5 Heller Hinterbrühl

Hinterbrühl is a small village in Lower Austria, best known for the Seegrotte — a flooded gypsum mine that the Nazi regime later converted into an underground aircraft factory. In 1920 it was issuing 5 Heller notgeld, which tells you more about the state of Austrian monetary supply in the immediate post-war period than any macroeconomic account could. The central authorities simply could not keep small change in circulation, and hundreds of municipalities filled the vacuum with their own paper.

Three local officials signed each note — the Bürgermeister, his deputy, and the finance officer — an unusually full authorization chain for such a modest denomination.