From April 1919 to September 1939, except for July-December 1920, Vilnius region belonged to Poland.
From 1919 to 1923, marks issued by Poland’s Domestic Loan Fund were in circulation in Vilnius region. A monetary reform was implemented in April 1924. Zloty and grosz (1/100 of zloty) backed by gold were issued into circulation by the Bank of Poland. Mark was exchanged to zloty at a very high exchange rate - 1 zloty for 1,800,000 marks.
Germany attacked Poland on 1 September 1939 and thus started World War II. The Soviet Union took over Poland-occupied Vilnius and its region. Under an agreement signed between Lithuania and the Soviet Union, Lithuania’s historic lands were returned to Lithuania. The government had a difficult task of reorganising Vilnius region’s economy as well as its financial and credit system. The first priority was to provide the region’s residents with food products and to implement a monetary reform - to replace zloty with litas. The Bank of Lithuania opened its branches in Vilnius, Trakai and Švenčionėliai. Commercial banks also opened their branches in Vilnius. The branches of Polish banks were closed. Zloty was withdrawn from circulation in two stages. During the first stage, one person could exchange up to 100 zloty at the exchange rate of 1 zloty to 0.5 litas. During the second stage, up to 300 zloty were exchanged at the same rate and if this sum was exceeded, the exchange rate was 1 zloty to 40 centas. The exchange rate was very favourable, since at the Amsterdam Currency Exchange the rate was 100 zloty to 1 litas. On 1 December, Polish money was withdrawn from circulation in Vilnius district. Lithuanian litas and centas took its place.
