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What is Notgeld?-a definition of terms

How was Notgeld used? -- The neglected topic in research on Notgeld, briefly. 

Types of Notgeld -- Especially Seriennotgeld and how it was used, briefly. 

Notgeld as a relection of is's times.-Economic, political, social, and cultural significance, briefly. 

How was Notgeld  used?

Morethan merely a means of exchange, Notgeld  imagery between 1919 and 1923 offered a vehicle for advertising, propaganda, and regional commentary, as Guttmann and Meehan note: "These notes also served some secondary purposes.... They advertised... local industries by the use of leather, linen or silk as the basic material. One town issued money consisting of leather suitable for soling shoes as a truly inflation-proof kind of currency.... The towns and villages also indulged in a little political propaganda on their notes... And of course they also had the collector in mind..." (Guttmann and Meehan, p. 51). Thus, Notgeld  offers a rich, illustrative source of information about Germany immediately after World War I and before the rise of Hitler. Monuments of local pride and politics, German folk-tales and their folk heroes, even jokes in regional dialects depicted on Notgeld  all express an uncensored, popular commentary not only on the rapidly shifting political life and rapidly deteriorating economic health of the Weimar Republic, but also on the deeper psychic state of common German people.