100 000 Mark

Worms issued this 100,000 Mark note during the hyperinflationary peak of 1923, when municipal authorities across Germany were compelled to print their own emergency currency because the Reichsbank simply could not supply physical notes fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. The Rhineland context matters here: Worms was under French occupation at the time, and the passive resistance campaign declared by Berlin against the Ruhr occupation had further disrupted normal commerce and banking supply chains throughout the region.

Notgeld printed and redeemed locally at these denominations had a functional lifespan measured in days, sometimes hours, before the face value became economically irrelevant.