Inside a freezing, derelict military barracks on the crest of a hill in the middle of Germany, Bernd Niesel single-handedly carries on with his labour of love.
The
67-year-old retired serviceman oversees a shrine to the Deutsche Mark,
the symbol of postwar German success, running a small museum devoted to
the remarkable birth and lamented death of the currency. The mark was
born behind barbed wire in total secrecy in this barracks in 1948 in
what became known as the "conclave of Rothwesten". The currency met an
early death at the age of 50 in 1998 (though notes and coins were in
circulation until 2001). But as the German opinion polls show every week
at the moment, 30%-40% are hoping for a resurrection.