German inflationary war currency printed for the Hagenbeck Zoo

After WWI, Germany was plunged into one of the worst inflations ever to hit a western country as the government struggled with the truly massive punitive damages demanded by the Treaty of Versailles. During this brief period of hyper-inflation, people who did not convert their savings into tangible assets lost them completely . Many bank accounts were closed because even large pre-war sums of 100,000 Marks were longer worth even the price of a postage stamp. The middle class was by and large reduced to poverty, theft and petty crime soared, pensions became worthless and many people starved to death.
There were two main types of inflationary banknote printed. Standard Reichsbank notes, and what is known as notgeld (a German word meaning "emergency money"). The Reichsbank notes were issued by the central bank in Berlin, while notgeld was printed by city banks, small towns, all manner of public bodies, the German railway departments and even private companies.
The famous front gate of the Hagenbeck Zoo