Trauma as a Tool: Hyperinflation Narratives in German Fiscal Policy Debates on European Monetary Integration

David Barkhausen

Journal of Common Market Studies, 2025, vol. 63, issue 6, 1865-1885

Abstract: The idea that the German public continues to suffer from the collective trauma of the experiences of hyperinflation in 1923 remains a prominent theme in Germany's public discourse. As such, it is often invoked when explaining the country's peculiar stability culture – its aversion to inflation and preference for stability‐oriented monetary and fiscal policy. Whilst a number of studies have pointed to deliberate appeals to hyperinflation by policy‐makers, this article presents the first systemic investigation into the strategic use of references to an allegedly persistent inflation trauma in fiscal policy debates. Specifically, it examines whether, when and how Bundestag members narratively utilised the powerful idea of trauma as a discursive tool to assert restrictive fiscal measures. Employing qualitative content analysis of the plenary speeches from 1949 to 2022, two key findings come to light: first, a conservative bias in the use of these narrative appeals can be observed, occurring mainly in speeches of the CDU/CSU and FDP; second, the trauma narrative surfaced above all during two formative periods of European monetary integration – the inception of EMU and the Eurozone crisis. These results affirm a close discursive connection between the collective memory of hyperinflation and the conservative efforts to preserve, transpose and rejuvenate German stability culture within the Eurozone, thereby reconciling domestic demands for monetary stability with monetary integration and its defence.

Date: 2025
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