Reichsbank note, valued at 20 million marks, distributed in Germany from July 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.
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overall: Height: 3.250 inches (8.255 cm) | Width: 7.625 inches (19.368 cm)
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Weimar Germany Reichsbanknote, 20 million mark
The currency was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2003 by Joel Forman.
Reichsbanknote printed in black ink on lightweight, rectangular, cream-colored paper. On the face, the right end of the note is purple with flecks of red and blue throughout and a leaf and flower watermark. German text is printed left of center in fraktur-style font, and in three, vertically-aligned lines on the left. 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 denomination is printed in blue ink and decorative font in the upper right corner and as a backprint underneath the German text. The serial number is printed in red ink to the right of center. The note is worn and creased overall, with slight staining across the blank back.