After the German population had suffered the loss of their savings twice in the first half of the 20th century – in the early 1920s due to hyperinflation, and after the Second World War due to the suppressed inflation caused by the wartime economy and the ensuing currency reform – they held price stability in very high store.
And so it was widely appreciated by society that the Bundesbank interpreted its mandate as meaning that it should maintain price stability. The oil crises of the 1970s and 80s were further events that shaped central banking. It was during this time that the merits of politically independent central banks like the Bundesbank and the Swiss National Bank came into sharp focus.