The Weimar Republic

Consequences of the War on German

Society
 Even though the WWI. was not fought on German soil, the country was
economically devastated
 600 000 widows with 2 milion children without fathers needed financial support
 Income and industrial production lowered by 1-2 thirds from before the war
 Society on edge: gap between rich and poor grew, workers were upset that they
were impoverished by factory owners
 Women´s role in society changed; manual work, political rights
 Successful Bolshevic revolution in Russia inspired some people to form radical
left groups, Communists controlled Bavarian region for several months
Young Democracy

 Germany basically switched to democracy from one day to another, people were
driven by desire to end the war
 Problem was that not all old politicians were replaced, some remained in their
positions in the army or judiciary – this would prove to be a problem later
 January 1919: the first elections happened, Friedrich Ebert became president, the
cabinet met in small town in Weimar, because Berlin was believed to be too
dangerous at that time
 There was a distrust towards new government, because of war propaganda, people
thought that Germany was winning and they did not understand how it was
possible to lose the war
 Some considered Treaty of Versailles as a betrayal and this idea would be later
strongly presented by nationalists
Fear of Communism

 Many Communist uprising happened throughout Germany

 Workers were charmed by socialistic ideals and wanted a change
 High and middle class were afraid of these ideas, they saw what it caused in
Russia, chaos and civil war
 Some of these uprisings were violent and communists had armed militias
 Ebert did not want to send the army to deal with them, because he was afraid that
some officers might have joined the rebels, or opposite, crush rebellion with such
force, that would not be in the bounds of democratic ideas
 Some anti-communists from army formed Freikorps – amred units that officialy
did not answer to government, but they were still basically used as a tool to
supress the rebels
Adolf Hitler and his political beginnings

 Hitler fought vigorously in WWI. during which he strenghten his nationalistic spirit
 He was furious about Germany´s surrender, this bitterness would drive his career
 He stayed in the army and became agent with task to infiltrate nationalist party in
Munich German Workers´Party (DAP)
 Hitler realized that his beliefs are very similar to DAP´s ideas
 DAP was anti-semitic, that was not a new phenomenon in Europe, many countries
despited Jews since Middle-Ages, Jews were blamed for various calamities and
exploitation of the poor
 Hitler put anti-semitism to a new level, he connected them with Bolsheviks and
based his hatred on a racial basis
 He presented Rational Antisemitism, he claimed that government „must unshakably
be the removal of the Jews altogether“
Occupation of Ruhr
 France and Belgium were expecting Germany to pay the reparations
 Final sum of the war reparations was 6 600 000 000 £ Germany would pay annualy
around 50 milion £
 Germany refused to pay in 1922 the annual sum, because Ebert wanted to negotiate a
better deal
 France and Belgium needed money to pay for American loans and their economy so in
1923 they sent an occupation force to Rhur industrial territory to extract the reparations
from raw materials
 Germany ordered passive resistance, there were worker strikes, which were supressed
by French
 This caused government to lose income from factories
 Banks started to print more and more money
Hyperinflation

 By putting so much money into the flow, the money gradually lost their value
 1918: loaf of bread cost 0,63 marks, january 1923 – 250 marks, september – 1,5
million marks, november – 201 000 000 000
 In november 1923 1 dollar was 4,210,500,000,000
 Workers were paid daily, if someone waited in queue for an hour, the price might
have grown by millions
 People´s savings were basically worhtless
 Situation stabilized after Stresemann came to power and issued a new currency
Rentenmark and negotiated loans from Americans
Beer Hall Putsch

 Hitler and other radical left leaders saw the crisis as an opportunity to seize power
 When Stresemann called off passive resistance in Ruhr, Hitler mustered his
supporters
 He cooperated with WWI. Veteran general Ludendorf, who still had respect in the
army
 However, the army remained loyal to government and suppressed the coup
 Hitler was put on trial for high treason, but judiciary was impressed by his speech
and sentenced him to 5 years of prison
 Hitler remained the head of his party and dictated his book Mein Kampf
Golden twenties

 Dawes plan 1924 – revision of reparations, end of occupation of Ruhr and loans
from USA through Wall Street, reorganization of German national bank under
allied supervision
 These measures ended the crisis and enabled new opportunities for German
people, economic prosperity, cultural revival, nightlife
 Stressemann became a foreign minister and he continued with maintaining a good
relationship with the West
 1925 – Locarno treaties – Germany recognized its western border and was
allowed to enter League of Nations the following year
 1928 elections – NSDAP only got 2,6% of the votes, suggesting that people did
not seek radical change in their lives
Economic Crisis

