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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Urban_Lawyer, post: 1507726, member: 36361&quot;]Depends on what you mean by &quot;equivalent.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>If you mean &quot;is an Ostmark (East German Mark) the basic unit of the former East German monetary system&quot; then the answer is yes.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, the Ostmark is NOT equivalent in terms of purchasing power.&nbsp; First, the Ostmark was not freely exchangeable on the international market and therefore it was difficult to value (meaning East Germans that visited other countries - when permitted - had a tough time changing their money).&nbsp; I believe the given rate in the &#039;80s for visitors TO East Germany was 5 Ostmark for 1 West German Mark.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Second, the Ostmark ceased to be legal tender anywhere following the unification of Germany.&nbsp; During unification, residents changed money 2:1 East for West.&nbsp; Currently, East German banknotes and coins are worthless except for collector value.</p><p><br /></p><p>Just to compare, for fun: </p><p><br /></p><p>(1) You have 1 Ostmark in 1989, that you convert to DM.&nbsp; You have 0.50 DM.</p><p>(2) In 2002 you exchange your 0.50 DM for Euro, which gives you 0.26 Euro.</p><p>(3) In 2012, you want to know how much that Ostmark is in American dollars, so you go the Exchange.&nbsp; They give you $0.31 USD.</p><p><br /></p><p>The above isn&#039;t TOTALLY exact, because it doesn&#039;t account for inflation, exchange costs, etc.&nbsp; But you get the idea.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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