koko

• An alternative economy existed which did not feature in official figures
• when was it created?

  1966
• Commercial coordination

  Bypassing Comecon restrictions
• Commercial coordination

  • Played an important part in bringing in modern technology
  • Had close links with the Stasi
• Essentially unsupervised by any usual channels


  1972
• Maintained a secret fund of money which could be used for covert purposes or to buy foreign imports where there were domestic shortages
• Use of secret fund

  • Spending 2 million Ostmarks on foreign apples
• Comorecial coordination


  • Controlled hundreds of companies
  • Had hundreds of different bank accounts
  • Sold weapons illegally to warring factions abroad
  • Had art collections confiscated from aristocratic owners