Hunger thaler

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Opened Hungertaler as a tin medal with a leporello inside
Exhibition: "In the Spitzbubenland - robber gangs around 1800 in Swabia" in the moated castle Glatt
Photo by Rainer Halama

A hunger thaler is a coin-shaped object that is reminiscent of a famine . It is not a means of payment and is not made of one. The best known are the objects that were minted in 1817 after the Europe-wide famine of 1816 . In southern Germany in particular, the so-called Hungertalers kept the memory of this difficult time alive - but also of the good time, when harvests could be reaped again in 1817. They show pictures of needy or happy people and name the prices for staple foods . They admonish the population to stay calm and trust in God.

Emergence

Thalers of this kind as souvenir gifts had already become common in southern Germany after the price increases in 1771-1772. Chips and small medals were minted, especially in Nuremberg and Munich. Such hunger thalers are also known from the Thuringian region, Württemberg and Switzerland . Most of them are embossings and castings of simple design and made of cheap material; often made of tin or brass , which was then silver-plated .

Can medal

The royal Bavarian seal cutter and coin engraver Johann Thomas Stettner (1785–1872) from Nuremberg designed a medal-like container as a reminder of the years of emergency 1816/1817. Between 1809 and 1819, Stettner brought out around a dozen similar clip- on medals for a wide variety of events. The Stettner Hungertaler was common in Württemberg and Bavaria .

The tin medal measures 48 mm in diameter, weighs 32 grams and is made of pewter. It is also known as a screw coin , although it has neither a screw thread nor was it valid as a means of payment. The two-part medal is put on top of one another with the sides like a can. In the two millimeter deep interior there is a leporello with eight round sheets of paper, which are labeled and / or illustrated on both sides.

On the front is a family under a tree. In addition it is written: "Most of the time there is need - o Lord have mercy / 1816 and 1817" On the back there is a prayer, to whom a girl hands a wreath of ears while an angel hovers over her. The inscription reads: "Know that there is a God" or "Know that there is a God who helps".

For the interior, the Nuremberg engraver Georg Adam created an eight-part, double-sided fanfold with round, colored copperplate engravings . They show four sad and four happy titled events from the years 1816/1817. For example, one illustration shows a crowd in front of an empty bakery, described in the text as "produced the most abrupt thing that can hit people, a general miswax and the resulting lack of bread". The text knows about the joyful pictures: "The import of the first harvest wagon this year celebrated the inhabitants of the towns and villages with nameless delight". The capsule halves were pasted on the inside with the increased food prices from 1817 in regionally common dimensions from Württemberg, Munich and Augsburg, and a similar list from the year of price increases in 1771.

medal

Engravings of the price increases can be found on a medal created by Stettner. On one side it says "Don't be despaired - God is still alive" and below it the equation: "1 liter of beer: 8 ½ KR (euzer)". Above it can be seen a scale hanging from the clouds. There is a weight on the left pan with "1 lb (pound) 3 L (oth)" written below it. On the right pan there is a loaf of bread and under it it says "12 KR (euzer)". A sheaf of corn and an anchor lie on the stand line. Below are the years "1816 and 1817" and "L". On the other side of the coin you can see a woman sitting on a stone with a child in her arms. Another child stands in front of her and holds a pleading hand to the mother. The inscription on the medal reads: "O give me bread and I am hungry". On the left at the foot of the stone is the signature: "Stettner".

Hungertaler are also known from the time of the Second World War . For example, Munich bronze medals were minted to commemorate Munich's suffering from 1939 to 1945. On the front is the Münchner Kindl , surrounded by statistical information on human and material losses. On the back there is a picture of death, holding a scale, as a frame for a list of food rationing.

medallion

In the Tübingen city museum there is a copy that can be opened like a medallion . Its internal text begins with the words: "The devastation which the hailstorm spread in 1816 was terrible. Thousands stood lamenting, like here the farmer with his wife and his boy, in front of the broken crops and in front of the wild storm , shattered trees. "

Inside is a leporello that shows scenes of destruction by storms and cold, as well as an inflation board with rising prices for food in miniature format. Described pages between the scenes provide information about the plight of the people.

The reverse shows scenes of a harvest and tells of the end of the hardship: "The importation of the first harvest wagon was celebrated in this year by the inhabitants of the towns and villages with nameless delight. The admonitions of worthy clergy made people trust in God's glorious providence moved soul: Now all thank God! "

Porcelain medal

The Meissen porcelain medals follow the tradition of the hunger medals of the 18th and 19th centuries . They come from the German Reich , from the inflation period after the First World War . A parched oak bearing neither leaves nor fruit symbolizes Germany after the Treaty of Versailles .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h City of Lauf ad Pegnitz: Reminder of hardship and dearth In: http://www.lauf.de . City of Lauf an der Pegnitz / Bisping & Bisping GmbH & Co. KG - Internet & Network, accessed on March 13, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e The year without a summer. (PDF) In: www.regionalgeschichte.net. Institute for Historical Regional Studies at the University of Mainz eV, p. 6.7 , accessed on March 13, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Josephine Heddergott: Hungertaler in the Marktoberdorfer Stadtmuseum are reminiscent of catastrophe. History. In: all-in.de - The Allgäu online. rta.design GmbH, March 19, 2017, accessed on March 13, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b c d Dr. Hubert Russ: Eighteen hundred frozen. (PDF) In: Wert Magazin 2015. Künker Numismatik AG, p. 47 , 48 , accessed on March 13, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b c d year without summer 1816: a starvation medal. In: Salzburg History Culture. Archive of the Archdiocese of Salzburg, accessed on March 13, 2018 .
  6. ↑ a b c d Object of the month in the city museum: Hungertaler from 1817. City of Tübingen. In: FOCUS Online. FOCUS Online Group GmbH, August 2, 2017, accessed on March 13, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Stecktaler "Hungertaler" 1816 and 1817 ". In: Lot-Tissimo. Auction Technology Group Germany GmbH, accessed on March 13, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Around 1817, from Augsburg or Dinkelsbühl. Hunger thaler. In: BR television. Bayerischer Rundfunk, Munich, August 4, 2009, accessed on March 13, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Munich rare old bronze medal Munich's Hunger Valley sufferings 1939-1945. Tilman Dohren Stamps & Coins, Retrieved March 13, 2018 .
  10. ↑ 42. Hungertaler, German Reich, 1922. In: German Historical Museum. German Historical Museum Foundation, accessed on March 13, 2018 .