bavarikon4UEmergency money from Württemberg
Emergency paper money is mostly a phenomenon that emerges in times of rampant inflation. The largest amount of emergency money issued anywhere in the world was during the inflationary period of the German Reich. This crisis period was not only confined to the year 1923, which undoubtedly marked the peak of the German inflationary period with an exchange rate of 4,200,000,000 (4.2 trillion) marks against one US dollar. In fact, demonetization had already started with the outbreak of the First World War and the mark's detachment from the gold standard as a measure to finance the war. This wartime inflation was initially gradual and was to a large extent masked by the restrictions imposed by the conversion of the private economy to the wartime economy. It was not until Germany's defeat in 1918 that the German Empire's financial house of cards, which had been built on a victorious peace, was to collapse. The reparations imposed on the Reich by the Treaty of Versailles and the financing of the workers' resistance to the occupation of the Ruhr were ultimately to end in completely unfettered hyperinflation in 1923.
As in the rest of the Reich, the issuing of emergency money in Württemberg can be divided into two phases. On the one hand, the small change replacement series of the First World War and the immediate post-war period and, on the other hand, the inflation money of the years 1922/23. The issuers were both municipalities and private companies. The latter often displayed their products directly on the banknotes, while the municipal issuers tended to focus on symbolism that created identity. In particular, coats of arms and historical scenes, individual buildings and even entire cityscapes or famous personalities. The most significant collection of Württemberg emergency money was compiled by Klaus Karau over the course of his life. Today, this special collection is part of the Giesecke+Devrient Stiftung Geldscheinsammlung (Giesecke+Devrient foundation: collections of bank notes) and is presented here in excerpts.
>> This collection is part of the holdings of "Paper money of Baden and Württemberg" of the Giesecke+Devrient Stiftung Geldscheinsammlung (Giesecke+Devrient foundation: collections of bank notes).