The German Question, Part One Hundred One

"Germany's Weimar Republic" Part Four
"The Cost of a Loaf of Bread-Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany"

This is a highly complex subject, so I'm only going to do the very basics. During World War One, Kaiser Wilhelm II and the German government made the decision to fund the war by printing money, not by raising taxes nor by increasing other revenue devices. Remember, those were the times of money being backed by gold and other precious metals, commonly known as "the gold standard." To prevent people from turning in their German currency in exchange for gold, such practice was halted to protect German gold reserves. By printing more money, the value of the currency declined. Why? The value was diluted. Why? Because there was now more printed money backed by essentially the same amount of gold. When the war ended unfavorably for Germany, the value of the currency dropped even more; in this case due more to lack of faith in the defeated nation. High reparations payments in "gold Marks" further diminished the German currency.* The value of the Mark plunged astronomically.

As the value of the currency declined, prices rose for German consumers. Everything was far more costly. The value of the money dropped so quickly, and prices rose so fast by 1923, when German workers were paid, they literally ran to the stores to make purchases to get the best value for their money, since prices not only increased each day, but for a period, several times a day! The inflation became so severe, eventually it took a wheelbarrow full of money just to buy a loaf of bread!!! Confidence in the government and in democracy fell along with the value of the currency. Hatred of the Versailles Treaty soared along with prices. (Note: Remember folks, when a nation is stressed, "truths" and "facts and figures" can mean little to many people; rather, easily understood explanations can be used by those seeking to gain or to retain power can be peddled to many people in an effort to manipulate them.) 

Another consequence of this terrible period was a rise in anti-Jewish sentiment. Bankers and currency speculators, often high profile German Jews and Jews from other countries, received much of the blame for the crisis, along with the Versailles Treaty. This played into right wing propaganda, especially that made by the man with the little mustache... Adolf Hitler.

* German money was based upon the "Mark," just as French money was based upon the "franc," and American money was based upon the "dollar." "Gold Marks" guaranteed the French, and other recipients of reparations, the value of the payments, but these payments also were a drain on German gold reserves. Less gold meant less backing for the standard currency in circulation, which meant that currency dropped even more in value.

WORD HISTORY:
Dapper-This word seems to trace back to an Indo European root "dheb," with the notion of "heavy." This gave Old Germanic "dapraz," with the same basic meaning. I did not find an Old English word of this derivation, but it could have died out, as other Germanic dialects had their own form of the word: Old High German had "tapfar," also meaning "heavy" and Old Norse had "dapr," meaning "sad" (the notion being, if you're feeling "weighed down," you are "sad"). Further, both Dutch and Low German had forms of the word which eventually came to be spelled "dapper" by both, with the eventual meaning "sturdy, bold" (again something heavy is considered "sturdy;" a soldier who is sturdy is "bold"). The German form became "tapfer," and the notion of "heavy" progressed to "steadfast, bold," to "brave," which is the modern meaning of the German form. English borrowed the word, spelled just as it is today, during the 1400s from either Low German or Dutch, as English had much contact with both of these Germanic relatives because of trade (both lying just across the North Sea) They too had taken on the added meaning of "bold" for "dapper." English obviously gave the meaning a twist, with the idea being that "boldness" led to "dressing boldly/dressing well."