In May 1931, the Creditanstalt, Austria's largest bank, collapsed due to its exposure to failing industrial and agricultural loans, triggering a financial panic that swept across Central Europe. The collapse led to a banking crisis in Germany, forced Britain off the gold standard, and deepened the Great Depression. The event exposed the fragility of the international financial system and contributed to the political instability that enabled the rise of fascism.

The Creditanstalt collapse was a turning point in the interwar crisis, and it was reflected in the literature of the period, including the works of Austrian writers like Joseph Roth and Stefan Zweig, who chronicled the decline of the Habsburg world. The crisis also influenced the political poetry of the 1930s, which warned of the collapse of liberal capitalism and the rise of totalitarianism.