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This article examines the German hyperinflation of 1921-1923 as a socioeconomic trauma that fundamentally reshaped Weimar culture, psychology, and social relations. It argues that the inflation experience represented more than an economic crisis—it constituted a metaphysical event that shattered traditional values of thrift, planning, and deferred gratification, creating what historian Bernd Widdig has termed an “inflationary mentality.” Through analysis of literary works, visual art, economic data, and firsthand accounts, this article demonstrates how the collapse of the currency created a culture of frantic immediacy, corrosive cynicism, and radical materiality. The central thesis posits that the inflation crisis forged the distinctive…
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This article argues that the unprecedented trauma of World War I was the catalytic force that severed the Weimar Republic from the 19th century, creating the psychological and aesthetic conditions for its explosive, crisis-ridden modernity. It posits that the experience of mechanized warfare, national humiliation, and social collapse produced a collective psyche characterized by a dialectic of frantic vitality and profound nihilism. This internal schism, in turn, directly shaped the era’s dominant artistic movements, driving a rapid evolution from the inward-looking, spiritual agony of Expressionism to the disillusioned, hyper-realistic gaze of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity). Through an integrated analysis of…