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20 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Stadtverwaltung Zweibrücken (City Administration of Zweibrücken) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed on the same brown rosette-pattern guilloche underprint and carries the title 'Notgeld der Stadt Zweibrücken' in Gothic script at the top. The city arms vignette is centred above the large denomination '20 Millionen Mark' in Gothic lettering, with 'ZWANZIG MILLIONEN' in bold sans-serif capitals below. A redemption notice in italic Gothic script appears at the foot of the main panel. A narrow right-hand stub panel carries a counterfeiting-penalty warning text in vertical arrangement, flanked by two small ornamental vignettes. |
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| Protection type | Official stamp |
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| Comments |
Zweibrücken's 20-million Mark note dates from August or September 1923, the apex of Weimar hyperinflation, when municipal and district authorities across Germany were legally permitted — and practically forced — to print their own emergency currency, Notgeld, to fill the void left by a Reichsmark that was losing value by the hour. The Stadtverwaltung issued these not as a monetary statement but as a logistical necessity: workers needed to be paid, and state-supplied currency simply wasn't arriving fast enough.
The official stamp served as the primary authentication device, a telling sign of how rudimentary production had become by this stage of the crisis.