Police officers guard a bakery in Berlin

In 1923, German money was worth so little that food became unaffordable. The police were called in to keep the order. Customers carried lots of money and had to wait in line, because counting the bank notes took a long time.

After the First World War, Germany had major financial problems. The German government had paid for the war with borrowed money, which had to be repaid. On top of that, they also had to make reparations to France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, and Great Britain.

Since the German economy did not yield sufficient income, for instance from trade with foreign countries, there was not enough money to pay the debts. In order to make money, the government decided to increase the production of unbacked bank notes and exchange them against foreign currencies. This led to hyperinflation: a huge reduction in the value of money. Between August 1922 and December 1923, 1 American dollar increased in value to 4.2 billion German marks.

People’s savings became worthless and they had to resort to bartering, while many lost their jobs and their savings. Only in the course of 1924 did a new government succeed in reducing inflation by introducing a new currency: the Rentenmark.