1 000 000 Mark

Kelheim's municipal savings bank joined the flood of German Notgeld issuers during the hyperinflation peak of 1923, when the Reichsbank's own presses could not keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. By August of that year, a single US dollar was worth several million Marks, which rendered even this million-Mark denomination effectively small change within weeks of issue.

Local Sparkassen across Bavaria issued their own emergency paper largely because the national supply chain for currency had broken down entirely. Kelheim was a minor issuer — surviving examples are scarce not because of intentional withdrawal, but simply because small-town runs were short.