Inflation 1923. Krieg – Geld – Trauma: Vorschau auf eine Ausstellung im Historischen Museum Frankfurt

Abstract

Frankfurt has been a center of trade and finance since the Middle Ages. The exhibitions in the municipal museum in Frankfurt, the “Historisches Museum Frankfurt”, regularly take this into account. The exhibition “Inflation 1923. Krieg – Geld – Trauma" (= Inflation 1923: War –Money – Trauma) is being held to mark the 100th anniversary of the great German hyperinflation of 1923. The term "inflation", in contrast to its circumstances, context and framework, is difficult to present. The exhibition illustrates the causes, origin and course of currency devaluation, people's thinking and their actions. Objects of the exhibition are banknotes, photos, documents, graphics, pictures, films and much more. As one would expect in a local museum, the focus is on the local effects of inflation, especially in the city of Frankfurt. People experienced the inflationary period as a time of unrest, riots, strikes, money devaluation, black market and hunger. The financial policy in the German Reich provides the framework for this presentation. It begins with war financing from 1914, before presenting the mass printing of paper money and, finally, the monetary reforms of 1923 and 1948.