Goethe and the Creation of Money:

FAUST II

– or what does the 18hundreds German National Poet have to do with

today’s Fiat Money, Velocity and Hyperinflation?

(A healthy man without money is halfway sick)

Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

To gold tends,
On gold depends,
Simply Everything! Oh, we poor people!
Lines 2802-2804, Faust II
Translation George Reiff

Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
Table of Contents

1. Introduction 4

1.1 Question of Goethe’s work & Money? 5

1.2 What does Goethe have to do with Money? 5

1.3 Frankfurt 6

1.4 Assignats 7

1.5 Weimar 8

2. Faust and Money 9

2.1 A closer Look at Faust II 9

2.2 The Carnival Scene of Faust II and a hidden Plan 11

2.3 The Pleasure Garden as Promised Land 11

3. Summary 14

3.1 Modern Times and Velociferianism 15

4.0 Conclusion 17

4. References 18

4. Bibliography 21

Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
Introduction

In 1749 Johann Wolfgang Goethe was born in the city of Frankfurt as son of a wealthy father
who held the title of an Imperial Councilor while being a private scholar for real. Except while
obtaining his degree through studies abroad, he lived in his home area till he was 26 and
authored his first international “bestseller” Sufferings of Young Werther in 1774 1. Thereafter, he
followed 1776 the request of Duke Charles-August to move to Weimar in modern-day East
Germany in order to take up a position in his provincial state administration from where he
would fast advance to becoming a minister. He lived in the city of Weimar enjoying her rich
cultural institutions till his passing in March 1832. Only the famous voyage to Italy (1786-88)
interrupted his time in Weimar. He famously wrote in 1781 to his mother about his life in
Frankfurt, “that the mismatch between the narrow and inert bourgeois circle and the vast
expanse and velocity of his inner self”, would have made him „mad“ on the long run 2.

When Goethe published the drama Faust I in 1808 he was already considered being Germany’s
national poet and court poet in Weimar and he could have left it at that since it was a huge
success. Nevertheless he moved on during the years to come. He was interested in the fate of the
Faust protagonist Doctor Heinrich Faust, who had originally made a pact with the devil’s chief
demon Mephistopheles seeking a truly blissed moment in his existence (Till my own self’s a joy
to me, Line 1695) 3 in return for his soul, which Mephistopheles tries to present to him at first in
the form of love to Margaret. The first part of Faust I is also considered to be an excursion into
the private small world of the protagonist Dr. Faust, while the second part Faust II is the vast
journey into the big public world including journeys to other countries, interacting with
personalities like the emperor and so forth as Goethe puts into it almost all his ideas,
observations and experiences towards the end of his life. Upon completion of the work in 1831,
it disappeared sealed within a drawer of his desk because Goethe was convinced that his
contemporaries may not understand it. However, he died in spring 1832 and the manuscript was
published. While Faust I has been called the drama and tragedy of love 4 the second part,
however, deals with entrepreneurship, paper currency creation, speed and greed. Both parts are
set within the biblical framework of “the fight of the holy angels with the fallen ones, the battle
between heaven and hell for the earthly people will be the topic of the Faust drama” as Professor
A. Weber put it in his book Goethes "Faust": Noch und wieder? 5 Faust II seems to describe the
genesis of the modern economic order with its capacity to create fiat money. Fiat money means
using paper money as currency while assigning a far higher value than its mere material value.

Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
Question of Goethe’s Work and Money?

This idea has first been suggested by Dr. Franz Krennbauer in “Goethe und der Staat -Die
Staatsidee des Unpolitischen Springer Verlag Wien 1949” 6 and again presented by Prof. Adolf
Hüttl who happens to be a former vice-president of the Hesse State Central bank in Germany. In
1965 he wrote in the staff magazine of the Bundesbank a paper under the heading "Money in
Goethe's Faust II" 7.

Additionally Prof. Hans Christoph Binswanger - teaching at that time teaching in Sankt Gallen,
Switzerland – published in the 1980s a book entitled "Money and Magic - interpretation and
critique of modern economy based on Goethe's Faust" 8 suggests that Goethe perceived the
coming paper money era as a continuation of the Alchemists’ quest to turn lead into gold.

The poetry covered message left by Goethe for future generations seems like especially
addressed to us. In times regarding skepticism about our financial system, speed of economic life
and economic transactions and growth without limits, it seems to relate to us more than to most
previous generations.

His following remark touches a nerve in our corporate times for sure:

„Only the merchants, especially the bankers, know what they want and they become rich through
it whereas there are also some who perish through misplaced speculation.“ 9

What has Goethe to do with money?

During the 18th century and previously gold and silver coins were several times replaced in
various European countries with paper money, bank notes, promissory notes, assignats and other
paper bills. All these attempts ended sooner or later in a massive inflation. The widely known
biography of Scotsman John Law, who was a soldier of fortune, mathematician and gambler, is a
very good example. His life was certainly known to Goethe because John Law became subject to
contemporary long lasting caricatures, when he failed epically with his paper money concept in
France in 1716. Originally, Law had been called to France by the French Regent the Duke of
Orleans who tried to restore the dire state finances with his aid and later put all blame for the
failure on him. 10

Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
Frankfurt:

During his Early Years Goethe learned the growing importance of the monetary economy in his
native city of Frankfurt. Earlier than in other cities on this important market place the exchange
and monetary value of things became more important than their mere practical value. The Fugger
family of the city of Augsburg had operated in the 16th century at the dawn of the modern era a
traditional banking business, where the deposits were taken in from other patrician families or
from secular and ecclesiastical rulers 11. The deposits were on the asset side of the balance sheet
and countered the loans counter inclusive those given to the ruling dynasties. The ruling houses,
however, got often rid of these debts with occasional bankruptcies.

In order to promote national debt and to foster a broader diversification of risks an early type of
investment banking was invented by Frankfurt Banks around two centuries later.

The Frankfurt financial center, however, has its historical origin in the importance as a trade fair
location since the Middle Ages and this trade fare is mentioned in a Jewish text in 1160 for the
first time 12. During the fairs even simple financial transactions like the exchange of coins and
bills were operated since 1402 13. Moreover, a permanent financial activity can be demonstrated
in Frankfurt only in the 17th century. Initially, this activity consisted mainly of trading exchange
bills. The term stock market (in German “Börse” derived from French “bourse”) is found for the
first time in a letter of the Emperor from 1605; the earliest surviving share certificate dates back
to 1625 and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange issued its first certificate in 1820 (14 ibid).

During the 18th century – that is the time of Goethe – Frankfurt was the financial center of a new
impetus by a wide-ranging financial innovation: Banks began to “cut” huge loans awarded to the
ruling dynasties into small and equal parts and sold them to interested investors. They called
such a construction, which is commonly referred to as bond today, Partial Obligation (bond) 15.
Although, the bond was not invented in Frankfurt but in Amsterdam it was common in many
European financial centers and in Germany especially in Frankfurt. These businesses gained
considerable momentum, like for example the Frankfurt Bankhaus Bethmann. Bethmann Bank
was founded in the 18th century and became one of the main financial partners of the Habsburgs
due to the issuance of bonds. Even Goethe was known among Frankfurt bankers as a scion of a
wealthy family and he was in a business relationship with the Bethmann Bank (16 ibid).

The Bethmanns charged a commission of 5 to 5.5%..... during the Habsburg loans. 17

6

Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
In addition, a commission of about one percent was due on the collection and payment of interest
and principal. The business flourished until the Austrian emissions lost its value because of
political turmoil after the French Revolution.

After the French Revolutionary and following Napoleonic wars, the potential government debt
grew with the involvement of private investors as broad customer base for bonds. The necessary
trading techniques - an early version of investment banking – were invented at Goethe's time and
blossomed – after the aforementioned initial setbacks - most in his city Frankfurt in Germany 18.
Under French Revolutionary government in West Germany, the assignats of the French
Revolution and their demise had also been tangible fact for Goethe.

