ABSTRACT
In the early 1920s large sections of the population lost all their savings as a result of unprecedented hyperinflation; the currency reform of 1948 showed the German people once again that their money and all financial assets denominated in Reichsmark were worthless. In these circumstances, the stability of the new Deutsche Mark clearly had to be made the monetary policy’s most important gauge. Although this historical experience may have been supplanted to some extent by the current experience of the advantages of relative monetary stability, the fear of inflation and currency depreciation is everpresent in the minds of the German people.
