50 Millionen Mark - Ruhr und Rhein

Issued by Westphalian authorities during the acute phase of the 1923 hyperinflation, this piece belongs to the emergency coinage struck in direct response to the Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr industrial region, which began in January of that year. The occupying forces had seized the area to extract reparations payments in kind after Germany defaulted, triggering a campaign of passive resistance that the Berlin government actively funded — accelerating the currency collapse already underway.

The 50-million mark face value, absurd by any prior standard, was already being outpaced by inflation within weeks of striking.