Operation Bernhard (Bank of England Museum blog)

Claims Supported by This Source

1. The purpose of the operation was to pay spies with counterfeit notes and to buy goods, including gold, to fund intelligence activities. It was also hoped that flooding Britain with counterfeit notes would destabilize its economy.
2. It began in 1940 as "Operation Andreas" and was revived in 1942 as Operation Bernhard. In 1942, prisoners with knowledge of engraving, printing, design, and banking were sought from concentration camps, and 142 Jewish prisoners were gathered at Sachsenhausen.
3. Plates for 5, 10, 20, and 50 pound notes were created, and the resulting counterfeit notes were visually indistinguishable from genuine ones.
4. The numbering system could not be broken, so they reused serial numbers from genuine notes. As a result, the first counterfeit note was discovered in 1943 (a bank clerk noticed it in a ledger that recorded the numbers of redeemed notes). Once the extent of the counterfeiting was understood, the Bank withdrew all notes over £5 from circulation.
5. On May 6, 1945, the prisoners were liberated by American forces. The £10 note was reintroduced in 1964, the £20 note in 1970, and the £50 note in 1981.

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