How did the hyperinflation of 1923 affect the German people?

Firstly, it is important to understand what hyperinflation is and how it works. The most basic definition of inflation is, that it is a sustained increase in the level of prices for different goods and services. It is actually good for an economy to have a small percentage of inflation, but it cannot be too high – as in the case of hyperinflation, which happens when the prices begin to increase really quickly, more than 50% a month. Inflation usually happens when a government starts to print a lot of money for spending. When there is a lot of money in circulation, it starts to lose value. As a consequence of this, sellers have to raise prices, so that the value of the money they receive is the same as before. Hyperinflation is an extreme case of this.

How does this all fit into the context of Germany? In 1923, the Weimar Republic had to pay a huge amount of money as reparations for the First World War. The country was not particularly wealthy, so in order to be able to pay, the government began to print money. As we have explained before, this led to a rise in prices and devaluation of money. What this meant for an ordinary citizen was that all the savings they had suddenly became worthless, he could not buy even the most basic goods – for example, the price of bread would be 201,000,000,000 marks in November 1923. It is easy to imagine that people became incredibly frustrated when this happened. Suddenly, all their savings were gone, and the amount of money one would sell a house for would not be enough to buy bread just a few weeks later. It is also important to note that many people had already been frustrated before, because of the lost war and humiliating reparations. People blamed the government both for accepting the humiliating reparations and for the hyperinflation. While seeking to find an alternative, which would help Germany get out all this trouble, they often became radical. As a consequence of this, we can see several both far-left and far-right rebellions, most notably the Munich Putsch, where the Nazi Party attempted to seize power in Bavaria in November 1923. It also explains why so many people started to support the extremist Nazi Party – at that time, Adolf Hitler appeared to many as the one who had easy, quick solutions for all the humiliation and horrible living conditions caused by the crisis.