Hyperinflation question

Discussion in 'Economics' started by Funster, Mar 25, 2004.

  1. It's a good question, and it's an easy thing to say in hindsight. The truth is, at the time nobody knew what was going to happen in Germany. People were belied from top to bottom, and in the confidence that this was the safest place in the world. They knew nothing about the holocaust to come. Hell, they even thought Germany was going to take over everything else in the world.

    How easy to ask in hindsight why they didn't "just escape Germany". Perhaps by the time they figured out what was going on, it was way too late. Why not ask why didn't all the Jews and their associates, relatives and friends escape? Why did 6,000,000 of them die, and not escape? Many, many of them were wealthy people. Some of the wealthiest people in Europe even got disowned, deported, gased and burned.

    Why didn't they all just escape and get the hell outta Germany? In case you didn't know, it wasn't just Germany. Just about every country in Europe was happy to have found a "dump" for the Jews, the actual number of German Jews gased was somewhere around 200,000 "only". The other 5.8 Million Jews were "imported" by all the happy neighbour countries. Later, they just blamed Hitler, but they all had their finger in the pie.

    So tell me, who was going to let Jews over their border? Nobody wanted them. They hit walls wherever they went. All but those lucky few who gave up everything and made their way to America in time had a chance to survive.

    As for commodities - At the time, people just didnt' think like that. People invested in "The Reich", it was a huge growth thing, everybody invested in growth, believing to get more and more back. They put their faith, wealth, and life into the hands of the empire. People bought Volkswagen beetles, which were later design-transformed to be used as light-tank artillery vehicles. Everybody who had money invested in what they believed to be the super-growth of the Reich. Sounds silly? Think about the Nasdaq bubble in the late 90's. Was it crazy? Sure was! Did people lose faith or stop buying? Nope!


    But yeah... Isn't it all easy to say in hindsight...
     
    #21     Mar 25, 2004
  2. Yeah I can witness that, I was in Turkey just a year after that... Kept all my cash in US$ then, and exchanged it as needed.
     
    #22     Mar 25, 2004