Der Harz im Spiegel des Notgeldes von 1917 bis 1923

Money of necessity means shortage of money - lack of cash, galloping inflation, political turmoil. As a substitute, it can only partially fulfil the function of full-value money, because in practice it is valid only in the business relations with the issuer: municipalities, institutions, companies, to the bakery around the corner. Especially the first often issued elaborate coupons - mostly made of paper, but sometimes also of other materials (fabric, leather, aluminium-foil, plywood) - which make them interesting historical primary sources - and collectibles. This also applies to the region of the Harz Mountains. The emergency money issued there during and after the Great War until 1923 contains numerous historical references: to (local-)history, to nature, but especially to its treatment by the classical German literature. In this volume, carefully chosen issues of emergency money of sites all over the Harz Mountains are presented and described by more than 100 coloured illustrations. They show the Brocken, Schierke, and many other places, the famous narrow-gauge railway, and motifs of the horse-races in Bad Harzburg - connected with a short history of the Harzburg Horse-Racing Club e.V. In this way, one can find exciting access to different topics and times through the small artworks of the emergency money notes ... von Gaitzsch, Hans-Volkmar