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V11 2008 INDEX
E-SYLUM ARCHIVE
ZIMBABWE, SHUNNED BY OTHER BANKNOTE PRINTERS, CONTRACTS GERMAN FIRM
The Age of Australia published an article this week
critical of a German banknote firm contracted to the Zimbabwe government.
The article notes the firm's prior ties to the Nazis
A German firm
that grew rich under the Nazis is underwriting the terror in Zimbabwe by
printing the banknotes Robert Mugabe needs to pay for his machinery of
repression.The German firm Giesecke & Devrient, whose motto is "Virtue Through Work", agreed to do what numerous other banknote companies have refused - to print Zimbabwe's currency.
Gorden Moyo, of the opposition group Bulawayo Agenda, said: "It is the most important weapon in the terror arsenal of Robert Mugabe. Hundreds of thousands of new notes arrive weekly in Zimbabwe and pay the security forces which put down dissent."
The company, which has a turnover of a billion pounds a year, is discreet about its clients, wanting neither to confirm or deny its contract.
During the Nazi regime its directors had close links with the party, which landed it profitable contracts printing share certificates for such heavyweight firms as Daimler and Junkers, the latter of which used its wartime share issues to build planes to bomb Britain. In 1941, Heinrich Himmler visited the directors and asked them to print counterfeit money with which to flood Britain.
The company turned to Hermann Goering, air force chief and a sworn enemy of Himmler, for help; he intervened and Himmler enlisted the services of concentration camp prisoners to make the fake notes instead.
To read the complete article, see: Bankrolling terror - the German company behind dictator's cash (http://www.theage.com.au/world/bankrolling-terror--the-german-
company-behind-dictators-cash-20080627-2y3y.html)
Wayne Homren, Editor
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.
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