1 000 000 Mark

Odenkirchen was a small industrial town in the Rhineland — today absorbed into Mönchengladbach — that, like hundreds of German municipalities in 1923, was forced to issue its own emergency currency as Reichsbank notes became worthless faster than they could be printed. This Notgeld at one million Mark was not an extraordinary denomination for its moment; by late 1923 a single loaf of bread could exceed that figure before noon.

Wezel & Naumann of Leipzig were among the busiest commercial printers of the hyperinflation period, handling municipal contracts across the Reich when dedicated banknote printers were overwhelmed. The watermarked paper signals an attempt at basic security on what was, in practical terms, a disposable instrument.