1 000 000 Mark Krupp

Krupp's issuance of emergency currency during the 1923 hyperinflation was not merely a corporate convenience — it was industrial necessity. The Reichsbank could not print fast enough to meet payroll demands, so major firms like Fried. Krupp AG were authorized to issue their own notgeld, denominated in marks that were already losing value faster than the ink dried. A million marks in August 1923 bought roughly what ten marks had bought two years earlier.

Krupp's notes circulated almost exclusively within the company's own wage and canteen economy in Essen — accepted by local merchants by informal agreement rather than legal obligation.