24 ‘Life To-Day in Berlin’, in Sunday Times, Sunday, 11 February 1923, p. 11.
25 Feldman, The Great Disorder, p. 701.
Chapter 21: The Starving Billionaires
1 See Feldman, The Great Disorder, p. 642f. A lot of experts, including most vociferously Hilferding and Bernhard, had for some time criticised the Reichsbank for refusing to intervene. No currency, they said, had ever collapsed to such an extent with as much gold available as was then contained in the vaults of the Reichsbank.
2 Feldman, The Great Disorder, p. 647.
3 Ibid., p. 657: ‘Of all those who had ruled Germany since 1918 . . . Cuno was the least suitable person to guide his nation out of the morass. He profoundly misread the political situation and the way in which he could use his powers most effectively.’
4 ‘Mark Exchange Chaos’, in The Times, 20 July 1923, p. 11.
5 ‘Money & Stocks’, in Manchester Guardian, 24 July 1923, p. 11.
6 ‘The Death of the Mark’, in Manchester Guardian, 27 July 1923, p. 9.
7 Heinrich von der Ohe, diary, Kollektives Gedächtnis website, as above.
8 Quoted in Alexander Jung, ‘Nationales Trauma’, in Spiegel-Geschichte 4/2009 available online at http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/spiegelgeschichte/d-66214356.html and translated into English as ‘Millions, Billions, Trillions: Germany in the Era of Hyperinflation’, in Spiegel-Online (English language edition), 14 August 2009.
9 Feldman, The Great Disorder, p. 573.
10 Ibid., p. 542.
11 Grosz, A Small Yes and a Big No!, p. 142f.
12 Kessler, The Diaries of a Cosmopolitan, 5 February 1919, p. 64.
13 Grosz, A Small Yes and a Big No!, p. 101f.
14 Quoted in Hosfeld and Pölking, Wir Deutschen: 1918 bis 1929, p. 33.
15 Pörtner, Alltag in der Weimarer Republik, p. 74.
16 For the story of Celly de Rheidt’s career, see Peter Jelavich, Berlin Cabaret, Cambridge, MA, 1996, pp. 155ff.
17 Ibid., p. 158.
18 Article from the Niederdeutsche Zeitung, November 1922, quoted in Feldman, The Great Disorder, p. 556.
19 Friedrich, Before the Deluge, p. 127.
20 Pörtner, Alltag in der Weimarer Republik, pp. 101ff.
21 Ibid., p. 302f.
22 Feldman, The Great Disorder, p. 766.
23 Ibid., p. 274.
24 All figures from Constantino Bresciani-Turroni, The Economics of Inflation: A Study of Currency Depreciation in Post-War Germany, 1914-1923, New York, 2006, p. 216.
25 Ibid.
26 Jelavich, Berlin Cabaret, p. 140.
27 Jung, ‘Nationales Trauma’ in Spiegel-Geschichte 4/2009, as above.
28 Weitz, Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy, p. 139.
29 Friedrich, Before the Deluge, p. 126.
30 Winkler, Weimar 1918-1933, p. 201.
Chapter 22: Desperate Measures
1 ‘Zusammenschluss aller den verfassungsmäßigen Staatsgedanken bejahenden Kräfte’. See ‘Der Wortlaut der Regierungserklärung’, in Vossische Zeitung, 15 August 1923 (morning edition), p. 3.
2 For the origins and most of the details of Helfferich’s plan, see Feldman, The Great Disorder, pp. 708ff, and Winkler, Weimar 1918-1933, p. 208f.
3 Feldman, The Great Disorder, p. 711.
4 Ibid., p. 733.
5 Ibid., p. 711.
6 Ibid., p. 712.
7 Account of the cabinet meeting on 23 August 1923 in Winkler, Weimar 1918-1933, p. 209. For Stresemann’s own confessions about business’s readiness to negotiate with France, see Feldman, The Great Disorder, p. 720.
8 Winkler, Weimar 1918-1933, p. 209. And for the parties’ reactions, including that of the right.
9 Ibid., p. 211.
10 Ernst Merkel, 23 November 1922, ‘Rundschau: Hanover und Bayern’, in Die Weltbühne, XVIII. Jahrgang, Nr 47, p. 558.
11 Winkler, Weimar 1918-1933, p. 213.
12 Ibid., p. 214f. For this and the material regarding Moscow’s involvement that follows.
13 For the agreement, its complications and its consequences, see Andreas Kunz, Civil Servants and the Politics of Inflation in Germany, 1914-1924, Berlin and New York, 1986, pp. 363ff.
