Sep 3, 2026 · 16 min · 10 segments
Part one of a series on the CFA franc, the currency France created for its African colonies on Boxing Day 1945 and still runs today, across fourteen countries and more than two hundred million people…
Myles DhillonHost
Before the war, one Reichsmark, which is the German currency, bought you about five francs.
And overnight, everything in France cost a German buyer a quarter of what it should.
So basically, these German soldiers suddenly were going to the shops and everything was 75% off.
And across four years, it came to 479 billion francs, more than half of everything France produced in a year at its peak.
This German diplomat called Hans Herrmann admitted after the war that the figure had been calculated because they were saying to France, we have 3 million soldiers here.
Before the war, one Reichsmark, which is the German currency, bought you about five francs.
And overnight, everything in France cost a German buyer a quarter of what it should.
So basically, these German soldiers suddenly were going to the shops and everything was 75% off.
And across four years, it came to 479 billion francs, more than half of everything France produced in a year at its peak.
This German diplomat called Hans Herrmann admitted after the war that the figure had been calculated because they were saying to France, we have 3 million soldiers here.
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