nov 4, 1923 - Rentenmark introduced

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by November 1923 1 $ = 200 B Marks,
for most this was a disaster:

the people hit most were the middle class, since their hard-earned savings lost all their value,
the dropped in value from day to day,
there's a story about how a shopper carried a huge pile of money in a basket and when they turned around somebody stole the basket, leaving the money untouched,
it had a real negative effect on people's lives,
many, for example, couldn't pay for healthcare,
so health suffered

a minority benefitted,
like those who had debt and could easily repay it,
and the rich didn't feel the effects of it that badly,
but for most it was a nightmare,
this led to resentment and a dissatisfaction with the Weimar democracy,
demagogues blamed Jewish big business, Versailles, decadent democracy, etc.
this was to have a lasting negative effect on people's attitude towards Weimar

But in November 1923 Gustav Stressemann takes over as Chancellor,
he appoints to the Central Bank one Hjalmar Schacht who replaces the old currency with the new Rentenmark which had a strict unchanging money supply,
this basically solved it,
to prevent such hyperinflation from happening again the government cut its expenditure,
partly by dismissing many civil servants,
the passive resistance in the Ruhr was also called off

this is an example of how Weimar was able to survive its Early Years thanks to the competence of its leading politicians

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