Saturday 28 July 2012

Cast Your Mind Back To May 28 1562,

a bit difficult I know,


but way back then the small German town of Mittenwalde lent Berlin 400 guilders, to be repaid with six percent interest per year, but guess what? Berlin have decided to renege on the debt, despite giving the town a token 1 guilder back, Berlin's finance senator Ulrich Nussbaum, who ceremonially handed the town a historical guilder from 1539, also stated that 'this case shows that debts always catch up with you, no matter how old they are,' Nussbaum told the Berliner Zeitung paper, 


the guilder was put in a temporary display at the Mittenwalde museum, town historian Vera Schmidt found the centuries-old debt slip in the archive, where it had been filed in 1963, though the seal is missing from the document, Schmidt told Reuters that she was certain the slip was still valid,


Schmidt and Mittenwalde's Mayor Uwe Pfeiffer have tried to ask Berlin for their money back, such requests have been made every 50 years or so since 1820 but always to no avail, according to Radio Berlin Brandenburg (RBB), the debt would amount to 11,200 guilders today, which is roughly equivalent to 112 million euros ($136.79 million), adjusting for compound interest and inflation, the total debt now lies in the trillions, by RBB's estimates, I wonder if they have 'no win, no fees' lawyers in Mittenwalde? you never know it could be worth a chance!

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