2 000 000 Mark Städtische Sparkasse

Dülken's municipal savings bank issued this two-million mark note at the peak of the Weimar hyperinflation, a period in which German municipal and commercial institutions were legally permitted — indeed, practically compelled — to print their own emergency currency, known as Notgeld, simply to keep local wage payments moving. By late 1923, the Reichsbank could not supply denominations fast enough to match price increases that were doubling daily.

Printed locally by M. Lütz, a small Dülken firm, the production reflects the improvised nature of provincial inflation-era issues. The blind emboss and official stamp were the issuer's attempt at rudimentary authentication — thin protection against forgery, but typical of what a small Sparkasse could realistically implement under the circumstances.