100 000 Mark

Aachen's municipal authority issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — during the hyperinflation of 1923, a period when the Reichsmark was losing value so rapidly that denominations scaled from thousands to hundreds of billions within months. A 100,000 Mark note, unremarkable by August 1923 standards, would have been worth roughly the price of a loaf of bread at issue and effectively worthless within weeks.

Printed locally by Aachener Verlags- und Druckerei, the note reflects the logistical reality of hyperinflation: centralized Reichsbank supply couldn't keep pace, so municipalities printed their own stopgap currency. Aachen's proximity to the Belgian and Dutch borders added pressure — foreign currency was actively preferred in the region during the French-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr.