500 000 Mark

Aachen's municipal administration issued its own emergency currency — Notgeld — during the hyperinflation spiral of 1923, when Reichsbank notes were losing value faster than they could be printed and distributed. At the 500,000 Mark denomination, this note already belonged to the mid-tier inflation range; within weeks of issues like this circulating, denominations in the billions and trillions would follow.

Aachen's position on the Belgian and Dutch borders complicated matters further. The Rhineland was under Allied occupation at the time, and the French-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr in January 1923 accelerated the monetary collapse that made municipal printing operations like this one necessary in the first place.