When one bread cost 5.85 billion pengő – the Hungarian hyperinflation – photos
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After WWII the official Hungarian currency, pengő lost its value in just a couple of months. Its highest denomination in mid-1946 was 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 (10 raised on the 20th power) pengő. Regarding hyperinflation, Hungary was world-leader until 2008, when Zimbabwean dollar’s crash exceeded even that.
Destruction, Red Army and compensation
When intellectual leaders of Hungary gathered together in Balatonszárszó to discuss the future of the country in 1943, they not only concluded that after the Second World War the whole world would be reshaped by the great powers and Hungary should remain neutral following its own interests, but they also agreed that – in contrast to WWI –
Hungary is able to finish the war with much less sacrifices and losses.
Unfortunately, they had it wrong.
Between 1944 August and 1945 April Hungary became the most important and brutal battlefield between the Soviet Red Army supported by Western aircraft and the German Wehrmacht. As a result, the whole country laid in ruins by the end of the war. In fact, 40 pc of the national wealth was destroyed or looted which was fifth as much as the total GDP of 1938. Furthermore, 40 pc of the rails were ravaged, most locomotives and carriages were taken away while all factories laid in ruins.
Thus, it is not surprising that the value of those days’ currency, the pengő, decreased swiftly. Hyperinflation was already well-known in Hungary by 1945 since the Treaty of Trianon, and political instability between 1919 and 1924 led to the major inflation of Hungarian korona. At its peak,
the rate of depreciation reached 98 pc per month.
The highest denomination: 1 billion-terra (10 raised on the 20th power) pengő
However, what happened between 1945 and 1946 was unprecedented not only in Hungary but also in the whole world.
thats actually so cool i cant believe that poor hungray thats actually so peak
thats actually so cool i cant believe that poor hungray thats actually so peak . mans boat is worth way more than a bit of bread they’ve been so shafted what dickheads