1. Reichsmark 1914-1924 1.Treaty of Versailles 2.Weimar Republic 3.The inflationary Decade 4.Hyperinflation 5.Inflationary Value 6.Rentenmark 7.Daily Life 8.Currency Comparison Brent Clair Pat Wotta

2. Treaty Of Versailles June 23, 1919 Many policies outlined in treaty. Drafted by Britain, France, and the United States. Germany forced to yield up territory to France, Poland, Denmark, and Belgium and is not allowed to unite with Austria. A key to the inflation height -Germany was forced to pay heavy reparations

3. Weimar republic 1919-1933 Nov. 11 1918 Armistice: end of WWI 1919 collapse of German empire and start of WP 1919 Treaty of Versailles A new republic is born…. 1933-Total Economic and Political Collapse-Hitler

4. The Inflationary Decade, 1914-24 Why hyperinflation happened? When war started you were no longer to redeem marks for gold No legal limit to how many notes could be produced Amount of $ increased 4-fold by the end of the war Gov. was not printing money fast enough for rising prices “victory” (never happened)-After defeat in 1918 gov. was not able to pay debts.

5. Hyperinflation 1923 paper mark lost function as medium of payment. Started buying fixed goods such as art, diamonds, and real estate. Jan 1923 whole sale price index was 2,783 times higher than its 1913 level In comparison to 1913 level of CPI, by Dec 1923 it was 1,261 thousand million times higher 1923 money (reichsmark) is worth nothing

6. Wholesale Price Index July 19141.0 Jan 19192.6 July 19193.4 Jan 192012.6 Jan 192114.3 July 192236.7 July 1922100.6 Jan 19232,785.0 July 1923194,000.0 Nov. 1923726,000,000,000.0

7. (A)Value of the gold mark in terms of paper marks. (B) Price parities (ration of German to American price-index In Reference To Overhead Graph 1914- 1923

8. TABLE XIX 1913-6,070 Million in Circulation 1923-2.5 Trillion in Circulation

9. TABLE III Circulation Dec. 1923 496.5 Trillions on marks in circ.

10. “The Miracle of the Rentenmark” November 1923 Gov. stepped in to stop hyperinflation overnight Rentenbank 2.4 billion Rentenmarks created, each one exchangeable for 1 trillion old marks Confidence was developed by government Businesses slowly began to revive 1924 new Reichsmark equal in value to the Rentenmark 1 Rentenmark bill 10 Billion Reichsmark bill

11. Money Over Time

14. 1914-100 Mark Very detailed and colorful pictures Pictures of people and objects show sign of times

15. 1923- 1 Billion Mark Very dull and plain bills Show signs of mass production Easy to counterfeit (who would want to anyway?)

16. Comparison 1923- 1914- Notes detail changes over time. What does this tell you about society’s perception of value?

17. Text Translation Paid by the Federal Reserve Bank in Berlin in exchange for this note to the holder. Beginning with September 1 st, 1923, this note can be exchanged against another legal type of payment. Berlin, August 9 th, 1923 Dictatorship of Reichsbank

18. Hyperinflation Impact on Daily Life Inflationary stamps People paid 3 times a day in order to buy necessities Farmers refused to bring goods to the market for worthless money Large businesses actually made profit from hyperinflation Oct. 25 1923 Gov. had to produce 1 million trillion marks a day. -Only could produce 500,000 trillion

19. Questions?? -Questions