Hyperinflation Wipes Out the Value of the German Mark
By late 1923 a loaf of bread costs 200 billion marks and the Weimar Republic's credibility collapses with the currency
Quick facts
- Peak of crisis
- Autumn 1923
- Exchange rate, Nov. 1923
- Roughly 4 trillion marks per US dollar
- New currency introduced
- Rentenmark, 15 November 1923
- Stabilized under
- Reichsmark, Dawes Plan, 1924
What happened
The Weimar Republic, established after the Empire's collapse in 1918, faced enormous financial strain from war debt and the reparations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. Rather than raise taxes or cut spending, the government printed money to cover its obligations, and the mark's value collapsed through 1923: one US dollar bought 48,000 marks in January, 192,000 by June, 170 billion by October, and roughly 4 trillion by November, with a loaf of bread reported to cost around 200 billion marks by that autumn. The crisis wiped out savings across the middle class and destabilized public order before the government introduced a new currency, the Rentenmark, on 15 November 1923, followed by the Reichsmark under the Dawes Plan in 1924.
Why it matters
The hyperinflation crisis discredited the Weimar Republic's economic competence in the eyes of many Germans who had watched a lifetime of savings become worthless within months, and that loss of trust became one of the political grievances the Nazi Party would later exploit, even though the worst inflation had actually ended a decade before Hitler took power. It is frequently cited, sometimes with more emphasis than the historical record supports on its own, alongside the later Great Depression as a driver of the Republic's eventual collapse.
How we know
The exchange-rate figures are documented in contemporary Reichsbank records and economic histories of the period, and the extreme price levels are corroborated by surviving period photographs and accounts of Germans using wheelbarrows of banknotes for ordinary purchases.
Sources
- Deutsche Bundesbank. Inflation: Lessons Learnt From History · Unclassified sourcebundesbank.de · Cited as a "website" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Alpha History. The 1923 hyperinflation · Unclassified sourcealphahistory.com · Cited as a "website" source (no stronger domain match).
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