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5000 Drachmai Italian Occupation
| Issuer | Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Intaglio-printed portrait vignette at centre-left shows a classical male bust in right profile, rendered in the style of an antique sculpture, set within an ornate rectangular frame with scroll and anthemion borders. To the right, bold letterpress text reads BIGLIETTO A CORSO LEGALE / PER LE / ISOLE JONIE, with a bilingual Greek inscription below and the denomination 5000 in large figures flanked by DRACME and ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ. The note carries a signature line captioned IL TESORIERE, with the numeral 5000 repeated in the upper-left and lower-left corners against a fine guilloche underprint. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | ISOLE JONIE ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ 5000 DRACME |
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| Comments |
The Cassa Mediterranea di Credito per la Grecia was a parallel currency mechanism created by Italian occupation authorities in 1941 specifically to extract resources from Greece without drawing on Italian lire reserves. It was not a bank in any functional sense — it issued occupation currency that Greeks were compelled to accept, while the occupiers used it to pay requisitions at rates they set themselves.
Greece suffered one of the worst hyperinflationary collapses of the war years as a direct consequence of this arrangement. By late 1944, the drachma had become functionally worthless. The 5000 denomination, enormous by 1941 standards, was already insufficient before the series had finished circulating.