Trillion marks

In the autumn of 1923, inflation in the Weimar Republic turned into hyperinflation, with constant issues of new batches of cash. The 500 billion and 1 trillion mark notes were in circulation. The City Council of Kołobrzeg, as well as authorities in other German cities, were forced to issue notes worth 1 trillion marks in October 1923. They were characterised by one-sided print and sparse colours, which ensured a low unit price of the note and had an impact on the speed of printing. The time and cost, as well as obtaining an official permit and posting collateral for the issue, were the main problems associated with printing substitute cash. The graphic design of the Kołobrzeg notes is rather minimalist. On the pale pink subprint with the coat of arms of the city and the denomination in words, inscriptions were printed in blue. A Fraktur-like font of various sizes, which was popular on substitute cash, was also used in this case. The inscriptions informed that in exchange for the note – Kołobrzeg's substitute money – its holder could receive the equivalent of 1 billion marks from the municipal treasury. A note placed to the right indicated that the note could be used as a means of payment in all city offices, and its withdrawal from circulation will be announced to the public. Kołobrzeg notes were signed personally by the persons responsible for their issue. This is unique among inflationary issues of substitute cash – usually only facsimiles of signatures were printed on substitute notes. The information about substitute cash being accepted as a means of payment by city offices was intentional, since in the autumn of 1923, people – fearing losing money – refused to accept even bills denominated in gold marks and dollars. This was particularly true of farmers, who did not want to sell food for these notes.

Mieszko Pawłowski