In 1923, German money became so worthless that one U.S. dollar was worth 4.2 trillion German marks.

In early 1923, a loaf of bread in Germany cost about 250 marks. By November of that same year, the price for the same loaf rose to 200 billion marks. Workers received their pay twice a day and ran to stores immediately to buy items before prices went up again.The government used 133 printing plants and over 1,700 presses to keep making cash. Because the paper was worth more than the money printed on it, people used stacks of bills as wallpaper or burned them in stoves for heat. Children even played with bundles of cash like building blocks because they were cheaper than toys.On November 15, 1923, the government stopped printing the old money and created a new currency called the Rentenmark. They traded one new Rentenmark for one trillion old marks. This change removed twelve zeros from the currency and helped prices stay the same.This event is a famous example of hyperinflation. It happens when a government prints too much money without having enough goods like food or clothes for people to buy. While the new currency saved the economy, many families lost all the money they had saved for years.