ABSTRACT
Hyperinflation, as we saw in the previous chapter, is inextricably linked with the popular image of Germany in the early 1920s. Legends abound of people using worthless banknotes as wallpaper to decorate their houses, or of the man who fell victim to thieves after leaving a wheelbarrow full of money outside a shop; when he returned he found his money was still there but the wheelbarrow was gone. Yet by the time such tales were in popular circulation, Germans had already experienced almost ten years of constant price rises. Some historians therefore prefer to speak of the ‘inflation decade’, 1914–1923/4, as marking a distinct era in its own right. 1 The figures indeed speak for themselves. In July 1914 one US dollar was worth 4.2 Marks, in January 1919 8.9 Marks, in January 1920 64.8 Marks, and eighteen months later, in July 1921, 76.7 Marks. After this things grew even worse. In January 1922 one dollar bought 191.8 Marks, in July 1922 493.2 Marks, in January 1923 17,972 Marks, in July 1923 353,412 Marks and in September 1923 almost 99 million Marks. On 15 November 1923 things hit rock bottom when the dollar stood at 4,200 billion old Marks.
