20 000 000 Mark

Bad Reichenhall issued this 20-million Mark note in 1923 as Notgeld — emergency municipal currency printed to cope with hyperinflation that had made Reichsbank denominations functionally useless almost as fast as they could be distributed. By mid-1923, municipal and commercial issuers across Germany were producing their own paper simply to make payroll; the Stadtrat here was doing the same as hundreds of other local authorities that summer and autumn.

The note was printed locally, which is consistent with its period — turnaround time mattered more than engraving quality when denominations were doubling weekly.