14 For the ‘pogrom’ accusation, see ibid., p. 369n.
15 Feldman, The Great Disorder, p. 700.
16 See Heinrich von der Ohe’s diary, at Kollektives Gedächtnis website, as above.
Chapter 23: Everyone Wants a Dictator
1 Winkler, Weimar 1918-1933, p. 221.
2 ‘Berlin To-Day’ from Own Correspondent, in Sunday Times, 28 October 1923, p. 17.
3 S. L. Bensusan, ‘Life in Germany To-Day: Notes from a Provincial City’, in Observer, 11 November 1923, p. 9.
4 ‘Daily Air Service to Berlin. Daimler’s New Scheme’, in Manchester Guardian, 7 November 1923, p. 9.
5 Programme and details of the first broadcast from the Vox Haus at http://www.dra.de/rundfunkgeschichte/75jahreradio/anfaenge/voxhaus/index.html.
6 See ‘Broadcasting in Germany’, in The Times, 6 October 1927, p. 6.
7 Thilo Koch, Die Goldenen Zwanziger Jahre, Frankfurt-on-Main, 1970, p. 50.
8 ‘Zur Wiederherstellung der Produktivität’, in Vossische Zeitung, 13 October 1923, p. 1 (Abendausgabe). For the new proposals on modifying the eight-hour day see ‘Das neue Arbeitszeitgesetz’, in Vosssiche Zeitung, 14 October 1923 (Sunday), p. 4.
9 ‘Daily Life in Berlin. The Rural Hunt for Provisions’, in Observer, 21 October 1923, p. 8.
10 ‘In “Red” Saxony. Unemployment and Food Raids. Tension with Bavaria’, in Manchester Guardian, 23 October 1923, p. 10. And for the following figures on unemployment and remarks on factory closures.
11 Dresdner Geschichtsverein e.V., Dresden: Die Geschichte der Stadt von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart, Dresden, 2002, p. 200f.
12 Ibid., p. 207.
13 Koch, Der deutsche Bürgerkrieg, p. 369.
14 Winkler, Weimar 1918-1933, p. 224. And for the Thuringian developments.
15 Ibid., p. 225.
16 Houghton’s account of his meeting with Stinnes on 15 September 1923 described in Feldman, Hugo Stinnes, p. 888.
17 See Jörg-R. Mettke, ‘Das Grosse Schmieren’, in Korruption in Deutschland (III): Geld und Politik in der Weimarer Republik, series in Der Spiegel, Nr. 49/1984, 3 December 1984, p. 185. Available from the Spiegel online archive at http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13510803.html.
18 Feldman, Hugo Stinnes, p. 888f.
19 Winkler, Weimar 1918-1933, p. 225.
20 Ibid., p. 227.
21 Feldman, The Great Disorder, p. 774f.
22 Ibid., p. 778.
23 Ibid., p. 770f.
Chapter 24: Breaking the Fever
1 Winkler, Weimar 1918-1933, p. 232.
2 Feldman, The Great Disorder, p. 753.
3 See ibid., p. 790.
4 For the penalties see §7 in the full text of the new regulation as reproduced in ‘Wirtschaftliche Notverordnungen der Reichsregierung’, printed in Vossische Zeitung, 23 October 1923 (evening edition), p. 4.
5 An Englishwoman Living in Germany, ‘Shopping in Germany: A Perambulator for a Purse’, in Manchester Guardian, 27 November 1923, p. 6. And for the two other quotations from this article immediately following.
6 See ‘Krawalle im Berliner Zentrum. Antisemitische Ausschreitungen’, in Vossische Zeitung, 6 November 1923 (morning edition), p. 5.
7 ‘Die gestrigen Unruhen. Reichswehr wird Eingesetzt’, in Vossische Zeitung, 7 November 1923 (morning edition), p. 5.
8 ‘Ruhe in Berlin. Wachsende Arbeitslosigkeit’, in Vossische Zeitung, 7 November 1923 (evening edition), p. 4.
9 Feldman, The Great Disorder, p. 781.
10 For the change of heart by the Bavarian leadership, see Koch, Der deutsche Bürgerkrieg, p. 369, and Kershaw, Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris, p. 204.
11 For the Beer Hall putsch, see Kershaw, Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris, pp. 206ff.
12 Ibid., p. 209.
13 See photograph in Bundesarchiv-Bildarchiv, Bild 146-2007-0003.
14 Winkler, Weimar 1918-1933, p. 230.
15 See ‘Unser neues Geld. Die Rentenmark’, in Vossische Zeitung, 17 November 1923 (evening edition), p. 4.
16 Feldman, The Great Disorder, p. 793f.
17 ‘Unser neues Geld’, in Vossische Zeitung, as above.
