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| predecessor = [[Bank of Prussia]] (1876)<br>[[Oesterreichische Nationalbank]] (1938)
| successor = [[Bank deutscher Länder]] {{small|([[West Germany]])}}<br>
{{small|([[East Prussia]])}}<br>[[Banque de France]] {{small|([[Alsace-Lorraine]])}}<br>[[National Bank of Belgium]] {{small|([[Luxembourg]])}}
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The '''''Reichsbank''''' ({{IPA-de|ˈʁaɪçsˌbank|lang|Reichsbank.ogg}}; {{lit|Bank of the [[Reich]]}}) was the [[central bank]] of the [[German
==Background==
The monetary institutions in Germany had been unsuited for its economic development for several decades before unification. In the [[Kingdom of Prussia]], the [[Bank of Prussia]] had been established in 1847 and, in the aftermath of the [[German revolutions of 1848–1849|revolution of 1848]], five additional banks had been granted a note-issuance privilege (the {{ill|Berliner Kassenverein|de}}, {{lang|de|Kölnische Privatbank}}, {{lang|de|Magdeburger Privatbank}}, {{lang|de|Ritterschaftliche Privatbank in Pommern}} at [[Stettin]], and {{lang|de|Städtische Bank in Breslau}}), but that was still insufficient to sustain adequate monetary conditions.<ref>{{citation |title=The Political Calculus of Capital: Banking and the Business Class in Prussia, 1848-1856 |author=James M. Brophy |journal=Central European History |issue=
Several pan-German conventions were held with the aim to simplify and rationalize the German monetary system, e.g. in [[Vienna]] on {{date|1857/01/24}}, but to no avail.<ref name=Conant>{{cite book |title=A History of Modern Banks of Issue |author=Charles Arthur Conant |url=https://books.google.com/books
On {{date|1870/03/27}}, a law was passed that forbade the formation of further {{lang|de|Notenbanken}} in the [[North German Confederation]]. Following the promulgation of the [[German Empire]] that law was extended to all German lands, with entry into force on {{date|1872/01/01}}. These Prussian initiatives precipitated action by the [[Grand Duchy of Baden]] and [[Kingdom of Württemberg]] to create note-issuing banks of their own, respectively the [[Badische Bank]] in [[Mannheim]] (est. 1870) and the [[Württembergische Notenbank]] in [[Stuttgart]] (est. 1871), bringing the total number of {{lang|de|Notenbanken}} to 33.{{R|NMCR|p=14}} The [[panic of 1873]] further stimulated discussions on the creation of an integrated monetary system,<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.bostonfed.org/-/media/Documents/conference/43/33p.pdf |author=Harold James |title=A historical perspective on international monetary arrangements: opening address |publisher=Federal Reserve Bank of Boston |year=1999}}</ref>{{rp|34}} which pitted advocates of centralization led by [[Ludwig Bamberger]] against the incumbent local banks of issue and defenders of state rights, led by [[Gottfried Ludolf Camphausen|Ludolf Camphausen]]. The political compromise was to allow the latter to keep issuance activity but under such restrictions that they rapidly fell into monetary irrelevance.<ref>{{cite book |author=Charles Kindleberger |title=A Financial History of Western Europe |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1993 |edition=Second }}</ref>{{rp|127}}
==German Empire==