Assignats (19,20, 21, 22, 23)

Assignats (came to French via Latin assignare "to allocate") were originally paper money of the
French Revolution. The French Revolution assignats were put into circulation initially worth 400
million livres, covered by the expropriated estates in 1789 by a decision of the Constituent
National Assembly. Initially they were meant to be government bonds to cover the budget
deficit. The first emission took place in April 1790. The assignats were covered with real estate
that had 10% of the size of France, namely the ecclesiastical lands of the church, the royal estates
and the lands of displaced nobles. Already in September 1790, a second emission worth 800
million livres was launched. Two and a half years later 3 billion livres in assignats were already
issued and their value had as much disappeared as the populations’ trust in them. Therefore, in
April 1793, a law was passed that anyone who demanded different prices in coins and assignats,
had to expect punishment up to six years in prison. A year later the mere question of a merchant
whether a customer would want to pay with coins or with assignats, would result in the death
penalty. In mid-1795 the assignats issued reached the 12 billion livres mark and since they were
covered with real estate, the price for land automatically increased. Finally, in 1796 there were
assignats worth 46 billion livres and so these were abolished on 19 February 1796 after the value
of the assignats had fallen in the 6 years of their existence to less than one percent. On the same
day, the printing plates of the assignats were destroyed and they were replaced with the territorial
mandate (mandates territoriaux) which were exchanged at a ratio 30 livres= 1 franc. The
territorial mandates lost value at the same pace as the assignats did previously. Finally, all
assignats were declared invalid on 21. 5. 1797 and a little later the mandates were withdrawn
from circulation.

Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
Inflation ended only with the establishment of the French National Bank in 1800. Shortly before
rescinding all assignats and mandates on 21 May 1797 the French attempted to change the
almost worthless French paper money into German silver money in the then occupied Rhenish
areas around Cologne and Mayence. As Mayence is very close to Frankfurt one can imagine that
not a little number of citizens were ruined there, too.

Weimar:

In order to enter the state administration in Weimar and rise through the ranks his law studies
also turned out useful although he only had pursued them as to satisfy his father only.
Nonetheless, he aptly cleaned up the Duchy’s finances quite successfully while being appointed
as Minister of Finance and he had a strong fascination with national economy and finances. This
resulted therefore in activities which were a lot more hands-on such as mining, agriculture plus
the just upstarting industrialization. During his life time he witnessed the genesis of the modern
monetary economic system.

In his later role of a "court poet" Goethe arranged numerous court festivities and masquerades of
this kind in Weimar. He stated in a letter to Johann C. Lavater on 19. 2. 1781 "One often
anesthetizes own and the others' distress with masquerades and brilliant inventions "24. This
experience might well have given the inspiration and contributed greatly to the decisive scenes of
Faust II where decision making is glossed over and substituted with festivities.

Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
Faust and Money
In Faust I Gretchen finds a treasure box hidden in her cupboard (Faust I Line 2792), which is
filled with precious jewelry made from gold, pearls and precious stones. This, of course, has
been provided by Mephistopheles as part of his pact with Dr. Heinrich Faust who tries to endear
himself to Gretchen through this expensive gift. We see that here in his 1808 work Faust I high
value is depicted by Goethe by commodities like gold, precious stones and pearls. While
Gretchen dreams the popular way of a story of gold as pawn of love, Mephistopheles –here the
devil’s demon in chief - is already using these commodities as currency to simply “buy“ the
woman whom Faust covets (Lines 2759-2795) 25 as part of their pact.

In Faust II Mephistopheles goes further. Now, he does not need gold as commodity in order to
“rescue“ the empire from bankruptcy in order to advance Faust. Now, paper slips with the
signature of the emperor suffice, which are supposed to be ominously backed by treasures that
are assumed to be buried below the surface of the imperial lands (Lines 6112-6115) 26 ibid.
Mephistopheles’s unregulated and hyper inflated creation of money can of course not succeed in
the long run and results in civil war. It is noteworthy that the name Mephistopheles seems to
sound Greek but probably derives from Hebrew, namely a combination of the two participles
mephir, also written mefir (destroyer, spoiler) und tophel (liar)27.

A closer Look at Faust II

What you don’t coin: that can’t be gold. Mephistopheles, scoffing in Line 4922 28

The power center of the Empire is the throne room. But the reports on the situation, which are
stated by the members of the State Council, give the image of a decaying state in Lines 4784 -
4790. While the ruling class is situated in lavish circumstances at court Lines 4853-4875, the
bankruptcy of the country advances rapidly Lines 4831-4835, Line 4851. The Supreme
Commander of the Armed Forces has his troops no longer under control and have rendered the
country ungovernable Lines 4819-4830). In this situation of general helplessness Mephistopheles
offers as “replacement” jester (Lines 4755 and 4756) his flimsy openings on the base of
economic grievances while he does not yet reveal his plan for the improvement of public
finances and development of an affluent society Lines 4889-4896, 4917-4922,.4927-4938, 4977-
4992)

Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
Chancellor: Across the realm: it seems like some bad dream Line 4783

Commander in Chief: And everyone is deaf to all command. Line 4814

The impatient mercenaries
Impetuously demand their pay, Line 4820

The Treasurer: But our coffers still are empty. Line 4851

The Steward: Even the bread from your table’s gone. Line 4875

Mephistopheles, mistaken as a replacement for the court jester in line 4754 and 4755, speaks
with the emperor: 29

In this world, what isn’t lacking, somewhere, though?