18 Feldman, The Great Disorder, p. 795.
19 Ibid., p. 795f. Also for Schacht’s activities in attacking the problem of uncovered emergency money and Glasenapp’s lecture to the nation on credits and inflation.
20 Ibid., p. 797, for the ‘inaugural visit’, Wels’s speech, and the quote from the Frankfurter Zeitung.
21 Winkler, Weimar 1918-1933, p. 240.
22 ‘Rentenmarks Issue. Risk of Failure’, in The Times, 16 November 1923, p. 13.
23 Quoted in Adam Fergusson, When Money Dies, London, 2010, p. 211.
24 ‘German Financial Chaos: Appeal to the Powers’, in The Times, 13 December 1923, p. 12.
25 ‘A Little Leaven’, in The Times, 22 December 1923, p. 9.
26 ‘New Confidence in Germany. A Stable Currency’, in Manchester Guardian, 13 December 1923, p. 10.
27 Feldman, The Great Disorder, p. 826f.
28 Ibid., p. 803.
29 August Heinrich von Ohe, diary entry of 28 September 1924, on website, Kollektives Gedächtnis, as above.
Chapter 25: Bail-out
1 See, significantly enough, the official website of the German Bundesbank, at http://www.bundesbank.de/Redaktion/DE/Standardartikel/Bundesbank/Wissenswert/historisches_inflation_lehren_aus_der_geschichte.htm
Afterword: Why a German Trauma?
1 Gomes, German Reparations, p. 220.
2 See David Marsh, The Euro: the Politics of the New Global Currency, New Haven, CT, and London, 2009, p. 133.
3 Kate Connolly, ‘Germans greet Cyprus Deal with a mixture of relief and fear’, in Observer, 31 March 2013 (online at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/31/germans-greet-cyprus-deal-mixture-relief-fear?INTCMP=SRCH)
A Note on the Author
Frederick Taylor was educated at Aylesbury Grammar School, read History and Modern Languages at Oxford and did postgraduate work at Sussex University. He edited and translated The Goebbels Diaries 1939–41 and is the author of three acclaimed books of narrative history, Dresden, The Berlin Wall and Exorcising Hitler. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and lives in Cornwall.
By the Same Author
Dresden
The Berlin Wall
Exorcising Hitler
Also by Frederick Taylor
Exorcising Hitler
The Occupation and Denazification of Germany
‘An enthralling narrative about a crucial period of modern Europe’s history’ Observer
The collapse of the Third Reich in 1945, though it had lasted for only twelve brief but terrifying years, was as cataclysmic as the fall of the Roman Empire. The twentieth century dawned on a prosperous and universally admired German nation. Yet by 1933, embittered by one lost war and a punitive peace treaty and scarred by mass unemployment, Germany embraced the dark cult of National Socialism. Within a generation, all was lost.
In Exorcising Hitler, Frederick Taylor tells the story of Germany’s Year Zero. Drawing on contemporary documents and eyewitness accounts, he describes the bloody, drawn-out final Allied campaign, the hunting down of the Nazi resistance, the terrifying displacement of millions in central and eastern Europe, and the hunger and near starvation of a once proud people. Exorcising Hitler is gripping history that explains what lies behind the strength of Germany’s democracy and economy today.
‘Popular history at its best’ Richard Evans
A lucid and harrowing tale … It avoids a simple morality tale and offers a nuanced yet readable account of perpetrators and victims alike’ **** Sunday Express
‘Essential reading for anyone who is interested in the Nazis and wants to know what happened next’ Richard Evans, New Statesman
‘Frederick Taylor is one of the brightest historians writing today’ Philip Kerr, Newsweek
‘Exorcising Hitler is full of fascinating, and often surprising, material … Taylor is diligent with his statistics, each packing a terrible punch’ Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday
Copyright © 2013 by Frederick Taylor
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Published by Bloomsbury Press, New York
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Taylor, Fred, 1947–
The downfall of money : Germany's hyperinflation and the destruction of the middle class / Frederick Taylor.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN 978-1-62040-238-2
1. Germany—Economic conditions—1918–1945. 2. Inflation (Finance) —Germany—History—20th century. 3. Financial crises—Germany—History—20th century. 4. Germany—Politics and government—1918–1933. 5. Germany—Social conditions—1918–1933. 6. Germany—History—1918–1933. I. Title.
HC286.3.T3195 2013
332.4'94309042—dc23
2013026415
First U.S. Edition 2013
This electronic edition published in September 2013
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