German Rentenbank, 1 Rentenmark note

Rentenbank note, valued at 1 Rentenmark, distributed for use in Germany from January 1937 to 1948. The Rentenmark became the national currency in 1923 to address the hyperinflation ruining the German economy following World War I. Before the Rentenmark was introduced, the former national currency, the Papiermark, was valued at 4.2 billion marks to one U.S. dollar, and was backed by gold, which the treasury did not have. In order to stabilize the economy, the German government established the Rentenbank on October 15, 1923, and the new Minister of Finance, Hans Luther, developed a system where the Rentenmark was backed by mortgage on all real property in Germany, rather than gold. The Rentenmark was set at 4.2 marks to one U.S. dollar, and its introduction successfully ended the inflation crisis. The Rentenmark was meant to be temporary and it was officially replaced as the national currency by the Reichsmark in 1924, but both notes remained legal tender. In 1937, the German government utilized the Rentenbank to issue 1 and 2 Rentenmark notes because the Reichsbank did not issue denominations lower than 5 Reichsmarks. Both notes included an image of a sheaf of wheat on the back, the emblem of the Rentenbank. When France, Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union placed Germany under allied occupation in 1945, the Deutsche Mark became the official Germany currency, but the Rentenmark and the Reichsmark both remained in circulation until 1948.