5 000 000 Mark

Regierungsbezirk Trier und Provinz Birkenfeld was one of dozens of regional German administrative bodies forced into emergency currency issuance during the hyperinflation crisis of 1923, when the Reichsbank simply could not print fast enough to meet demand. Schaar & Dathe, a Trier commercial printer with no particular specialism in security printing, produced this and related notgeld denominations locally — a practical necessity, not a deliberate choice.

By the time five-million-mark denominations were routine, the notes were often worth less than the paper within days of issue. Trier sat within the French-occupied Rhineland, which added a separate layer of political friction to an already collapsing monetary situation.