5 000 000 Mark

Itzehoe was a modest Schleswig-Holstein market town of around 25,000 people when it issued this note during the hyperinflation of 1923 — the period when municipal authorities across Germany were legally obligated to fill the gap left by the Reichsbank's inability to print denominations fast enough to match collapsing purchasing power. The five-million mark figure, staggering on its face, was already insufficient for many transactions within weeks of issue; by November 1923, a loaf of bread in northern Germany cost several hundred million marks.

Local Notgeld at these denominations is frequently found with very short validity windows printed on the face — the issuing authority's attempt to prevent hoarding and force circulation before the note's value evaporated further.