Currency scholarship
In the early 1950s , the Berlin Senate sponsored students in West Berlin universities with a currency grant . Scholarship holders had the right to exchange a monthly amount at a rate of 1: 1 from marks (east) into DM. The amount determined the amount of the scholarship. The actual promotion unfolded its effect only through the exchange rate of 1 to 10, which existed at the time between the currencies on the black market . A penniless student was quite able to earn a living of 90 marks (East) by moving into accommodation and food in the then accessible eastern part of the city. The remaining 10 marks remained for the exchange in the next month.
The currency differential between the two parts of the city averaged 1: 4.65 in 1951. Many West Berliners used the gradient to shop in the eastern part of the city - to the detriment of West Berlin traders. The prices for food in the eastern part of the city are heavily subsidized and have the effect of dumping prices. At the 17th meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economy on February 21, 1952, there was talk of "dumping measures by the eastern zonal government".
Students from West Berlin universities were only funded for as long as their families lived in the GDR.
At times, almost half of the students received such funding.
Individual evidence
- ^ Cabinet minutes of the federal government
- ↑ Burkhard Hofmeister: Berlin: A geographical structural analysis of the twelve western districts , p. 107