The Vancouver Numismatic Society
Operation Bernhard Counterfeits by Peter N. Moogk
These deceptive products were used to pay spies, to obtain genuine foreign currency, and to make illicit purchases. The plan to flood Britain with the counterfeits was dropped. Notes whose serial numbers duplicated those of genuine banknotes alerted the British to the counterfeits. Britain's government stopped production of 10-, 20- and 50- pound notes of the same series. The five pound notes continued in circulation. The vignette of Britannia in the upper left-hand corner had caused trouble for the counterfeiters, especially the eyes of the figure. The second illustration shows the difference in vignettes between an authentic and a false note. The Operation Bernhard workers were then put to work on the duplication of American banknotes, but they slowed down, knowing that they would be killed once their work was done. As the Third Reich of Nazi Germany collapsed in May 1945, printing plates and boxes of banknotes were dumped into Austria's Lake Toplitz. Most of the Operation Bernhard notes now being sold to collectors were recovered from this lake. As testimony to the quality of the counterfeits the last one was pulled from circulation in 1964!
In 1940, during the Second World War, German Nazis considered how they might sabotage the economy of their enemy, Great Britain. Using the considerable resources of the state, it appeared possible to counterfeit British banknotes on a large scale and to flood Europe with false currency, discrediting British money. The idea was partly pursued as "Operation Andreas." In August 1942 SS Major F. Bernhard Krueger was put in charge of the revived, counterfeiting program which was renamed "Operation Bernhard." From thousands of Jewish prisoners, he selected 142 with skills in engraving, printing and graphics. These men were relocated to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, where they lived in better conditions than most imprisoned victims of the Nazi regime. The challenge was to reproduce the watermarked, linen rag paper as well as making printing plates and, most difficult, to make sense of the complex numbering system of real bills. As an additional security measure, the British had created small defects, such as a white dot beside the I of the word "FIVE." These flaws too had to be copied. By 1943 the counterfeiters had produced convincing copies of British 5-, 10-, 20- and 50-pound notes. Prisoners with dirty hands rubbed and folded the banknotes so that they would look as though they had circulated - making them more acceptable than fresh, uncirculated notes. Quality control was strict and rejects were pulped.