ISSN 2299-632X Money Centre No 19 in memory of Sławomir S. Skrzypek 2019 Q3 teka Banko• • HISTORY ECONOMY EDUCATION Plan of the NBP LEVEL 3 14 12 Stock Exchange Money Centre and Financial Markets 13 Modern Payment 13 Systems 14 Monetary and Economic 12 Unions Creator of Money 15 and Money Production 16 Money in Art 5 3 15 Toilets 4 6 LEVEL 2 C 16 Encounters 1 with Money 9 Stairway to room 7 and 8 Antiquity-Middle Ages 1 10 2 -Modernity 11 3 Monetary Systems 2 4 Bank Street 2 5 Central Bank Numismatist's 3 8 6 Study 7 9 World Wars I and II Polish People's 10 Republic 11 Fall of Communism B 1 LEVEL 1 Laboratory 7 of Authenticity 8 Vault B Toilets ENTRANCE A 0 LEVEL 0 Reception desk Visit our website: www.nbp.pl/centrumpieniadza The NBP Money Centre Magazine Dear readers This issue of “Bankoteka” is released on This issue of “Bankoteka” wouldn’t be complete 1 September – the day on which World War II broke without a photo essay from the Night of Museums, out 80 years ago. The beginning of September which took place on 18 May this year. The front cover also marks the same, round anniversary of of the magazine depicts a group of visitors visiting the evacuation of the gold reserves held by Bank the NBP Money Centre on that evening. In the photo, Polski (the central bank at that time). The first we see a mother, Aleksandra, with her daughter Maja article in the Education section is devoted to the and son Michał, and Feliks, trying to pick up a gold evacuation of the national gold deposits and the bar weighing 400 ounces (12686.35 g) in the “Vault” documents of the Polish central bank. room. This unique exhibit, worth approximately PLN 2 million, is popular with visitors throughout the In the same section, we can learn about the 100- year. Meanwhile, on the back cover of the magazine, -year history of the Czech crown. Its history was we see a group of lower secondary school students described for “Bankoteka” by the head of the Czech from Warsaw viewing the so-called numismatist’s National Bank Historical Archives and the co-author box containing coins and a banknote from the period of the scenario of an exhibition presented in Prague of the November Uprising. as part of the anniversary celebrations. On this occasion, the Czechs have minted a coin with a This commemorative box, along with all the contents, denomination of CZK 100,000,000 in pure gold has already been presented in “Bankoteka”. This time (0.9999 fine). It weighs 130 kg, has a diameter of we are happy to report that this rare exhibit has been 535 mm, and its thickness is 48 mm! permanently placed in the “Numismatist’s study” room, because the NBP Money Centre bought it In the Exhibits section, we present more collector for its collections at an auction. This numismatic coins from the exhibition located in the mezzanine rarity also proved to be very popular with the visitors area of the NBP headquarters. This time we’re during the Night of Museums. discussing a series of coins “with animals”, which have greatly delighted numismatists. At the end of this issue of the magazine, we invite readers to the next series of open lectures at Meanwhile, in the Discovering multimedia... Let’s the NBP Money Centre, which will be resumed in open the showcases section we look into the “World September this year. These lectures, conducted Wars I and II” room, which is relatively rarely visited in by outstanding experts, will broaden listeners’ “Bankoteka”. On the occasion of the aforementioned knowledge about the socio-economic history of anniversary, we want to present the complex Poland and about various numismatic issues. situation related to the money that was used in the Polish territories annexed into the General Enjoy your reading! Government. The editorial team of “Bankoteka” 3 Education 80 years after the evacuation of the gold and the documents of Bank Polski str. 5–7 100 years of the koruna – exhibition in Prague str. 8–11 4 The NBP Money Centre Magazine The beginning of the wartime odyssey of the Polish gold September of 1939 guaranteeing the stability of the Polish złoty Kwiatkowski and Koc were involved in a conflict until the tragic events of September 1939. As concerning the country’s monetary policy. The evacuation of the gold reserves from the value of the Polish złoty was set at 290.32 Koc believed that Poland should suspend war-torn Poland and their wartime odyssey milligrams of pure gold in 1924, the Bank was the convertibility of the Polish złoty into gold is not only a good topic for an exhibition, but required to accumulate significant reserves of and devalue its currency. Meanwhile, the Deputy would also provide the perfect material for the precious ore. Bank Polski was a joint-stock Prime Minister was in