5000 Markkaa

Finland's postwar monetary situation was acute. The 1945 series was issued under severe inflationary pressure following wartime reparations obligations to the Soviet Union — reparations that ultimately consumed roughly a quarter of Finland's annual industrial output over eight years. High-denomination notes like this one entered circulation as purchasing power collapsed, and were largely withdrawn when the markka was revalued at 100:1 in 1963.

The P#83 series was printed domestically by the Bank of Finland's own printing works in Helsinki, one of the few European central banks operating its own full production facility at the time.