50 000 Drachmai

This note belongs to the hyperinflationary collapse of the Axis occupation period, when the Greek money supply was being inflated deliberately — partly to fund occupation costs extracted from the Greek state itself. By late 1944, denominations that would have been unimaginable before the war were routine. The 50,000 Drachmai was not a large sum by the time it circulated; monthly inflation rates during the peak of the crisis in late 1943 and 1944 reached figures economists still cite as among the most severe in recorded history.

Printed domestically by the Bank of Greece's own works rather than abroad — a necessity, given the circumstances.