On 15 June 1940, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union. In August of the same year, the Bank of Lithuania was nationalised and in November, the Soviet money - chervonets, rouble and kopeyka - was released into circulation.
For a while, this money was in circulation alongside litas. The Soviet authorities set the rate of 1 litas to 90 kopeyka. Based on the purchasing power, the new exchange rate depreciated the former value of litas 3 to 5 times. The Soviet authorities confiscated all the residents’ deposits that exceeded 1,000 litas. On 25 March 1941, litas was banned and in April, the Chairman of the Gosbank ordered to burn all litas banknotes that were collected from the residents or were stored at banks. After that, Lithuanian coins were destroyed too.
