2018.002.038 [Coin]

This is a golden German coin minted on November 1, 1923. During the Wiemar Republic, it was distributed as an informational piece to inform citizens of the cost of essential grocery goods (bread & meat). On the front surface is an engraving of a tall man standing over a kneeling, sobbing woman, with a crying girl at his side. Behind all three of these figures is a row of thorn bushes. An inscription above this image reads, "Des Deutschen Volkes Leidensweg," which translates to "the suffering of the German people" in English. On the rear face of the coin, there are three inscriptions for the price of three grocery items: bread, meat, and beer. It states that 1 pound of bread would cost 3,000,000,000 marks; 1 pound of meat would cost 36,000,000,000 marks; and a glass of beer would cost 4,000,000,000 marks. This was at a time when hyperinflation was devastating the German economy and plummetting the cost of every consumer good on the market. This state of extreme poverty that gripped the Wiemar Republic in the 1920s directly contributed to the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party's political extremism in the 1930s. This content can be used with the following resources: SS-Econ.9-12.2.24: Iowa Economy Impact Upon SS.6.23: Compare Iowa to World This content can be used to educate students on the wider economic impacts of the First World War during the 1920s and to compare the effects of the economic depression in Germany to the economic depression in Iowa at the same relative time. For any use other than instructional resources, please check with the organization that owns this item for any copyright restrictions.