CZECHOSLOVAKIA

The Republic of Czechoslovakia came into being after the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1918. In 1939 Germany invaded and made Czechoslovakia into the "protectorate of Bohemia and Morovia", the soviet and american forces liberated it in May 1945. In 1948 the communists took control and made it into a "peoples Republic" and in 1960 into a "soviet republic" In 1968 the communist party started to introduce reforms and liberalisation  which saw Russian troops invade. and in 1998 the federal assembly repealed the right of the communist party to rule which led top the formation of the two republics - Czech and Slovakian.

the two note above are from the 1960's, the bottom one is the 5 Korun note from 1961 and the top two are the front and reverse of the 1961 100 korun. it depicts a farmer couple on the front and a view of the Charles bridge in Prague on the reverse.

Here from 1970 is a 20 Korun note wih a picture of Jan Zizka , known as the "one eyed Zizka" a Hussite leader. The back has a depiction of Hussite soldiers.

On to the 80's now, with this 1986 10 Korun note, with Pavol orszagh hviezdoslav, a czech poet and politician  and on the reverse is a scene of the Orava mountains now in Slovakia.

This last note   reminds us of a dark period in recent European history. The note above is a note supposedly issued in the Theresienstadt concentration camp.although now it is thought that they were only used to show the Red Cross that the inmates were being treated properly and were not really used at all. concentration camp money is sometimes called Ghetto money.