20 Zlotys

This note belongs to the series issued by the Soviet-backed Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN), which began printing currency in 1944 as it moved to establish administrative control over liberated Polish territory ahead of the London-based government-in-exile. The notes were produced in the USSR before being introduced into circulation — a fact the issuing authority was careful not to advertise on the notes themselves.

The series was designed to displace both Nazi occupation currency and the notes associated with the London Poles, giving the incoming communist administration an immediate, visible claim to financial authority. Inflation and postwar monetary reform quickly eroded the series' practical life, and the 1950 złoty redenomination rendered these notes obsolete almost overnight.