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Income tax stamp, 50 million marks, issued in Weimar Germany

Object | Accession Number: 2006.265.20

Income tax stamp, valued at 50 million Reichsmarks, issued in Weimar Germany during the hyperinflation period, and later acquired by Ross Baker while living in Austria from 1937-1938. According to the German Reich Income Tax Act of 1920, employers were required to withhold taxation payments from their employee’s salaries or wages. Each employee was issued a tax record book by the local tax offices, and for each pay period, the employer would adhere a stamp for the amount of money withheld for taxes. The German government attempted to solve their post-World War I financial struggles by printing more money, which led to severe inflation. As the rate of inflation grew to critical levels between 1922 and 1923, the government printed higher and higher denominations, but was unable to keep up with the plunging rates. To keep pace with inflated pay, the government also had to print tax stamps in higher and higher denominations. The introduction of the new Rentenmark on November 16, 1923, successfully ended the hyperinflation. Despite this, the Nazi Party continued to use people’s residual economic fears as a propaganda tool to gain power, eventually leading to Adolf Hitler becoming Chancellor in 1933. In 1937, Ross Baker was on sabbatical from his teaching position at the College of the City of New York. His wife, Helen, and their sons accompanied him to Austria during the academic year 1937-1938 so he could take courses in microchemistry at the University of Vienna. The boys attended school while in Europe and the family traveled during the summers. They were in Vienna on March 13, 1938, when Austria was annexed into Germany, in what became known as the "Anschluss," as well as during Adolf Hitler’s subsequent visit.

Date
acquired:  after 1928-before 1938 August 28
issue:  after 1922 July-before 1923 December 18
Geography
acquired: Vienna (Austria)
issue: Germany
Language
German
Classification
Exchange Media
Object Type
Tax stamps (tgm)
Genre/Form
Stamps.
Credit Line
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Stanley A. Baker
 
Record last modified: 2023-08-25 08:21:44
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn38413