introduced as the new currency. The bank was initially granted the banknote privilege for 25 years, but other central banks were also granted the right to issue banknotes in exceptional cases from 1864. This was particularly true for banks in newly acquired areas, such as the Ionian Islands, which joined the Greek state in 1864. The National Bank of Greece regained the sole right to issue banknotes in 1920. It issued a total of over 68 different types of notes, in denominations ranging from 1 to 5,000 drachmas.
An economic crisis that began in 1922 led to the reorganisation of the central banking system in 1927. The Bank of Greece was established as the central bank of Greece and was granted the sole right to issue banknotes. The National Bank of Greece remained in existence as a commercial bank. Until the Bank of Greece issued its first banknotes, it used the old banknotes, which were printed with the new name.
The Kingdom of Greece was divided into occupation zones in 1941: the German Reich, Italy and Bulgaria occupied different regions, with Italy taking the lion's share. The Bank of Greece continued to issue banknotes during the occupation period from 1941 to 1944. 1942 saw a wave of inflation set in which reached its peak in 1944. Even after the occupation ended, the monetary system remained unstable and another wave of inflation followed; the currency could not be stabilised until 1954.
>> This collection is part of the holdings of "Paper money in Europe" of the Giesecke+Devrient Stiftung Geldscheinsammlung.