The mark "was never just a currency," says Furhmans. "It became a symbol of the country's postwar economic miracle amid the ashes of World War II, and one of the few [symbols] in which Germans ...

Unqualified Confidence. Only the Swiss franc, which is 100% backed by gold, shares with today’s Deutsche mark the unqualified confidence of international businessmen, financiers and speculators.

It’s hard to imagine a Deutsche Mark at parity to the U.S. dollar, but it could happen. The currency was certainly gaining strength against the dollar prior to the introduction of the Euro.