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The Reichsbank was technically a private-sector company with individual shareholders, albeit not in joint-stock form, and operated from the start under the close control of the Reich government.<ref name=NMCR>{{Cite web |title=The Reichsbank 1876-1900 |url=https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/historical/nmc/nmc_408_1910.pdf |author=National Monetary Commission |publisher=U.S. Senate |location=Washington DC |year=1910}}</ref> The bank was managed by a management board ({{lang-de|Direktorium}}) reporting to a supervisory board ({{lang-de|Curatorium}}). The Curatorium was chaired by the [[Chancellor of Germany|Imperial Chancellor]] and included four additional members, one appointed by the [[German Emperor|emperor]] and the other three by the [[Bundesrat (German Empire)|Bundesrat]]; it was to meet every three months.{{R|Conant|p=202}} The Direktorium was led by the President ({{lang-de|Reichsbankpräsident}}) and all its members were appointed for life by the emperor, upon nomination by the Bundesrat. The law specified that the Direktorium must obey the Chancellor's orders at all times.{{R|NMCR|p=42}} The shareholders were represented in a central committee ({{lang-de|Zentralausschuss}}) of 15 members, which met at least every month under the chairmanship of the Reichsbank's president and could scrutinize the management but not change it or influence policy decision. Three deputies of the {{lang|de|Zentralausschuss}} were allowed to attend all meetings of the Direktorium and to examine the books of the Reichsbank.{{R|NMCR|p=25-28}} The initial shareholders included the former shareholders of the Bank of Prussia (except a few who opted for selling their shares) and new subscribers.{{R|NMCR|p=35}} The bank was exempted from all income and trade taxes,{{R|NMCR|p=30}} but also had to act as the Reich's [[fiscal agent]] without compensation.{{R|NMCR|p=293}}
The Reichsbank operated throughout the Reich's territory through a network of branches, which numbered 206 at its inception in 1876 and expanded to 330 by 1900.{{R|NMCR|p=56}} A formal distinction was made between main branches ({{lang-de|Reichsbankhauptstellen}}), whose head was appointed directly by the emperor,{{R|NMCR|p=62}} and other branches ({{lang-de|Reichsbankstellen}}), but that difference of status was insubstantial in practice.{{R|NMCR|p=47}} The bank's employees had the status of civil servants of the Reich,{{R|NMCR|p=61}} even though they were paid by the Reichsbank.{{R|NMCR|p=65}} The Reichsbank also sponsored the establishment of [[Clearing house (finance)|clearing houses]] which were established in the 1880s and 1890s in [[Berlin]], [[Frankfurt]], [[Stuttgart]], [[Cologne]], [[Leipzig]] ([[Petersstrasse]]), [[Dresden]], [[Hamburg]], [[Breslau]], [[Bremen]], and [[Elberfeld]].{{R|NMCR|p=117}}
15 of the 32 {{lang|de|Notenbanken}} (other than the Bank of Prussia) relinquished issuing their own banknotes shortly after the Reichsbank's creation; four more did so in the 1880s, six in the 1890s, and three in the early 1900s, leaving only the [[Bayerische Notenbank]], [[Bank of Baden]],
Until [[World War I]], the Reichsbank produced a very stable currency, fully convertible into gold and thus known as the [[German gold mark]]. In 1909, an amendment to the Banking Act of 1875 made the Rischsbank's notes [[legal tender]] and redeemable at the rate of 2790 Marks per kilogram of [[gold]].{{R|HandbookDE|p=13}} In the period immediately before the war erupted, the Reichsbank greatly increased its gold reserves, as also did the [[Bank of France]], [[State Bank of the Russian Empire|Bank of Russia]] and [[Austro-Hungarian Bank]], from an equivalent US$184 million on {{date|1912/12/31}} to $336 million on {{date|1914/06/30}}.{{R|Conant|p=743}} At the outbreak of [[World War I]], however, the link between the mark and gold was abandoned, resulting in the [[Papiermark]]. The expenses of the war caused [[inflation]]ary pressure and the mark started to decrease in value.{{Citation needed|date=March 2020}}.