Sometimes it’s this, or that: here what’s missing’s gold. Line 4889

And he lays already here the foundation for the “back-up” of the future paper money as follows:

But wisdom knows the mines where one gets more. Line 4892
In mountain veins, foundation walls,
Coined and un-coined golden hoards…

Eventually, the emperor is unnerved and responds:

„I’m tired of the eternal ‘if and when’: Line 4925

We’re short of gold, well fine, so fetch some then.

Mephistopheles answers:

I’ll fetch what you wish, and I’ll fetch more. Line 4927 30

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Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
The Carnival Scene of Faust II and a hidden Plan

Mephistopheles only goes more into detail regarding his plans in the Carnival scene 31 that takes
place in the spacious banquet hall where a kind of court festival with masked participants takes
place. He succeeds in making the emperor casually sign a certificate. This he duplicates
overnight and subsequently spreads the new certificates as paper money. The scene ends in a fire
disaster, sparked by a glowing gold cauldron, which Dr. Heinrich Faust - under the guise of
Plutus (Plutus/Orcus/Hades is the god of the underworld and wealth 32 - conjures out of his
treasure trunk. While having a deep look into the cauldron the beard of the Pan- mask behind
which the emperor hides, catches fire and ignites the banquet hall as an allegory of the civil war
the emperor and his empire will have to face after going down Mephistopheles’s road of riches.
And as it turns out in the next scene, the emperor did not notice what he certified with his
signature. He is confronted with the fact that paper money – here obviously the invention of the
devil - is already in circulation.

The Pleasure Garden as Promised Land

After the hall is burned down, the scene takes place in the Pleasure Garden in the morning.

The involved parties are so delighted about the assumed benefaction that they do not suspect the
development to later go out of control ending in a civil war. Mephistopheles repeatedly flatters
the emperor’s seemingly unending authority:

You are, Sire! Since every element

Knows your Majesty, amongst all men. (Line 6003, page 277)

The initial success of Mephistopheles’s course of action produces joyful relief. The Chancellor
announces full of joy:

See and hear the scroll, heavy with destiny, 6055

That’s changed to happiness, our misery.

The Steward (

For debt after debt I’ve accounted, 6041

The usurer’s claws now are blunted,

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Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
The Commander in Chief (Follows hastily.)
Something’s paid of what we owe, 6045
The Army’s all renewed their vow,

The Emperor
Now your chests breathe easier!
Now your furrowed brows are clear! 6050
How quickly you hurried to the hall!

The Treasurer (Appearing.)

Ask them: it was they who did it all.

Faust
It’s right the Chancellor should read the page.

The Chancellor (Coming forward slowly.)

See and hear the scroll, heavy with destiny, 6055
That’s changed to happiness, our misery.
‘To whom it concerns, may you all know,
This paper’s worth a thousand crowns, or so.

As a secure pledge, it will underwrite,

All buried treasure, our Emperor’s right. 6060

This text, which is repeated on all “treasuries notes” signed by the emperor, makes the currency
“bank note” out of paper.

The Emperor
I smell a fraud, a monstrous imposture!
Who forged the Emperor’s signature?
Have they gone unpunished for their crime? 6065

The Treasurer
Remember! You yourself it was that signed:
Last night. You acted as great Pan,
Here’s how the Chancellor’s speech began:
‘Grant yourself this great festive pleasure,
The People’s Good: a few strokes of the feather.’ 6070
You wrote it here, and while night ruled the land, 16
A thousand artists created another thousand,

12

Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
The Thousand Artist is one of the many names for the Devil, and was originally a denomination
for the goddess Isis.

