FinObservatory

Crisis atlas / DEU / 1929–1953

Germany, 1929–1953

One crisis episode: distinct crisis years merged across gaps of up to two non-crisis years. Types, source agreement, and macro context are drawn from the union of five primary chronologies.

BankingSovereign debtCurrency

Crisis years in this episode

Every distinct (year, type) event inside the 1929–1953 window, with the chronologies flagging it and the count of agreeing sources. Start-year sources (GMD, JST) mark only the first year, so agreement falls in the continuation years.

  1. 1929
    Bankingrr1 source
  2. 1930
    Bankinggmd, rr2 sources
  3. 1931
    Bankingjst, rr2 sources
  4. 1932
    Bankingrr1 source
    Sovereign debtgmd, rr2 sources
  5. 1933
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  6. 1934
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  7. 1935
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  8. 1936
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  9. 1937
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  10. 1938
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  11. 1939
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  12. 1940
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  13. 1941
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  14. 1942
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  15. 1943
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  16. 1944
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  17. 1945
    Currencygmd, rr2 sources
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  18. 1946
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  19. 1947
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  20. 1948
    Currencyrr1 source
    Sovereign debtgmd, rr2 sources
  21. 1949
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  22. 1950
    Currencygmd, rr2 sources
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  23. 1951
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  24. 1952
    Sovereign debtrr1 source
  25. 1953
    Sovereign debtrr1 source

Source: Global Macro Database 2026_06 (Müller, Xu, Lehbib & Chen 2025) | Jordà-Schularick-Taylor Macrohistory R6 | Laeven & Valencia (2020, 2026) | Reinhart-Rogoff via HBS BFFS | ECB/ESRB Financial Crises Database Methodology

Laeven-Valencia banking-crisis detail

This banking episode is not in the Laeven-Valencia systemic banking crises database, which covers systemic banking crises from 1970. The crisis is dated here by other chronologies (GMD, JST, Reinhart-Rogoff, or ESRB), none of which report a fiscal cost or output loss.

Macro context, 1922–1960

Seven years either side of the episode. Each panel has its own scale; the crisis window is shaded. Only indicators with data for Germany in this window are shown. Bank credit growth (year over year in total loans) is available for the 18 Jordà-Schularick-Taylor advanced economies.

Inflation (% y/y)
-500000000k0500000000k1000000000k192219291960
Real GDP growth (% y/y)
-100-50050192219291960
Policy rate (%)
02040192219291960
Govt debt (% of GDP)
0100200192219291960
Unemployment (%)
01020192219291960
Current account (% of GDP)
-5-2.502.55192219291960
Bank credit growth (% y/y)
-50050100150192219291960

Source: Global Macro Database 2026_06 (Müller, Xu, Lehbib & Chen 2025) | Jordà-Schularick-Taylor Macrohistory R6 (credit) Real GDP growth is derived as the year-over-year change in real GDP; current account and government debt are percent of GDP; policy rate is the central-bank rate; bank credit growth is the year-over-year change in JST total loans. Methodology

How each source dates this episode

The chronologies disagree on start years and durations. This table is generated from the event rows, not curated: it lists, per crisis type, which source flags which years inside the window.

Banking
  • Reinhart-Rogoff1929, 1930, 1931, 1932
  • Global Macro Database1930
  • Jordà-Schularick-Taylor1931
Sovereign debt
  • Global Macro Database1932, 1948
  • Reinhart-Rogoff1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953
Currency
  • Global Macro Database1945, 1950
  • Reinhart-Rogoff1945, 1948, 1950

Source: Global Macro Database 2026_06 (Müller, Xu, Lehbib & Chen 2025) | Jordà-Schularick-Taylor Macrohistory R6 | Laeven & Valencia (2020, 2026) | Reinhart-Rogoff via HBS BFFS | ECB/ESRB Financial Crises Database Methodology

Documented policy responses

15 interventions from the Metrick-Schmelzing banking-crisis database whose recorded year falls inside this episode window (1929–1953). Each row is one documented government or central-bank action, tagged with the database’s own intervention categories and short code, under the crisis code it assigns. Matching is exact: same country, intervention year inside the window. The database’s global-crisis rows (no country) are never matched here.

DEU-1929Germany
  1. Aug-1929RestructuringRES
  2. Aug-1929GuaranteesOLG
DEU-1931Germany
  1. Jun-1931LendingMLA
  2. Jun-1931GuaranteesOLG
  3. Jul-1931Regulatory forbearance / rulesSBH
  4. Jul-1931GuaranteesAG
  5. Jul-1931GuaranteesOLG
  6. Jul-1931Capital injectionsAHCI
  7. Jun-1931LendingBBEL
  8. Dec-1932LendingBBEL
  9. Mar-1932RestructuringRES
DEU-1935Nazi Germany
  1. 1935-1939RestructuringRES
  2. 1935-1939LendingBBEL
DEU-1939Nazi Germany
  1. Sep-1939LendingBBEL
DEU-1943Nazi Germany
  1. Jan-1943Regulatory forbearance / rulesSBH

Source: Metrick-Schmelzing Banking-Crisis Interventions Database (Yale Program on Financial Stability) Cite as: Metrick, Andrew, and Paul Schmelzing, "Banking-Crisis Interventions Across Time and Space," working paper, 2024 (dataset consulted 2026-07-10). License: Creative Commons attribution. Methodology

Policy-response case studies (external)

For qualitative accounts of how authorities intervened in systemic crises, see the Yale Program on Financial Stability New Bagehot Project, a library of financial-crisis intervention case studies. It is a separate qualitative resource; no specific case is asserted to match this episode.