favour of maintaining the screenplay of an action movie. On the night company and remained relatively independent the exchange rate and introducing foreign of 13 and 14 September 1939, a train with until the end of the term of office of its first exchange controls. This meant, that Bank the gold reserves of Bank Polski SA (Bank of president Stanisław Karpiński. Polski would be obliged to carry out purchases Poland) crossed the border with Romania. On of foreign currencies. Unable to find any support 18 September, the representatives of the Polish After the May Coup of 1926, successive for his policy positions, Koc decided to step government left the country over the bridge governments tried to subordinate the bank to down. His post was taken over by Władysław on the Cheremosh River in Kuty. They were the demands of the current political situation. Byrka. In the years 1936–1939 the government accompanied by the authorities of Bank Polski, However, in the years of the economic crisis, started to restrict the independence of Bank which was the owner of the gold reserves the authorities abandoned their attempts Polski – by pursuing an ambitious economic to directly interfere with the issue policy. policy it forced an increase in the issue of money, Fearing inflation, the ruling camp pursued and was running up a large debt at the bank. a traditional economic policy and a deflationary The state authorities treated the bank’s monetary policy. The authorities maintained reserves as a national treasure, as a result of the convertibility of the Polish złoty into gold, which most of the gold reserves were stored in and budget expenditure was reduced in light the country. It was accepted that the minimal of the decreasing revenues. This direction size of the reserves should amount to at in economic policy was shaped in the early least 300 million Polish złoty. In August 1939, 1930s by Ignacy Matuszewski, the Minister the bank held gold reserves worth 463 million of the Treasury, and Henryk Flojar Rajchman, Polish złoty, of which gold worth 100 million the Minister of Trade. One of Matuszewski’s złoty was held abroad (in Paris, London, New close associates was Adam Koc, who served York and Zurich). Meanwhile, gold reserves worth as the Deputy Minister of the Treasury (from 193 million złoty were deposited in the bank’s 1930) and the government’s commissioner at vault at Bielańska Street in Warsaw, and gold Bank Polski (from April 1932). Koc submitted reserves worth 170 million złoty were kept in his resignation after Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski regional branches (in Siedlce, Brześć, Zamość took over the post of the Minister of Treasury and Lublin). Ignacy Matuszewski and his wife, the Olympic and the Deputy Prime Minister. In 1936 Koc champion Halina Konopacka. They both took part was appointed as the president of Bank Polski. Just before the outbreak of the war, in the evacuation of the Polish gold in 1939. Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski proceeded to implement the authorities were examining the possibility The photo depicts the couple on the streets of his four-year plan, which involved the launch of of evacuating the gold reserves to Sweden Warsaw in the 1930s. investments in the Central Industrial District. and then further along to England and even Photo: National Digital Archives Canada. Due to the tense international situation, the transport of approximately 80 5 Education and for the purchase of raw materials for towards Warsaw, the Polish government left the defence industry. Adam Koc’s initiative the capital heading for Łuck, Dubno, and Równe. was based on the conviction that the gold On 8 September, minister Kwiatkowski along reserves withdrawn from Poland would allow with the evacuated Ministry of the Treasury for urgent purchases of armaments that would stopped in Łuck. provide some reinforcement to the Polish army, weakened by the constant fighting. Adam Koc Under the date of 10 September, Kwiatkowski – a retired colonel, former member of the Polish noted in his diary: “a conference with Koc”. On Legions and an active participant in the struggle that day, Adam Koc was appointed Deputy for independence – immediately received Treasury Minister with extensive powers. He a mobilization assignment, and the head of not only carried out the task of evacuating the Army Administration, General Aleksander the gold, but also managed to secure the funds Litwinowicz, authorized him to use a group of necessary for the implementation of the second 12 buses requisitioned by the army. phase of the plan, which was supposed to lead to the accumulation of the reserves in Śniatyń On 4 September, Prime Minister Kwiatkowski on the Prut River.