So all might benefit from your good deed,

We stamped the whole series with your screed,
Tens, Thirties, Fifties, Hundreds, all are done. 6075
You can’t think how well the folk get on.
See your city once half-dead with decay,
Now all’s alive, enjoying its new day!
Though your name’s long filled the world with glee,
They’ve never gazed at it so happily. 6080
Now the alphabet’s superfluous, 18
In these marks there’s bliss for all of us.

The Steward
It was impossible to catch the escapee:
It flashed like lightning through the land:

This describes the velocity of the circulating paper money.

The moneychanger’s shops are jammed,

Men pay, themselves, the papers mount
They’re gold and silver, and at a discount. 6090
Now used by landlords, butchers, bakers:
Half the world think they’re merrymakers,
The others, newly clothed, are on show.
The drapers cut the cloth:

Mephistopheles further fans the joyousness when saying shortly thereafter:

Such paper’s convenient, for rather than a lot

Of gold and silver, you know what you’ve got. Line 6120
You’ve no need of bartering and exchanging,
Just drown your needs in wine and love-making 33

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Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
Summary

In recent years there was an exhibition in Frankfurt by the German Central Bank with the expo
title “Goethe.Auf.Geld” 34 and one could see the different designs of his works, which were
displayed on coins and bank notes inclusive emergency issues of bank notes from the
hyperinflation in the early 1920s in Germany. Some of these bank note designs were modelled
on Goethe’s poetical treatment of paper money in his masterwork “Faust II”, especially one
emergency money note indeed depicting the scene of Lines 6088-6090 and the Lines themselves
where the people flock to the money changers as mentioned before.

Moreover, Goethe recognized apart from John Law’s fiasco also the opportunities and dangers of
the contemporary French "assignats". These “assignats” were a paper currency originally bound
to confiscated church lands during the French Revolution, which had only a short blossoming
due to the rapidly ensuing hyperinflation. This let him become wary of unlimited money
printing. As a rational central bank strategy had not yet been invented and Goethe does not
present us with any other solution to the dilemma paper currency versus hyperinflation.
However, he presents to the audience the “court jester” who has woken up from his drunken
stupor and who proclaims in lines 6162-6168

Five thousand crowns I’m holding, in my hand! 6162

And can I buy a cottage, cow and field? 6166
A castle: with forests, hunting, fishing? 6168 35

In essence the overhung court jester is the only one who perceives the emperor’s new clothes and
escapes into real estate before others do not accept the paper currency anymore.

14

Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
Modern Times and Velociferianism

The new paper currency is supposed to be backed by the riches of the imperial lands, which are
in the form of hidden underground treasures, which are “just” to be put to use.

Initially, the dispersion of the new currency lets rise the private consumption and causes an
economic upswing. However, in the further course everything degenerates fast into a monetary
panic and the monetary system is swiftly destroyed as a result of rapid inflation and results in
civil war, where the emperor even has to fight against an anti-emperor.

In a letter to Berlin’s High Council Commissioner Nicolovius Goethe attributed the early
industrial period of economic transition and increased speed of transaction being "velociferian".
“Velociferian” is a neologism in which the speed (lat. velocitas) enters into a luciferian pact with
the devil (Mephistopheles). The same speed is also described in the verses of Faust II when it
comes to increasing the money supply and the changing hands of it and indeed, velocity is the
final nail in the coffin of Mephistopheles’s paper money because when people realize that money
is not worth the while, they speedily try to find something to spend it for! Journalist Ralf
Berhorst seconds Goethe Author Osten who labeled the "Faust" as a "Tragedy of Velocity".36

Economist and Economic Historian Richard Maybury defined inflation as follows: “Clearly, a
dollar that participates in no transactions has no effect on prices. One that participates in twice
as many transactions as some other dollar has twice the effect on prices. As
explained…inflations typically go through three stages…caused by changes in money demand
and velocity”.37 In my opinion the question of monetary velocity is one of the most overlooked
one and it is indeed breathtaking that the poet Goethe who lived about 200 years ago actually
exactly perceived the very concept and even named it although with a broader context including
lifestyle and society.

If we remember the emperor’s steward says in lines 6086-87 about the new paper money

It was impossible to catch the escapee:

It flashed like lightning through the land:

This expresses the sheer speed (of it, which is the new paper money) of the dispersion and the
successive ever faster changing hands of the new money, which we would even in our times still
call velocity.

