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5 000 000 000 Mark
| Issuer | Kreisgemeinde Pfalz |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Currency | Mark (1914-1924) |
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| Obverse description | Printed in dark blue on cream paper with a multi-line wavy-rule border frame, the note carries the heading 'NOTGELDSCHEIN DER KREISGEMEINDE PFALZ' at upper centre, flanked to the right by a starburst vignette enclosing the large numeral '5'. A red serial number appears in the upper central field. The denomination legend 'FÜNF MILLIARDEN MARK' is set in bold block letterpress across the centre. Below, the place and date of issue 'SPEYER den 1. Oktober 1923' and the issuing authority 'KREISGEMEINDE PFALZ' are printed, followed by a row of manuscript facsimile signatures. A red-framed overprint panel at the left margin reads 'Umlauffähig im ganzen Regierungsbezirk Pfalz. Gültig bis zum 1. April 1924.' |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | NOTGELDSCHEIN DER KREISGEMEINDE PFALZ 5 FÜNF MILLIARDEN MARK SPEYER den 1. Oktober 1923 KREISGEMEINDE PFALZ Umlauffähig im ganzen Regierungsbezirk Pfalz. Gültig bis zum 1. April 1924. Für diesen Notgeldschein haftet das gesamte Vermögen der Kreisgemeinde. Derselbe wird von sämtlichen Kassen der Reichsbank in Zahlung genommen. Dieser Notschein wird ungültig, wenn er nicht innerhalb eines Monats nach erfolgter Bekanntmachung bei den veröffentlichten bezugsstellen eingereicht wird. |
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| Comments |
The Kreisgemeinde Pfalz — the district authority of the Palatinate — issued this note during the hyperinflationary peak of autumn 1923, when municipal and regional bodies across Germany were legally authorized to produce Notgeld to fill the void left by a central government unable to print reichsmarks fast enough to meet demand. Five billion marks sounds extraordinary; by November 1923 it was barely bus fare.
Speyer, on the Rhine, was the administrative seat of the Palatinate and the logical production point. The Palatinate was under French occupation at the time — part of the post-Versailles Rhineland settlement — and separatist movements were actively exploiting the chaos, briefly declaring an autonomous Palatine Republic in October 1923. Whether district officials issuing this note answered to Berlin or to the occupation authorities is not a clean question.