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German Machine Needles Spark Black Market Traffic to Balkans
Munich reports a vast Bavarian black market in machine needles and steel goods fueling overland routes from the Rhine to the Volga. Traffic begins in Munich and moves through the British zone to the Balkans with Germans and displaced persons involved. The exchange rate of marks drives prices, with needles selling for eight times their prewar cost and cigars at extreme margins. Border police and American forces struggle to halt a system using walkie talkies and hidden routes into Austria and Thuringia, often routing shipments to Palestine via gold exchanges.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Tom Reedy
Munich
Rhine
Volga
Bavaria
Snd
Balkans
Ruhr
Rumania
Hungary
Yugoslavia
Balkan
Austria
Thuringia
Palestine