Wörgler Schwundgeld

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The Wörgler Schwundgeld

The Wörgler Schwundgeld , also known as Wörgler Freileld , Wörgler Schilling or also popularly known as the Wörgl miracle , was a Schwundgeld experiment in the Austrian city of Wörgl , which was launched by the then mayor Michael Unterguggenberger in June 1932 to cope with the effects of the global economic crisis . After a lawsuit, the experiment had to be discontinued in September 1933.

Starting position

As a result of the global economic crisis of 1929, the economic situation in the region around Wörgl was marked by deflation in 1931 . In the city around 1932 the local cement and cellulose production had declined sharply and the unemployment rate rose threateningly. On the one hand, the municipality had considerable tax shortfalls, on the other hand, high burdens from support payments to the unemployed . A debt burden of 1.3 million shillings and 1,500 unemployed people, about half of whom were dependent on the welfare of the community, made it impossible to make even the most necessary investments . The amount of money in circulation tied to the gold reserves decreased noticeably. The cash register was empty and there was no end in sight. A welfare committee was formed to organize the issue of emergency money.

The experiment

The mayor at the time, Michael Unterguggenberger, worked out an emergency aid program to issue circulated free money as a complementary currency worth 34,500 schillings for the Wörgl region. The source of ideas for him was Silvio Gesell's free economics . On July 8, 1932, the money experiment was unanimously approved by the Wörgl municipal council.

From the end of July 1932, the municipal administration under Mayor Unterguggenberger issued its own so-called labor vouchers , the Wörgler Schilling, as the wages of the municipal employees . The notes were available in face values of 1, 5 and 10 schillings. The uniform back was mainly characterized by the saying “He alleviates misery, gives work and bread!”. A total of 32,000 emergency schillings were issued, but the community that issued the Schwundgeld only bought a total of 8,500 emergency schillings from the committee, of which only an average of around 6,000 schillings were in circulation. It is believed that the actual money in circulation occurred over 400 times within the 14 months.

The labor vouchers were free money that was secured against circulation . Every month, a stamp had to be bought at one percent of the face value of the note and stuck in a space provided on the face of the banknote to keep it valid. The money was covered by depositing cash from the community at the Wörgler Raiffeisenkasse and was linked to the schilling in the same way. With these notes municipal taxes could be paid. Local businessmen took free money in payment.

  • Employment confirmation forms

  • 1 Schilling note with adhesive marks visible on the right edge

  • Blue 5 Schilling note, also with adhesive stamps

  • Red 10 shilling note

  • Uniform back with a call from Unterguggenberger to take part in the experiment

Effects

The experiment was rated as successful. The money cycle and economic activity revived while the rest of the country was deep in economic crisis. The project's successes were remarkable:

  • The revenue backlog has been reduced by 34%,
  • the tax arrears could be reduced by more than 60%.
  • Furthermore, there was an increase in the income from municipal taxes by 34% and
  • an increase in capital expenditures of the municipality of about 220% is recorded.

Up until the 1980s, among other things, the inscription “built with free money” on the Müllnertal Bridge was evidence of this. In the 14 months of the experiment, the unemployment rate in Wörgl fell from 21 to 15%, while it continued to rise in the rest of the country.

The positive effects led to the model test being praised in the press as the “miracle of Wörgl”. The interest in it increased to such an extent that over a hundred other communities in the Wörgl area wanted to follow the example. The campaign also attracted a lot of attention and imitated abroad and overseas. From France the finance minister and later prime minister Édouard Daladier traveled to Wörgl, and in the USA the economist Irving Fisher suggested to the American government - albeit in vain - that a Wörgl-like money called stamp scrip be introduced to overcome the economic crisis.

Process and termination

However, the Oesterreichische Nationalbank successfully appealed against the Wörgler free money campaign to the Administrative Court because it alone had the right to issue coins and banknotes. The Wörgl experiment and all further planning were banned. After threatening military action , Wörgl ended the experiment in September 1933 and stopped the circulation of the Wörgl-Schilling .

The “February uprising” in 1934 , in which the Heimwehr and Schutzbund also fought each other in Wörgl, ended with a minor blow. As a result, however, the Social Democratic Party was banned and Unterguggenberger was replaced as Mayor by Martin Pichler. In December 1936 Unterguggenberger died of a pulmonary embolism.

memories

The Unterguggenberger Institute association keeps the legacy of the Wörgl money experiment alive and brings historical experience together with current projects. Together with the local history museum and the city archive, the institute is organizing an exhibition. The association also compiles solutions on the subject of complementary currencies and makes them available to a broader public.

In 1951 and 1983, free economic congresses in Wörgl commemorated the currency experiment, as did a conference in 1996.

The community of Wörgl erected a monument to Unterguggenberger for his services. In 2007 Michael Unterguggenberger was made an honorary citizen of the city of Wörgl posthumously . The ashes of Unterguggenberger are buried in the north-eastern corner of the forest cemetery in Wörgl (free money hiking trail). The city of Wörgl officially declared 2007 the Wörgl free money year.

At the end of March 2009, Mayor Abler proposed the introduction of a complementary currency based on the historical model because of the ongoing economic crisis.

reception

News about the Wörgler Schwundgeld initiated similar field tests in the USA . The basis for this was the manual Stamp Scrip , which appeared around the turn of the year 1932/33 and which the economist Irving Fisher had published together with the German journeyman supporter Hans Cohrssen and another colleague.

In his novel Wasserscheiden, the author Alfred DeMichele transformed the events surrounding the Wörgl currency experiment into the present day and presumably honors Michael Unterguggenberger with the figure of one of the protagonists (Professor Guggenmoser).

In 2007 the play Unterguggenberger & the outdoor experiment was premiered in Wörgl in honor of Unterguggenberger .

In autumn 2017, the feature film Das Wunder von Wörgl about Unterguggenberger's experiment was filmed as a joint production by ORF , BR and Arte , directed by Urs Egger . The main role is played by Karl Markovics ; the first broadcast took place in December 2018. A related documentary was entitled Der Geldmacher - The Experiment of Michael Unterguggenberger .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Uchatius : The miracle of Wörgl. ( Memento of October 12, 2019 in the Internet Archive ). In: Die Zeit , December 22, 2010, No. 52.
  2. ↑ a b Michael Unterguggenberger - home of Wörgl. Retrieved April 6, 2021 .
  3. ^ Fritz Schwarz : The free money attempt in Wörgl, 1932/33. 1951, accessed February 3, 2011 .
  4. ↑ Veronika Spielbichler: Picture of the so-called "Freileldbrücke" (probably from 1955). (The article http://heimat.woergl.at/vermedenes/freigeld-woergl is from Veronika Spielbichler, who the pictures are from is not documented there. In: http://heimat.woergl.at . Retrieved on 6. May 2021 .
  5. ↑ a b The miracle of Wörgl . In: Die Zeit , No. 52/2010.
  6. ↑ Year of free allowance 2007 in Wörgl. In: Wörgl Stadtmagazin , January 2007, pp. 2, 4, 5, 20–21, (PDF; 3.2 MB).
  7. ↑ A digitized copy of the Stamp Scrip font can be found here .
  8. ^ Immo Fiebrig: Wörgl in the free money year. Unterguggenberger-Institut, Wörgl, accessed on December 14, 2011 .
  9. ↑ Karl Markovics is "The Money Maker". Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), September 28, 2017, accessed on November 13, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Susanne Poelchau: Documentation on the “Miracle of Wörgl”: The Money Maker - The Experiment of Michael Unterguggenberger. BR.de (Bayerisches Fernsehen), 2018, accessed on January 11, 2020 .