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Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
It is amazing that Goethe perceived the potentially dangerous relationship between paper money
creation, public finance and inflation – as illuminated in Faust II - and therefore he noted a core
issue of unsecured monetary systems. As Goethe and his Faust are usually not directly associated
with economic contexts, and especially not with such central monetary policy tensions, it is even
more interesting how much Faust must be interpreted economically.

As we see, it all clearly starts when the state could get rid of its debt in Faust II by following the
rationale of Dr. Faust in lines 6111-6118.

The wealth of treasure that solidifies,

That in your land, in deep earth lies,
Is all unused. In our boldest thought,
Such riches are only feebly caught:
Imagination, in its highest flight, 6115
Strives to, but can’t reach that height.
But grasping Spirits, worthy to look deeply,
Trust in things without limit, limitlessly.38

Professor Binswanger insinuated that Goethe interpreted modern economy with her creation of
paper money as a continuation of alchemy by other means and Oxford University’s Kenneth
Dyson even specified that Goethe saw in fiat currency a modern form of alchemy… by creating
money from illusion. 39 Dyson furthermore observes that in 2012 the president of the German
Bundesbank (Mr Jens Weidmann, by the way) drew on Goethe’s Mephistopheles to underline his
fears that the European Central Bank (ECB) was committing to a strategy of printing money
without restraint. 40

The classic alchemists tried to turn lead into gold, and the modern “gold” is paper which is
turned into money according to that rationale.

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Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
Conclusion
If central banks can – at least theoretically, create unlimited money from quasi nothing, how can
it be made sure that money remains scarce enough and therefore valuable? Is the temptation not
very high to abuse this instrument and to provide short term additional monetary “breathing
space” when having the ability to create money more or less freely even if this means that long-
term damage is very likely? Is not on one hand the Federal Reserve Bank’s repeated quantitative
easing program QE 1-3 etc. exactly an indicator of such occurrences as The Economist describes
it: “To carry out QE central banks create money by buying securities, such as government bonds,
from banks, with electronic cash that did not exist before.” 41

On the other hand the undefined treasures under the emperor’s lands have been replaced by
realistic and reliable numbers like the GDP. Therefore, a paper currency that is bound to the
GDP, a so called index currency, is workable as the American colonies and their colonial scrip
money as a kind of precursor system have shown before the war of independence. Abraham
Lincoln’s Greenback system, which followed the same path, also looks in the eyes of a historian
like a feasible solution. Alternatively, currencies based on a kind of secondary backing through a
commodity like oil still exist, for example the US Dollar as the currency of choice to buy crude
oil, vulgo Petrodollar 42.

Lastly, precious metal currencies cannot work anymore in our modern and richly populated
world as there are more humans and more global economic interaction as could possibly be
covered by it. There is only enough gold to assign 24 gram of gold coins to each inhabitant of
earth (177,200,000 43 / 7,400,000,000 44 = 23,9 gram per individual). That would be less than a
troy ounce (31.1 gram), which is the weight of most bullion coins.

It seems that the independence of monetary policy and a well-functioning policy making that is
oriented on monetary stability compass are fundamental in order to preserve the purchasing
power of money, and thus the confidence of the people. I believe that the German Bundesbank
set a relatively good example in modern history regarding this.

To conclude these deliberations, I choose to quote Mr Jens Weidman of the German Bundesbank
who ended a lecture on Goethe and monetary stability in September 2012 as follows: “the best
protection against the temptations in monetary policy is an enlightened and stability-oriented
society”.45

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Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
REFERENCES
1 D. E. Wellbery, J. Ryan, Judith; H. U. Gumbrecht (2004). A New History of German Literature, pp. 387

2 http://www.goethezeitportal.de/wissen/dichtung/schnellkurs-goethe/goethe-in-weimar.html

3 A.S. Kline: Faust Parts I & II, 2003, www.iowagrandmaster.org/Books%20in%20pdf/Faust.pdf

4 F. Lorenzen (2001): Die Verwandlungen der Liebe bei Faust in Goethes 'Faust - Der Tragödie erster
Teil', page 3

5 A. Weber (2005): Goethes "Faust": Noch und wieder? : Phänomene, Probleme, Perspektiven,
Königshausen und Neumann, page 14

