Golden Age of Weimar Germany 1924-29

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The years 1924-29 are often described as the ‘Golden Age of Weimar’ because of their stability, economic security and improved living standards – at least in relation to previous years. The seeds of German recovery were planted in the autumn of 1923, when Gustav Stresemann was elevated to the chancellorship. Stresemann and his ministers formulated plans to arrest the hyperinflation crisis by introducing a new currency, the Rentenmark, and fixed its value to gold prices. The government announced its determination to meet reparations payments and sought international assistance to do so. The US-led Dawes Plan was finalised in April 1924 and implemented four months later.

Between 1924 and 1929 the dying German economy was injected with more than $25 billion of foreign money. More than half of this money came from American loans; most of the rest was organised by American bankers acting as intermediaries. The American government and US corporations also provided Germany with financial and industrial expertise. All this support contributed to a surge in German production during the mid-1920s. New factories were constructed or converted, many using newly developed mechanisation and assembly line techniques. The restoration of reparation payments saw France and Belgium withdraw from the Ruhr in mid-1925, freeing up Germany’s industrial resources there. German economic growth after 1924 exceeded that of France and Britain.

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