Papiermark
German currency from 1914 to 1924
Papiermark (German: [paˈpiːɐ̯ˌmaʁk] ; lit. 'paper mark') was a derisive term for the Mark (sign: ℳ︁) after it went off the gold standard, and most specifically with the era of hyperinflation in Germany of 1922 and 1923. Formally, the same German mark was used from 1871 to 1923. Like many countries, Germany departed the gold standard due to the outbreak of World War I, and stopped issuing gold coins backed in marks in August 1914. Precious metals rapidly disappeared from circulation, and inflation occurred as paper money was used to cover war debts in 1914 to 1918. Still, the papiermark is more associated with the early Weimar Republic era, when inflation grew out of control. By the time the mark was retired from circulation and redenominated in December 1923, banknotes had amounts in the billions and trillions of marks by face value.
History
From 1914, the value of the mark fell. The rate of inflation rose following the end of World War I and reached its highest point in October 1923. The currency stabilized in November 1923 after the announcement of the creation of the Rentenmark, although the Rentenmark did not come into circulation until 1924.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Papiermark” as german currency from 1914 to 1924. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as german currency from 1914 to 1924. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q705983. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1922, 1923, 1871 and 1914.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Papiermark” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.