Children playing with stacks of cash as though they were toy bricks, women wearing dresses made of money, a woman burning banknotes instead of wood - these are the bizarre scenes from a Germany beset by hyperinflation.
In 1923, when the battered and heavily indebted country was struggling to recover from the disaster of the First World War, cash became very nearly worthless.
Germanywas hit by one of the worst cases of hyperinflation in history with, at one point, 4.2 trillion German marks being worth just one American dollar.
It began during the First World War, when the German government printed unbacked currency and borrowed money to finance its dream of conquering Europe.
The plan wasto pay off the debts by seizing resource-rich territories and imposing reparations on the vanquished Allies.
But when Germany was smashed in 1918it ended up with enormous debts alongside huge, punitive reparations owed to the Allies under the Treaty of Versailles.
The country gradually spiralled into a full-blown economic catastrophe that, by November 1923, had so degraded the German Mark that it took 200 billion of them to buy a loaf of bread.
Children playing with stacks of cash as though they were toy bricks (right), women wearing dresses made of money (left) - these are just some of the bizarre scenes from a Germany beset by hyperinflation.In 1923, when the battered and heavily indebted country was struggling to recover from the disaster of the First World War, cash became very nearly worthless. The country gradually spiralled into a full-blown economic catastrophe that, by November 1923, had so degraded the German Mark that it took 200 billion of them to buy a loaf of bread.Germany was hit by one of the worst cases of hyperinflation in history with, at one point, 4.2 trillion German marks being worth just one American dollar
The inflation began during the First World War, when the German government printed unbacked currency and borrowed money to finance its dream of conquering Europe. The plan was to pay off the debts by seizing resource-rich territories and imposing reparations on the vanquished Allies. But when Germany was smashed in 1918 it ended up with enormous debts alongside huge, punitive reparations owed to the Allies under the Treaty of Versailles. The economy soon collapsed. Pictured: Food displayed in a shop window with absurdly high prices during hyperinflation in Germany in 1923
Inflation crept up slowly at first, before accelerating rapidly in late 1922. By autumn 1923, the country was in full economic collapse. The rate of inflation was 3,250,000 per cent a month and prices for daily commodities doubled in a matter of hours. Pictured left:A man uses banknotes as wallpaper, more affordable that actual wallpaper. Right:Children stand next to a tower of 100,000 marks, which at that time was equal to just one US dollar. Later that year the exchange rate would rise much further, reaching 4.2 trillion marks to the dollar
During the crisis, workers paid by the hour found their wages were essentially worthless because prices had risen since they began their shifts. It became cheaper to burn money than to buy firewood. The currency was of such little value that children played with banknotes, fashioning them into kites (pictured), and people would even use cash as fabric to make clothes. Pensioners on fixed incomes were the most badly hit and people's life savings suddenly became worth less than a loaf of bread
Farmers eventually refused to bring produce into the city as the requirements to calculate and recalculate commercial transactions in the billions and trillions made it practically impossible to do business in cash. Shops were abandoned as storekeepers could not do business fast enough to protect their cash receipts. Pictured: Young boys use the near-worthless banknotes during an arts and crafts session
Unsurprisingly, the hardships created by hyperinflation led to uprisings. A far-left workers' revolt in the industrial Ruhr region led to a 50,000-man 'Red Army' which took control of the area before being put down by the army. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party also attempted a failed government takeover in Munich, which became known as the Beer Hall Putsch. Pictured: A shopkeeper with a crate of cash in 1922
The fever of hyperinflation finally broke in late 1923 when the government began issuing the new Rentenmark, a currency backed by mortgages on agricultural and industrial land, which was introduced with the old exchange rate of one US dollar to 4.2 Rentenmarks. Pictured: Cash being sold by weight in 1923
The new currency's foundation was shaky at best, but years of terrifying instability left the German people desperate enough to trust it. Nonetheless millions of middle-class Germans - normally the mainstay of a republic - were ruined by hyperinflation. Pictured:Worthless banknotes collected in a huge bowl as they wait to be burned in Germany, 1923
Many members of the ruined middle classes ultimately became receptive to extremist propaganda, with many flocking to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party - as well as other anti-human ideologies like Communism. Pictured:Piles of banknotes awaiting distribution at the Reichsbank during hyperinflation in Germany during October 1923
Germany owed the Allies huge debts in reparations for having caused the war, so printing cash became a way to pay the countries that had defeated them. This worsened already growing inflation and led an economic crash that prevented Germany from paying any reparations at all. As a consequence, French and Belgian troops occupied the highly productive Ruhr region and took over its industries. Pictured:A Berlin banker counts stacks banknotes in Berlin, 1922
Pictured:A shop owner advertises 'selling and repairing in exchange for food,' one of many Germans turning to a bartering economy amid hyperinflation, circa 1922
Left:A woman uses banknotes to light her stove, Germany, circa 1923. Right:A man uses banknotes as wallpaper, more affordable than actual wallpaper in 1923
A one billion mark note in 1923. Hyperinflation was one of the events in the Weimar Republic era that led to its collapse and the rise of the Nazi Party
Left:Banknotes being uses as a source of cheap fuel in 1923. Right: 'The King of Inflation' - a man clad in worthless coins - was an attraction in hyperinflation-ridden Germany
Pictured: Men carry their cash in baskets in 1923. The world didn't quite learn its lesson from Germany's experience of hyperinflation, however. After the Second World War, the Hungarianpengő suffered from the worst case of hyperinflation ever recorded. In Zimbabwe in 2008, meanwhile, inflation reach 79.6 billion per cent
Children play with virtually worthless German Marks in 1922.Hyperinflation reached its zenith in November 1923. It ended when a new currency - known as the Rentenmark - was introduced to replace it. Banks 'turned the marks over to junk dealers by the ton' at this time so they could be recycled as paper
Pictured: Bread being sold for a staggering 4.60 million marks during hyperinflation in 1923. By November 1923, the currency had so degraded that it took 200 billion marks to buy a loaf of bread
Pictured: A man carrying a wheelbarrow full of cash, which effectively became people's wallets due to hyperinflation in 1923
Loadsamoney: Cash being transported in carts to pay salaries due to extreme hyperinflation in Weimar Germany in the aftermath of the First World War
