75 Heller Mitterbach

Mitterbach is a small resort village on the Erlauf lake in Lower Austria, and this note is one of the thousands of Austrian Notgeld issues that flooded the country after the First World War when small denomination coinage all but vanished from circulation. The municipality engaged local St. Pölten printer Symmer and designer Jos. Fluch — both operating within the regional commercial printing trade rather than any specialist banknote firm. Three signatories were required: the finance officer and both the mayor and deputy mayor, an unusual triple-signature arrangement that reflects the cautious local governance of a small community issuing what was, legally speaking, an improvised emergency instrument.