In 1922 Germany were unable to pay the reparations. As a result of this, in January 1923 France and Belgium invaded the Ruhr, as it was Germany's main industrial region. The government ordered passive resistance, and all the workers in the Ruhr to go on paid strike. As a result of this, Germany was producing no industrial goods and the economy suffered greatly. They were not getting any money from the Ruhr, but still had to pay the workers. They began printing money.
This led to the hyperinflation of 1923. All foreign investors took any money that they had invested in Germany away. Restaurant menus weren't printed as there was no point, workers were paid by the hour, fixed income pensions and life savings became worthless, the rich did not suffer, people carried wheelbarrows of money, burning money for heat, bartering (as was common in the middle ages), long queues for food. The mark had become worthless.
A new chancellor was appointed, Gustav Stresemann. He called of passive resistance and the strikes. A new currency was introduced to replace the mark, the rentenmark.
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