In Germany after the Second World War, examining the problem of creeping inflation, or the continual rise in price levels, awakened memories of the terrible past of the years 1914 to 1923 and 1934 to 1948. Often it was stated that no nation had inflationary experiences as bad as those of Germany; and in consequence no other country was so sensitive to threats to the value of money, or ran economic policy in accordance with these fears.

Of course, with the passage of time, this memory became less and less a highly personal one. For instance, as early as 1972, when the rate of inflation in the Federal Republic began to increase, only those over 65 still had adult memories of the inflation after the First World War — and they formed less than 13 per cent of the population. Almost half of those living in the Federal territory in 1972 had in 1948, the year of the currency reform, not yet reached eighteen years of age, and thus had no personal impression of the suppressed inflation of the National Socialist and immediate post-war periods. By 1980, the proportion of those who had themselves experienced inflations had already fallen to less than a third.