''Did he read letters? No, he read no letters. Did he write letters? No, he wrote no letters.''

"What did he do? He sat on his chair and smoked in his little dark room which smelled of old floor cloths.

Did he read letters? No, he read no letters. Did he write letters? No, he wrote no letters. He telephoned a great deal - he telephoned in every direction and to every German or foreign place that had anything to do with money and foreign exchange as well as with the Reichsbank and the Finance Minister. And he smoked.

We did not eat much during that time. We usually went home late, often by the last suburban train, travelling third class. Apart from that he did nothing."

The above text from Mrs Steffeck in quotation mark is quoted from Adam Fergusson's book, When Money Dies: The Nightmare of Deficit Spending, Devaluation, and Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany.

In November of 1923, at the depth of Germany's hyperinflation, amidst economic and social disorder, Hjalmar Schacht (1877 - 1970), the managing director of the Darmstadt & National Bank (Danat-Bank), was appointed as the Currency Commissioner (Reichswährungskommissar). 

Schacht's unorthodox economic policies, including a bold confidence trick in the form of a new parallel currency, the Rentenmark, his understanding of market psychology and tactical timing, were critical in restoring stability within a few days. In December of 1923 he was appointed president of the Reichsbank (Germany's Central Bank).