The Downfall of Money: Germany’s Hyperinflation and the Destruction of the Middle Class (59 page)

 
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
)