(English: "Welcome money") was, from 1970 until 29 December 1989, a gift from the government of the Federal Republic of Germany (

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

) to visitors from the German Democratic Republic (GDR -

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...

). This situation originated with the policy of the GDR government restricting the amount of

East German Mark The East German mark (german: Mark der DDR ), commonly called the eastern mark (german: Ostmark, links=no ) in West Germany and after reunification), in East Germany only ''Mark'', was the currency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germ ...

s (M) that could be exchanged into

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...

s (DM) by GDR citizens when on approved travel to the West. At first, the GDR allowed the exchange of 70 M annually into DM, however by 1989, this sum was reduced to 15 M annually, which greatly restricted the ability of GDR citizens to travel to the West, even if they were approved to do so. Originally, every GDR citizen was entitled to a "welcome money" payment of 30 DM twice annually; by 1988, this had been increased to a one-time payment of 100 DM annually, which was recorded in their travel documents. The state of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

paid an additional 40 DM to visitors from the GDR. After the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, tens of thousands of East Germans queued in front of banks and town halls in West Germany to collect their "welcome money" for the first time.East-West relationships between minimum exchange and welcome money
on

DDR Museum The DDR Museum is a museum in the centre of Berlin. The museum is located in the former governmental district of East Germany, right on the river Spree, opposite the Berlin Cathedral. The museum is the 11th most visited museum in Berlin. Its ...

website. Retrieved 31 August 2019. The payment of "welcome money" ended on 29 December 1989, as it was never intended to be paid out to such large numbers of visitors. This was replaced with an arrangement whereby GDR citizens could exchange 100 M into DM at a ratio of 1:1, with an additional 100 M exchangeable into DM at a ratio of 5:1. This arrangement ended when the GDR adopted the West German currency on 1 July 1990.Bromley, Joyce E. (2017
''German Reunification: Unfinished Business''
Abingdon-on-Thames:Routledge on Google Books. Retrieved 2 September 2019. In 1988, approximately 260 million DM was paid out to visitors from the GDR. However, in the months of November and December 1989 alone, 4 billion DM was paid out as "Welcome money". On the other hand, West Germans visiting the GDR had to submit to the (or ), that is: the mandatory exchange of a specified amount of DM per day into the same amount of

East German mark The East German mark (german: Mark der DDR ), commonly called the eastern mark (german: Ostmark, links=no ) in West Germany and after reunification), in East Germany only ''Mark'', was the currency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germ ...

s. From October 1980 onwards, the GDR required a minimum exchange of 25 DM daily. Such amounts could not be re-exchanged into DM when leaving the GDR. This practice also ended on 29 December 1989.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Begrussungsgeld Economic history of Germany Economy of East Germany East Germany–West Germany relations Cold War history of Germany 1970 establishments in Germany 1989 disestablishments in Germany