20 Mark F. Thörl's Vereinigte Harburger Oelfabriken

This note was issued by a private industrial firm, not a bank — F. Thörl's Vereinigte Harburger Oelfabriken was one of Germany's major vegetable oil processors, based in Harburg on the Elbe. In 1918, the acute shortage of small-denomination Reichsmark coinage drove thousands of German municipalities, companies, and institutions to print their own Notgeld, and industrial employers were among the most active issuers, using the scrip largely to pay wages when official currency was simply unavailable in workable quantities.

Printed locally by F. C. Bertram of Harburg, this is functional emergency money in the most literal sense — a payroll instrument issued by a factory to keep production running.