The existence of the Warsaw Pact notes – to be used in case countries were captured – was revealed only in 2015

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Top secret cold war-era banknotes printed by Warsaw Pact nations for potential use in captured western territories have been shown publicly in the Polish capital for the first time.

Codenamed E-17, the crisp notes were issued in the 1970s and kept locked in chests deep in the bowels of Poland’s central bank. They were classified as top secret until 2015.

“This is most likely the only series of its kind in Europe … now shown to the world for the first time,” Piotr Woyciechowski, head of Poland’s PWPW national mint, told reporters on Friday.

He said there was reason to believe that in the event of war, the notes were intended for circulation in areas that could possibly be captured, including Denmark, the Netherlands and West Germany.

Emblazoned with the skylines of several Polish cities, the notes range in value from one to 2,000 zloty and will be on public display at the national mint in Warsaw as of next year.

Created by the Soviet Union in 1955 as a counterpoint to the west’s Nato military alliance, the Warsaw Pact grouped its satellite states in eastern Europe, but crumbled with the USSR in 1991.