Göttingen's municipal authority issued this note during the hyperinflation peak of late 1923, when German city and district governments were legally permitted — effectively compelled — to produce their own emergency currency, Notgeld, as the Reichsbank could not print denominations fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. The twenty-billion-mark figure on this note was not exceptional for October 1923; within weeks, notes of one trillion marks were in common use.
The watermarked paper is notable given the circumstances — most municipal issuers of this period printed on whatever stock was available, often plain or even one-sided. That Göttingen used security paper suggests some stock had been reserved or sourced locally before the supply chains deteriorated entirely.
Göttingen's municipal authority issued this note during the hyperinflation peak of late 1923, when German city and district governments were legally permitted — effectively compelled — to produce their own emergency currency, Notgeld, as the Reichsbank could not print denominations fast enough to keep pace with collapsing purchasing power. The twenty-billion-mark figure on this note was not exceptional for October 1923; within weeks, notes of one trillion marks were in common use.
The watermarked paper is notable given the circumstances — most municipal issuers of this period printed on whatever stock was available, often plain or even one-sided. That Göttingen used security paper suggests some stock had been reserved or sourced locally before the supply chains deteriorated entirely.