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[[File:Reichsfinalb.jpg|thumb|A 10000 Mark banknote issued by the German Reichsbank in 1922]]
Following Germany's defeat and the 1919 [[Treaty of Versailles]], the German government was unable to meet its expenditures and commitments by taxation and borrowing from external sources, and instead turned to the Reichsbank for [[monetary financing]]. Combined with its reaction to the [[occupation of the Ruhr]] by France and Belgium, this triggered a dramatic [[Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic|episode of hyperinflation]] that rendered the Mark practically worthless. The Reichsbank only started raising its discount rate in July 1922, reaching 40 percent per day at the hyperinflationary peak in November 1923.{{R|HandbookDE|p=17-18}} By decree of {{date|1923/10/15}} on the initiative of finance minister [[Hans Luther]], the government created a separate bank, the [[Deutsche Rentenbank]], endowed with the right to issue notes ({{lang-de|Rentenbankscheine}}) redeemable in a kind of non-interest-bearing mortgage bond, the {{lang|de|Rentenbrief}}, denominated in gold Mark and theoretically backed by a collective mortgage debt imposed upon German agriculture and industry. That confidence-building initiative succeeded against all expectations, even though the {{lang|de|Rentenbankscheine}} only had the status of "legally-admitted medium of exchange" while the Reichsbank's devalued paper notes remained legal tender. No fixed exchange rate was set by law, but the "[[Rentenmark]]" became interchangeable with paper Mark at the rate of one to one trillion. The Rentenmark was thus in effect a transitory domestic currency, which was never convertible internationally.{{R|HandbookDE|p=21}}
The success of the Rentenmark, followed by the [[Dawes Plan]] on war reparations, paved the way for a restoration of monetary order. The Banking Law of {{date|1924/08/30}} was inspired by the stabilization loans orchestrated by the [[Economic and Financial Organization of the League of Nations]] that had entailed the creation of the [[Oesterreichische Nationalbank]] in January 1923 and of the [[Hungarian National Bank]] in June 1924. It comprehensively reformed the Reichsbank and made it, for the first time, an explicitly independent central bank. Its ''Kuratorium'' was replaced by a General Council ({{lang-de|Generalrat}}) consisting of 7 German and 7 foreign members, which was to elect the bank's president subject to approval of the [[President of Germany (1919–1945)|President of Germany]]. The General Council also elected one of its foreign members to serve as Currency Commissioner ({{lang-de|Komissar für die Notenausgabe}}) supervising note issuance. The ability of the reformed Reichsbank to extend credit to the Reich government was strictly limited. The new currency, the [[Reichsmark]] (RM), was set at one trillion paper Mark, restoring the prewar parity of 2790 RM for one kilogram of fine gold; the pre-reform notes ceased to be legal tender on {{date|1925/06/05}}.{{R|HandbookDE|p=22}}
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[[File:Schachtanlage Merkers.jpg|thumb|[[Nazi gold]] in [[Merkers]] Salt Mine]]
The [[Nazi regime]] promptly put an end to the independence of the Reichsbank and made it an instrument of their policy of directing Germany's resources towards rearmament and military expansion.
On {{date|1935/12/31}}, the Reichsbank's note issuing privilege became exclusive, bringing an end to the residual central banking roles of the Bank of Baden, Bayerische Notenbank, Bank of
The Reichsbank benefited by the theft of the property of numerous governments invaded by the Germans, especially their [[gold reserve]]s and much personal property of the Third Reich's many victims, especially the [[Jews]]. Personal possessions such as gold [[wedding ring]]s were confiscated from prisoners, and [[gold teeth]] torn from dead bodies, and after cleaning, were deposited in the bank under the false-name [[Max Heiliger]] accounts, and melted down as [[bullion]].
