2017-06-07 Wed

Dr. Theodor Neubauer was an important figure in the anti-fascist resistance of the Nazi regime within Germany. He was a teacher and a leftist organiser. To commemorate him, the Deutsche Demokratische Republik created a new design for the 10 mark coin. Twenty-three sample pieces were minted but the coin never entered regular circulation.

Theodor Neubauer was born and raised in a middle-class family in 1890 in Ermschwerdt, Germany. In college, he studied history and after graduation became a teacher. With the start of World War 1, Neubauer joined the army but just like the rest of the veterans, his outlook towards Germany and the world had changed.

He soon became politically active in left-leaning causes, and eventually joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). In 1924, he was elected to become the German Reichstag and served in the national government until 1933 when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party consolidated power.

Neubauer was arrested in August that year and was held in multiple concentration camps until he was freed in 1939. Regardless of political inclinations, he began to form a resistance movement, working with fellow anti-fascists.

Pamphlets were produced by the organisation which showcased the lies and obfuscation of Nazi propaganda. It raised awareness among the German people and revealed facts about Nazi war crimes abroad and at home, including the obliteration of Europe's Jewish population in what would come to be called the Holocaust.

Neubauer was arrested again in 1943 and executed by the Nazis in 1945, before Germany's surrender.

The obverse features a left-facing head of Theodor Neubauer. The inscription DR. THEODOR NEUBAUER arcs around the top half of the coin while a sprig of laurel with seven berries cradles the downward point of his neck. Since the man was of an intense character, the whole portrait is done in a stern, socialist realist style.

The reverse features the National emblem of East Germany, which consists of a compass superimposed over a hammer surrounded by a ring of rye. The hammer signifies the workers, the compass represents educated labour, and the rye represents the farmers of East Germany. The inscription DEUTSCHE DEMOKRATISCHE REPUBLIK encircles the emblem.

Since it is a design sample and the coin never saw the light of day, it is missing a denomination and date.