F02_P05: Concentration Camp Sachsenhausen Germany’s Secret War: Unternehmen Bernhard
c. 1940s, Front side - Bank note from Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Operation Bernhard.
White-gray bank note with printed text, illustration, and outline in English using black ink. At the top center is "Bank of England" in print. To the left is a seal with Brittania, a female figure. At the center is the date August 15th, 1935. At the bottom right is a copied signature from Major Sir Kenneth Oswald Peppiatt, Chief Cashier from 1934 to 1949.
Name/Title
F02_P05: Concentration Camp Sachsenhausen Germany’s Secret War: Unternehmen BernhardEntry/Object ID
2007.2.5Scope and Content
c. 1940s, bank note from Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Operation Bernhard.Context
Context taken from exhibit page F2_P5: In the summer of 1942, the Reichssicherheitshauptamt Amt VI (RHSA, Reich Central Security Department, Bureau VI), the office in charge of supplying forged identification documents for secret agents, undertook a secret plan to counterfeit British currency. About 140 Jewish men skilled in banking, graphic art, engraving, and printing were brought to Sachsenhausen to carry out Unternehmen Bernhard in an isolated block of the camp. Operation Bernhard was named for Friedrich Walter Bernhard Krüger, the Nazi SS officer in charge, who had previously been Chief of Police in occupied Poland. In 1943, this team was producing one million counterfeit £5, £10, £20, and £50 bank notes per month. German spies in neutral countries used high quality counterfeits; lesser quality notes bribed collaborators in occupied countries. The bogus money circulated freely in most parts of the world including England. A counterfeit £20 bank note from Operation Bernhard, manufactured by skilled prisoners at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Operation Bernhard counterfeits are the most faithful reproductions of British currency ever produced.Collection
Nazi Scourge I: Primary ExhibitionCategory
Bank Note
Philatelic Material