Last updated: August 2026

What currencies has Germany used?

Unified Germany has run through six monetary eras since 1871, and each one left behind paper that collectors actively pursue. The table below maps the landscape. Regional Notgeld, the emergency money of the 1914 to 1923 crisis years, circulated alongside the official series and is a beloved specialty of its own.

What was the Papiermark, and how bad was the 1923 hyperinflation?

The mark was born on the gold standard. The Coinage Act of December 1871 defined the new imperial currency by its gold content, and from 1873 the mark served the whole empire, freely convertible into gold coin. That world ended in the first days of World War I: in August 1914 the Reichsbank suspended gold convertibility, and the unbacked notes that followed became known as the Papiermark.

War debts and reparations pressure pushed Germany into printing ever larger denominations, and by 1923 the collapse became the most famous hyperinflation in history. The Hanke-Krus World Hyperinflation Table (Cato Institute) records the peak in October 1923, when prices rose roughly 29,500 percent in a single month and were doubling about every 3.7 days. The Reichsbank's denominations spiraled into the trillions — by late November 1923 a US dollar traded near 4.2 trillion marks (Britannica) — topping out with the 100 trillion mark note (Pick 140), dated 15 February 1924 and issued during the stabilization. Our Weimar hyperinflation museum page walks through the collapse year by year, and the 100 trillion mark note guide covers the era's flagship rarity. To see where Weimar Germany sits among the all-time records, browse our ranking of every hyperinflation.

How did the Rentenmark stop the inflation?

Stabilization came in November 1923 from an unusual direction: land. The newly created Deutsche Rentenbank issued the Rentenmark, a currency backed not by gold, which Germany no longer had in quantity, but by mortgages on the country's agricultural and industrial property. One Rentenmark exchanged for one trillion Papiermark, and the psychological reset worked; prices stabilized within months. The Rentenmark was always meant as a bridge, and in August 1924 the Reichsbank introduced the Reichsmark at par with it as the permanent legal tender. The two circulated side by side until 1948, which is why collectors encounter both Rentenmark and Reichsmark notes from the interwar years.

What is Notgeld?

Alongside the official series, thousands of German towns, firms, and regional banks issued their own emergency money between 1914 and 1923, called Notgeld. Much of it was deliberately colorful and collectible even at the time, with local legends, satire, and striking artwork, and it forms one of the most affordable and visually rich specialties in all of paper money. Our Notgeld guide covers the major types and how to collect them.

What happened to German money after 1945?

Defeat split the mark in two. In the western occupation zones, the Bank deutscher Länder introduced the Deutsche Mark on 20 June 1948, with each resident receiving an initial allocation of 40 DM and old Reichsmark converting at a general rate of 10 to 1 (Deutsche Bundesbank). The reform is widely credited with launching West Germany's postwar recovery. The Deutsche Bundesbank itself was created when the Bundesbank Act took effect on 1 August 1957, merging the Bank deutscher Länder into the new institution that became a byword for hard money.

East Germany answered with its own mark, issued through the Staatsbank der DDR, whose later series carried portraits of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. That currency ended with German monetary union on 1 July 1990, when the Deutsche Mark became legal tender in the East ahead of reunification (Deutsche Bundesbank). East German notes were demonetized in the process, which is exactly why they survive in quantity for collectors today, often in crisp uncirculated bundles.

Can Deutsche Mark notes still be exchanged?

Yes, and this makes the Deutsche Mark nearly unique among retired currencies. When euro cash arrived on 1 January 2002, Germany chose not to set an exchange deadline: the Deutsche Bundesbank still exchanges unlimited amounts of DM banknotes and coins for euros, free of charge and with no time limit, at the fixed rate of 1.95583 DM per euro, at its branches or by post. For collectors this means DM notes carry a permanent official floor, while scarcer dates, series, and high grades trade well above it on the collector market.

How do I start collecting German banknotes?

• Start with the hyperinflation. The 1922 to 1923 Papiermark issues are abundant, historically unmatched, and affordable even a century later. They also anchor any collapse-themed collection built around our hyperinflation sets.
• Pick a century, or collect the whole arc. A single album can run from an imperial gold-standard note through trillion-mark inflation paper, a Rentenmark, an East German Marx portrait, and a final-series Deutsche Mark. Few countries offer a run like it.
• Buy on condition. Inflation-era notes are common enough that crisp uncirculated examples cost little more than worn ones. Our banknote grading guide explains the scale, and for scarcer imperial or early denominations consider graded banknotes certified by a third-party service.
• Learn the vocabulary. Terms like Notgeld, series, watermark, and demonetization come up constantly with German material; our banknote glossary covers them all.

Germany's paper money also connects to one of World War II's strangest stories: the British pound forgeries of Operation Bernhard, printed by prisoners at Sachsenhausen. When you are ready to buy, browse the full banknotes by country directory to see what is currently in stock, and read our guide to collecting world banknotes for building a themed set.

Planet Banknote is a family-owned dealership in Sarasota, Florida, founded in 2021. Every note is sourced direct from mints, central banks, and authorized distributors, inspected through our Planet Banknote Verified process, and ships with a free Certificate of Authenticity. US orders ship free via USPS Priority, and every order includes a free bonus gift.