6 F. Krennbauer in “Goethe und der Staat -Die Staatsidee des Unpolitischen“, Springer Verlag Wien 1949

7 A. Hüttl: Geld in Goethes Faust II

https://www.bundesbank.de/Redaktion/DE/Downloads/Bundesbank/Geld_Kunstsammlung/goethe_frankf
urt_geld.pdf?__blob=publicationFile

8 H.C. Binswanger (1994): "Money and Magic - interpretation and critique of modern economy based on
Goethe's Faust"

9 J. W. v. Goethe http://blogs.faz.net/fazit/2012/10/02/goethe-das-geld-und-die-aktuelle-krise-6-586/

10 http://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2014/01/crisis-chronicles-the-mississippi-bubble-of-
1720-and-the-european-debt-crisis.html#.V3NSprj5iUk

11 P. Geffcken: Fugger – Geschichte einer Familie: „Die Handelsherren mit dem Dreizack“. In:
DAMALS 7/2004

12
http://www.frankfurt.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=3949&_ffmpar[_id_inhalt]=59661&_ffmpar[_id_eltern]=3
946

13
http://www.frankfurt.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=3949&_ffmpar[_id_inhalt]=59662&_ffmpar[_id_eltern]=3
946

14 ibid

15 http://blogs.faz.net/fazit/2012/10/02/goethe-das-geld-und-die-aktuelle-krise-6-586/

16 ibid

17 G. Kurgan-van Hentenryk, A. Teichova & D. Ziegler (1997): Banking, Trade and Industry: Europe,
America and Asia from the Thirteenth to Twentieth Century, page 42

18

Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
18 R. Banken: “The Frankfurt banks in the Age of Goethe" for the catalog of the Goethe-exhibition and
on discussions with the Frankfurt-based private banker Michael Hauck.

19 F. Aftalion (1996): L’économie de la Révolution française, Quadrige/Presses Universitaires de France.

20 J. Lafaurie (1981): Les assignats et les papiers-monnaies émis par l’Etat au XVIIIe siècle, Le Léopard
d’Or, Paris.

21 J. Morini-Comby (1925): Les assignats: révolution et inflation, Paris: Nouvelle librairie nationale.

22 A. Dickson White (1912): Fiat Money Inflation in France. In: Project Gutenberg

23 K. Walker, Karl (2009): Geld in der Geschichte. Nikol Verlag, Hamburg

24 J. W. v. Goethe: Begegnungen and Gespraeche: 1777-1785

25 A.S. Kline: Faust Part 1&2, 2003, www.iowagrandmaster.org/Books%20in%20pdf/Faust.pdf

26 ibid

27 I. Gerber-Münch (1997): Goethes Faust. Eine tiefenpsychologische Studie über den Mythos des
modernen Menschen.

28 A.S. Kline: Faust Part 1&2, 2003, www.iowagrandmaster.org/Books%20in%20pdf/Faust.pdf

29 ibid

30 ibid

31 A. Schöne (2003): Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Faust. Texte. Insel Verlag: Frankfurt am Main und
Leipzig, Kommentarband, p. 413.

32 ibid, p. 277f)

33 A.S. Kline: Faust Part 1&2, 2003, www.iowagrandmaster.org/Books%20in%20pdf/Faust.pdf

34 http://muenzenwoche.de/index.php?pid=4&id=1471

35 A.S. Kline: Faust Part 1&2, 2003, www.iowagrandmaster.org/Books%20in%20pdf/Faust.pdf

36 Berhorst. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 22.08.2003

E. Klessmann. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 27.10.2003

37 R. Maybury (1997). The Money Mystery & http://www.chaostan.com/velocity.html

38 A.S. Kline: Faust Part 1&2, 2003, www.iowagrandmaster.org/Books%20in%20pdf/Faust.pdf

39 K. Dyson. States, Debt, and Power (2014): 'saints' and 'sinners' in European History and Integration, p.
275 Oxford University Press

19

Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
40 ibid

41 http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/03/economist-explains-5

42 http://faculty.georgetown.edu/imo3/petrod/define.htm

43 http://www.goldreporter.de/ueber-so-wenig-gold-verfuegt-die-menschheit/gold/40537/

44 http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

45
https://www.bundesbank.de/Redaktion/DE/Reden/2012/2012_09_18_weidmann_begruessungsrede.html

20

Goethe and the Creation of Money, Prof. George Reiff, PhD 2016
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