Giesecke and Devrient

Giesecke and Devrient (June 1, 1852 - Present) is a German engraving a publishing house based in Leipzig. It was founded in 1852 by Hermann Giesecke (1831 - 1900) and Alphonse Devrient (1821 - 1878). The firm initially focused on general printing and publishing, but quickly earned a reputation for high quality engraving that attracted the attention of bank note and securities publishers. After 1920, the firm printed currently for the Weimar Republic. Before and during World War II (1939 - 1945), under the Nazi regime, the firm maintained close ties with the party and played a role printing currency and even the tickets for the 1936 Olympics. They also had close ties with the governments of Rhodesia / Zimbabwe, and some of their government contracts likely contributed to that state's hyper-inflation and economic collapse. After WWII, Leipzig became part of communist East Germany. The company's printing facility was nationalized as VEB Wertpapierdruckerei, and began printing the East German Mark. A West German branch was established in Munich by Siegfried Otto, husband of Jutta Devrient, a descendant of Alphonse Devrient. In 1958, the company received a commission from Deutsche Bundesbank to print Deutsche Mark banknotes. After the 1991 reunification of Germany, the company bought back the Leipzig facility. Today the firm has rebranded as Giesecke+Devrient and remains one of the world's largest producers of banknotes, including the Euro and the U.S. Dollar.