5 000 000 Mark Westfälische Eisen- und Drahtwerke

Westfälische Eisen- und Drahtwerke — a wire and iron manufacturer in Langendreer, near Bochum — issued this note as Notgeld during the hyperinflation peak of 1923, when the Reichsmark was collapsing fast enough that employers had to print their own emergency scrip just to meet weekly payroll. Industrial firms across the Ruhr were doing the same, and the Reichsbank quietly tolerated it because there was no practical alternative.

The 5,000,000 Mark face value, unthinkable two years earlier, was already losing purchasing power by the time the ink dried.