Dietrich Oltmanns Leipzig, Entrance State Bank of GDR . Money Changers / Adventurers

At the end of 1989 well dressed men suddenly appeared on the Leipzig city scene drawing attention to themselves with heavy DM-bundles mostly in front of bank entrances. Their ambulatory business with demand for ‘Westgeld’ relied on the curiosity and desire of the people. The local people had quickly recognized that the new freedom to travel can be frustrating without hard currency. They were prepared, like earlier already, to pay horrendous exchange sums. 

These adventurers were a brief transitional phenomenon. They disappeared with the currency union but offered a pre-taste for the gold-digger atmosphere which for some time had been spreading into the East and West after the accession.