How much was he paid .....

[Mike Huxley]

.... for all his efforts in the service of the Fatherland. I just got thinking tonight on how much the avarage guy received in pay.

I have a 1914 20 marks note and was wondering how far this would have got our poor footslogger? What would it have meant to him, a weeks wages or just a piss up with his mates.

[joerookery]

Mike,
Privates got about 10 marks a month. Nco's doubled that but it was pretty small pay. A pay chart is located in my article on the relative cost of a pickelhaube.
http://www.coljs.com/articles.htm
The more you get into this you realize that a young trooper had very little and officers were mostly impoverished. One Year Volunteers (OYV) were paid for by their families. This amounted in cost to about a year in university.I hope this helps ... really a fascinating topic.

[Mike Huxley]

Joe, Thanks, I knew I had seen something mentioned about pay in one of the sites I had l visited .... It must have been yours. Great site, I just wish my 20 RM's note would buy me a Haube now!!!!! I'm still looking for my first one.

Pay starts to come into context when you find out what the cost of everyday things were. Like how much would it be to feed an average family for the week, the price of houses and travel expenses. Only then can we start to understand just how little our poor Gefreiter received for giving his life.