<P> Since the hyperinflation, German monetary policy has retained a central concern with the maintenance of a sound currency, a concern that still affects Germany's attitude to the European sovereign debt crisis from 2009 . </P> <P> The hyperinflated, worthless marks became widely collected abroad . The Los Angeles Times estimated in 1924 that more of the decommissioned notes were spread about the US than existed in Germany . </P> <P> The cause of the immense acceleration of prices seemed unclear and unpredictable to those who lived through it, but in retrospect, it was relatively simple . The Treaty of Versailles imposed a huge debt on Germany that could be paid only in gold or foreign currency . With its gold depleted, the German government attempted to buy foreign currency with German currency, equivalent to selling German currency in exchange for payment in foreign currency, but the resulting increase in the supply of German marks on the market caused the German mark to fall rapidly in value, which greatly increased the number of marks needed to buy more foreign currency . </P> <P> That caused German prices of goods to rise rapidly, increasing the cost of operating the German government, which could not be financed by raising taxes because those taxes would be payable in the ever - falling German currency . The alternative was some combination of running a budget deficit and simply creating more money, both increasing the supply of German currency on the market and reduced that currency's price . When the German people realized that their money was rapidly losing value, they tried to spend it quickly . That increased monetary velocity and caused an ever - faster increase in prices, creating a vicious cycle . </P>

How much was bread in germany after ww1