Occupation of the Ruhr
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The Occupation of the Ruhr was a period of military occupation of the Ruhr region of Germany by France and Belgium from 11 January 1923 to 25 August 1925.
French soldiers and a German civilian in the Ruhr in 1923
French Chasseurs Alpins in Buer
French troops in Dortmund
Protests by gymnasts from the Ruhr at the 1923 Munich Gymnastics Festival (The sign on the left reads "German the Ruhr remains" [unusual word order in the original, for emphasis]; the sign on the right reads "We never ever want to be servants!" )
Hyperinflation affected the German Papiermark, the currency of the Weimar Republic, between 1921 and 1923, primarily in 1923. The German currency had seen significant inflation during the First World War due to the way in which the German government funded its war effort through borrowing, with debts of 156 billion marks by 1918. This national debt was substantially increased by 50 billion marks of reparations payable in cash and in-kind under the May 1921 London Schedule of Payments agreed after the Versailles treaty.
Piles of new Notgeld banknotes awaiting distribution at the Reichsbank during the hyperinflation
50,000 marks, Aachen, 1923
500,000 marks, Leipzig, 1923
A 5 Million Mark coin, Westphalia, 1923