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==Aftermath and liquidation==
In line with decisions made at the [[Potsdam Conference]], the Reichsbank was placed under joint Allied custodianship pending its liquidation.<ref name=Adler>{{citation |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1882258 |title=The Post-War Reorganization of the German Banking System |author=Hans A. Adler |journal=Quarterly Journal of Economics |issue=
In line with the [[Morgenthau Plan]], the American authorities in November 1945 proposed a radically decentralized plan that would have organized a separate financial system in each of the {{lang|de|Länder}}, with minimal central coordination. After some hesitancy, the French authorities rallied that vision; the British authorities were initially reluctant, but gradually aligned with U.S. views following the establishment of the [[Bizone]] on {{date|1947/01/01}}. Thus, Land central banks ({{lang-de|Landeszentralbanken}}) were created on {{date|1947/01/01}} in American-occupied [[Munich]] (for [[Bavaria]]), [[Stuttgart]] (for [[Württemberg-Baden]]), and [[Wiesbaden]] (for [[Hesse]]), followed in March by French-occupied [[Tübingen]] (for [[Württemberg-Hohenzollern]]), [[Freiburg im Breisgau]] (for [[South Baden]], and [[Mainz]] (for [[Rhineland-Palatinate]]), then American-occupied [[Bremen]] on {{date|1947/04/01}}, and eventually British-occupied [[Düsseldorf]] (for [[North Rhine-Westphalia]]), [[Hanover]] (for [[Lower Saxony]]), [[Kiel]] (for [[Schleswig-Holstein]]) and [[Hamburg]] by the Spring of 1948.{{R|Adler|p=327-330}}
In 1947, newly appointed U.S. Military Governor [[Lucius D. Clay]] decided, against directives from Washington, that Germany needed a central bank instead of a mere board bringing together the {{lang|de|Landeszentralbanken}} for joint policy decisions. An agreement on that concept was reached among the three Western occupying forces on {{date|1947/10/30}}, resulting in the establishment on {{date|1948/03/01}} of the [[Bank deutscher Länder]].{{R|Adler|p=330-331}} On {{date|1948/05/21}}, the Soviet occupation authorities replied by establishing a {{lang|de|Deutsche Emissions- und Girobank}} in [[Potsdam]], which was renamed {{lang|de|Deutsche Notenbank}} in July, later relocated to [[East Berlin]], and in 1968 was rebranded the [[Staatsbank der DDR]].{{R|Adler|p=336}}
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<gallery>
File:Theaterstraße 17, Aachen (
File:Neustädter Markt 10 Brandenburg Havel.jpg|[[Brandenburg an der Havel|Brandenburg]] branch, Neustädter Markt 10 (arch. Hasak), completed 1902
File:Former Reichsbank building Wroclaw.png|Breslau (now [[Wrocław]]) branch, 10 Wolności Square, completed 1890<ref>{{cite web |website=wyborcza.pl |title=AC Hotel by Marriott powstanie w gmachu dawnego Banku Rzeszy |date={{date|2015/12/11}} |url=https://wroclaw.wyborcza.pl/wroclaw/7,95327,19327611,ac-hotel-by-marriott-powstanie-w-gmachu-dawnego-banku-rzeszy.html |author=Jacek Kulesza}}</ref>
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File:Ludwigstr. 13 Muenchen-2.jpg|[[Munich]] branch, Ludwigstrasse 13 (arch. Wolff, then [[Carl Sattler]]), completed 1951 for the {{lang|de|Bayerische Landeszentralbank}}
File:Muenster Freiherr von Vincke Haus 11.jpg|[[Münster]] branch, Domplatz 36 (arch. Hasak, Havestadt & Contag), completed 1894
File:Al. Marcinkowskiego bank.jpg|[[Poznań]] {{ill|Reichsbank branch in Pozna{{!}}branch|pl|Budynek bankowy przy Alejach Marcinkowskiego 12 w Poznaniu}}, al. Marcinkowskiego 12 (arch. Habicht), completed 1912 or 1913
File:Siegen Reichsbank.jpg|[[Siegen]] {{ill|Reichsbank branch in Siegen{{!}}branch|de|Reichsbank (Siegen)}}, Spandauer Straße 40 (arch. Habicht), completed 1911
File:Hauptverwaltung Deutsche Bundesbank Stuttgart 01.jpg|[[Stuttgart]] branch, Marstallstrasse 3 (arch. {{ill|Hans Herkommer|de}} & Theodor Bulling), completed 1923<ref>{{cite web |website=Deutsche Bundesbank |title=Architektur und Kunst: Deutsche Bundesbank Hauptverwaltung in Baden-Württemberg |url=https://www.bundesbank.de/resource/blob/607126/24a7894086011580db96f645a2c33056/mL/architektur-und-kunst-hv-stuttgart-data.pdf |author=Iris Cramer and Sabine Muschler}}</ref>
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