Reichsbanknote printed in black ink on lightweight, rectangular, cream-colored paper with a repeating circle-patterned watermark. On the face, there is a wide margin to the left of a rectangle with an intricate black border and a red floral underprint that transitions into a green streak down the center. German text is printed across the rectangle’s center in fraktur-style font. There are 12 signatures centered at the bottom and flanked by the Reichsbankdirektorium seal bearing a left-facing Reichsadler surrounded by German text, on both sides. The serial number is printed above the right seal. Printed in the left margin is a vertical red rectangle with the denomination at both ends, and five small, vertically-aligned lines of German text printed in red ink within a central rectangle. On the back, there is a rectangle with a red decorative border and a grid pattern around a large floral medallion backprint that transitions into a green streak down the center. The denomination is printed across the center of the medallion with German text printed above and below in gray ink. To the right, there is a wide margin bearing a vertical red rectangle with German text printed across it. The note has light creasing in the corners.
No restrictions on access
No restrictions on use
1923 February 20-1923 November 16, 1923 February 20
The currency was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2003 by Joel Forman.
overall: Height: 3.750 inches (9.525 cm) | Width: 6.250 inches (15.875 cm)
Reichsbank note, valued at 20,000 marks, distributed in Germany from February to November 1923. German efforts to finance World War I sent the nation into debt. Following their defeat, the Treaty of Versailles obligated Germany to pay reparations to several countries, which increased the nation’s financial struggles. The German government attempted to solve this problem by printing more money, which led to severe inflation. The inflation grew to critical levels between 1922 and1923, when the exchange rate of the mark to the United States dollar went from 2,000 marks per dollar to well over a million in a matter of months. The government printed higher and higher denominations, but was unable to keep up with the plunging rates. Germans began using the worthless bills as kindling, wallpaper, and children’s crafts. The emerging National Socialist German Worker’s (Nazi) Party frequently used the bills to their advantage, writing anti-Semitic messages on them, which blamed Jews for Germany’s financial problems. In order to stabilize the economy, the German government established the Rentenbank. The new Minister of Finance, Hans Luther, created the Rentenmark, which was backed by mortgages on all real property in Germany, rather than gold. The Rentenmark was valued at 4.2 marks to one U.S. dollar, and its introduction on November 16, 1923, successfully ended the inflation crisis. Despite this, the Nazi Party continued to use people’s residual economic fears as a propaganda tool to gain power, eventually leading to Adolf Hitler becoming Chancellor in 1933.
Weimar Germany Reichsbanknote, 20,000 mark