An anonymous view on the 1923 hyperinflation (1930s)

An unnamed German offers his views on the Weimar government and its handling of the 1923 hyperinflation:

“Of course all the little people who had small savings were wiped out. But the big factories and banking houses and multimillionaires didn’t seem to be affected at all. They went right on piling up their millions. Those big holdings were protected somehow from loss. But the mass of the people were completely broke.

And we asked ourselves, “How can that happen? How is it that the government can’t control an inflation which wipes out the life savings of the mass of people – yet the big capitalists can come through the whole thing unscathed?” We who lived through it never got an answer that meant anything. But after that, even those people who used to save didn’t trust money anymore – or the government. We decided to have a high-ho time whenever we had any spare money, which wasn’t often.”