Torgsin
Torgsin ( Russian Торгсин ) was a trading chain with the same convertible currency in the Soviet Union between 1929 and 1936.
The name was an acronym for the state "All Union Society for Trade with Foreigners" (торговля с иностранцами). It opened in 1929 under Michael Sklar. Unlike the later Berjoska shops, the Torgsin shops were open to Soviet citizens, provided they had foreign currency , silver, gold or jewels for their purchase. On July 5, 1931, Torgsin checks, nominally in rubles, were introduced by decree by the chairman of Sownarkom Molotov and banned again on February 1, 1936. The gold or torgsin rubles could be bought as voucher booklets in shops and then exchanged for goods there.
In addition to the official exchange rate (US $ 1: ~ 1.12 torgsin rubles), there was a black market in which the torgsin ruble was exchanged for 60 paper rubles during the Holodomor and 40 paper rubles later. The shops also sold antiques and former property of murdered or exiled Russian aristocrats. Because of illegal trading in torgsin rubles, u. a. The first US ambassador to the Soviet Union, William C. Bullitt, was dismissed in 1936 at the urging of Sownarkom.
Other countries later established such currencies; for example the GDR ( forum checks ), China ( foreign exchange certificate ) and Cuba ( convertible peso ) and created business chains in which foreign currencies were used for payment or directly ( Tuzex , Pewex , Intershop , Corecom ).
References
- ↑ https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,742558-1,00.html Sklar's Stores. Time Mag., November 9, 1931
- ↑ http://www.pseudology.org/Documets/Torgsin.htm Torgsin, Russian
- ↑ Ante Ciliga : In the Land of Confusing Lies . Red white papers. 1953. p. 258
- ↑ Donald Day : Onward Christian Soldiers . Noontide Press. 1982