An Influx of Fivers Quiz | World War II

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The covert operation to forge millions of English bank notes was named after the man who was put in charge of production. What was the project called?

Answer: Operation Bernhard

SS Major Bernhard Kruger was the man in charge of the operation, and after the war his life was spared the war criminal's death by the testimony of the Jews he has saved from death by postponement and evasions as the Americans and Russians closed in on them.

2. Where were the Nazi printing presses first set up?

Answer: Sachsenhausen

The camp at Sachsenhausen was very close to Berlin, and was used as a training centre for the SS. It was not a death camp, although a gas chamber was found by the liberating Russian army in 1945.

3. Only �5 and �10 were forged by Jewish prisoners during the Second World War.

Answer: False

The prisoners forged �5, �10, �20, �50 and �100 notes. They also started to print American $100 bills in 1945, but production ceased as the operation moved to Austria. The Bank of England feared that something like this would be done, and changed the colour of the �1 in early 1940, adding the now standard metal strip. Larger denominations continued to be black-on-white one-sided notes.

4. Which part of the English bank note was the most difficult to forge?

Answer: Britannia

Although all the parts of the counterfeiting process caused problems, it was agreed that drawing Britannia was the most difficult. At that time Britannia was not on the note as a deterrent to counterfeiters, but the lessons learned from Operation Bernhard brought about the introduction of the monarch's face on bank notes as it was learned that faces are difficult to forge.

5. How many Jewish prisoners were seconded to the counterfeiting team?

Answer: 142

At first only a few Jews were recruited from Auschwitz, and they were moved to a camp inside a camp at Sachsenhausen. No inmate ever left the place alive. If one fell sick, he was shot, as the Nazis were not prepared to risk one of their counterfeiters spilling the beans while in hospital.

6. The greatest majority of the prisoners who did the work were from middle-class or upper-class backgrounds, with skills ranging from art to carpentry. It was the introduction of Solly, a convicted forger of Russian origin, which made the difference to the quality of the forged notes. What special piece of advice did he give?

Answer: don't work in laboratory conditions

Solly told the team that the real bank notes were not made in laboratory conditions - ink jars were left without lids, oxidising the ink and causing different reactions on the paper - the printing plates were not always cleaned spotlessly - all these things combined to make notes appear in a certain way. By slackening off slightly in these areas, the forged notes were more realistic.

7. The forged money did not stay in the concentration camp. It was moved on a regular basis to a schloss in the Italian Alps from whence it was sent out into the world. How often was the collection?

Answer: once a month

All in all 8,965,080 banknotes were produced with a total value of �134,610,810. Each of these was near-perfect (imperfect ones were destroyed).

8. What was the original plan for the forged money?

Answer: to drop it from aeroplanes over England

It was intended that the forged notes would wreck the English economy, but the plan was changed and it was used to finance the German war instead. An English pound was worth 12-14 German marks, and it was a safer investment, so thousands of forged English notes were able to pay for a good many German war manoeuvres.

When a clerk at the Bank of England spotted a duplicate number the plan was rumbled, but news of this did not reach the general public. The Bank withdrew all notes over �5 and only reintroduced these many years after the war had ended.

9. The printing presses and the Jewish prisoners who operated them were moved as the Russian and Allied armies drew closer. Arriving in Austria, the prisoners were horrified to find themselves in Mauthausen Concentration Camp; they had heard of this camp by another name. What name was this?

Answer: Murder Camp

The camp was full to capacity when they arrived. Because they were skilled forgers and the operation was deemed important, room had to be made for them. It was found in the simplest way. The Nazis simply emptied one of the buildings by shooting all the prisoners who were in there at the time.

10. How many of the Jewish counterfeiting prisoners survived the war?

Answer: all of them

Bernhard Kruger was given the credit for saving the lives of the prisoners who worked the presses. It was generally understood that they were all to die because their work was top secret, but he would give them a stay of execution on half a dozen occasions.

The final death sentence was lifted as the order was that they were all to be killed together, and in transporting them to their final destination one third of the men were delayed. The Nazis would not kill two-thirds when they had been ordered to kill them all.

They all survived the war.

Source: Author ArleneRimmer

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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An Influx of Fivers Trivia Quiz

It was thought to be a rumour, and nothing but a rumour, but the Nazis did indeed print millions of English bank notes in a concentration camp during the Second World War.

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