was still almost universally regarded as the basis of "real" money (Hardach, 1976, p. 19).
One key result was a continuation of a wartime inflationary trend. The war had caused inflation everywhere, but in Germany it continued, and gradually accelerated, after the war. The acceleration itself became more rapid, until it reached nearly unimagineable proportions:
Put simply one can say: it took about five and one-half years from the beginning of the war for the mark to fall to about one-tenth of its prewar value; the next decrease to one-tenth took only two and one half years; the following one only 108 days; while in October 1923 the mark was down to ten percent of the value of the previous period every 8 to 11 days (Hardach, 1976, pp. 19-20.
Creditors, particularly small savers, were financially wiped out. Ordinary economic life became impossible, with prices at the end rising by the hour. The German hyperinflation of 1923 has entered economic legend, though other countries have undergone even worse inflationary spirals (Hardach, 1976, p. 19. Ever since
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