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THE GERMAN MANIA FOR SAVINGAs a political moderate, I believe in doing things, well, in moderation. But can you have too much of a Good Thing? German society is well known for its high savings rate, but some have pointed to the
down side of that, the lower circulation of money in commerce, the very fuel for the economy. Berlin's German Historical Museum has mounted an exhibition looking at how the country's focus on saving developed over
the years. -Editor
 1923 Money Transport Cart Curator Robert Muschalla said he deliberately wanted to provoke with the title of the exhibition -- "Saving: History of a German virtue". "The idea isn't to say that saving is good or bad, it's about opening a debate on a topic that is seen as self-evident in Germany... saving has become internalised into a habit," he explained. Like neighbouring France, Prussia and other German states were roiled by emancipatory ideas spread by the Enlightenment thinkers of the time. But "while the French carried out their Revolution [in 1789], the Germans invented saving" as the foundation of personal autonomy and a means to pay for education, Muschalla pointed out. To a state that had asked citizens to fund its war effort against Napoleon by exchanging gold jewellery for iron rings, the savings system was a natural bulwark against enemies within and without. And when World War I broke out in 1914, ordinary citizens' savings again helped foot the bill... At the heart of the exhibition stands the symbol of what came next -- a replica of the wheelbarrows used to haul stacks of near-worthless banknotes through the streets during the hyperinflation of the early 1920s. To read the complete article, see: THE BOOK BAZARREWayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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