Weimar Republic, 5 Mark 1930 A

Weimar Republic, 1919-1933, 5 Mark 1930 A, Zeppelin

Historical

The First World War was lost for the German Empire in autumn 1918 and the November Revolution heralded the founding of the Weimar Republic. The Treaty of Versailles expressly prohibited the German Empire from building airships and aircraft. It was not until the Weimar Republic that the Treaty of Locarno, concluded in 1925, once again permitted airship construction and flight. In 1928, the German airship LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" with a length of 233.5 metres and 20 seats for passengers made its maiden voyage to the USA. Graf Zeppelin" made its sensational round-the-world flight from New York in 1929. Under the direction of Hugo Eckener, the former employee of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the airship covered a distance of almost 35,000 kilometres in 21 days, 5 hours and 31 minutes. The flight was sponsored by the American newspaper king Randolph Hearst. "Graf Zeppelin" returned to the headquarters of the Zeppelin-Werke in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance on 7 September 1929 and was regarded as proof of German engineering skill, efficiency and workmanship due to the successful round-the-world flight.