2 000 000 Mark Mecklenburg-Schwerinsches Staatsministerium

In the summer of 1923, German regional and municipal authorities were legally permitted to issue their own emergency currency — Notgeld — as the Reichsbank's printing capacity collapsed under hyperinflation. Mecklenburg-Schwerin's Staatsministerium was among the state-level bodies that stepped in, issuing high-denomination notes as the mark's purchasing power evaporated within days of printing. The 2,000,000 Mark figure, which would have seemed absurd twelve months earlier, was already barely adequate for everyday transactions by the time these notes reached circulation.

State-issued Notgeld of this type carried more legal weight than municipal issues, technically backed by state treasury obligations — though in practice that distinction meant little given the speed of the collapse.