 October 1929: Wall Street crashed, American stock market collapsed, many
people took loans to buy shares, loans which they were not able to pay when the
stock value declined
 Many people lost their wealth, later depression came which led to huge
unemployment, USA stopped any loans to foreign countries and wanted their
money back to stabilize situation
 Germany was the most affected European country, because it was dependant on
the money from USA, 6 millions of people were unemployed
 Nazi continuously blamed government and Treaty of Versailles, they were
reactionists, they observed and shaped public opinion
Reasons of Nazi success
 They promised to solve unemployment, they looked after unemployed, provided them
shelters and food
 They wanted to restore glory of Germany, to remove humiliation after their defeat
 Revocation of the Treaty of Versailles, no reparations and no limitations on the army
 Continuous propaganda, presenting of traditional values against liberal and leftist
movements, repeating of key phrases, not complicated statements
 Fear of communism, SA (Sturmabteilung- paramilitary unit) conflicts with communists
demonstrated that Nazis were not afraid to stand for the German people
 Hitler and his rhetoric, he was portrayed as a Christ figure, a saviour and he was able to
impress many people
Democracy crumbled

 Government needed to do unpopular measures to deal with the crisis, which

resulted in 1930 elections
 Nazi gained 18,3 %, Communists 13,1%, it was not possible to govern for Social
Democrats (24,5%), so they relied on president Hindenburg who gave them
emergency powers
 April 1932: Hitler challenges Hindenburg in a presidential elections, Hindeburg
won, because he was conservative and even Nazis respected him, so they did not
do anti-campaign
 Hitler got publicity, he travelled through Germany personally meeting his voters,
this was not common for politician in that era
 July 1932: NSDAP became the strongest party with 37%, but still Hindenburg
rejected Hitler as the chancellor
Hitler´s ascend

 Hindemburg appointed Von Papen as a chancellor, but he did not gain enough
support so next ellections took place
 November 1932: Nazi still won, but lost 4% of the voters, this was considered as
a defeat for them
 Hovewer, situation was complicated, conservative polititians were more worried
about communists, whose ideas were considered more radical
 So they began to cooperate with Hitler, thinking that they would be able to control
him
 January 1933: Hitler becomes chancellor, he is still bound by democracy, but
Goering got ministry of interior, gaining control over the police, which was
ordered to cooperate with SA
Hitler gains full control

 February 1933: Reichstag fire - parliament building burned down, fire was set by
a communist, he was acting alone, but Hitler blamed all communists and use this
as an excuse to eradicate communists
 Many communists were arrested and put into concentration camps
 March 1933: Elections – Nazi party gained 44% people chose Hitler some saw
him as a lesser evil compared to communism
 March 1933: Enabling act – Hitler could pass decrees without president´s or
government´s approval, he became a legal dictator
 July 1933: all other political parties were banned, NSDAP was the only party,
Consolidation of power

 June 1934: Night of the Long Knives – Hitler decided to remove head of the SA
Ernst Rohm, because Hitler was afraid that Rohm could use SA against him and
because the army was concerned of their size
 Rohm and other people who opposed Hitler were killed and SA basically lost their
importance, many members joined the army and some went to SS (Schutzstaffen)
which was led by Himmler, who was loyal to Hitler
 August 1934: president Hindenburg died, Hitler held a referendum about whether
he could merge positions of chancellor and president, 89% voted yes
Nazi rule

 Hitler gave jobs to people either they joined the army or started building highways
 The economy was built on a preparation for war
 Workers could not be in unions, all of them had to be in General Labour Front (DAF)
which monitored workers and gave them some advantages like discounts in shops or
cultural events
 Economic situation improved for most people, but it was not still on the level Reich
promised it would be
 Propaganda built cult of personality in Hitler: ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer, this
empowered the sence of loyalty towards the Reich
 Nazi concentrated on youth, reformed curriculum so it would contain racial studies or
eugenics, they formed Hitler Yugen it was mandatory for Aryan children and it
indoctrinated them with
Antisemitism supported by state
 Nazi openly encouraged people to discriminate for them “inferior races“ mainly
Jews, they were blamed for corruption and capitalism/communism
 April 1933: Nazi declared boycott of Jewish businesses, it lasted for a day, people
were discouraged by SA units not to visit jewish shops, Hitler hoped that boycott
would last longer, but still, German population was not indoctrinated enough
 1935: Nuremberg laws – Hitler introduced racial laws on NSDAP annual rally, these
laws were supposed to protect “German blood“
 It forbade Jews to have any kind relationships with Germans, it also stripped Jews of
citizenship, they could not vote or hold public offices and it defined who is Jew and
who is of mixed blood
 There were around 450 000 Jews in Germany, Nazis wanted them to leave the
country, but to leave their wealth behind, Nazis policy towards Jews changed during
war, when they annexed Poland with sizeable Jewish population
Why weren´t there any resistance?

 Not all were satisfied with Hitler´s rule, but there was only a little resistance for various
reasons
 Hitler was successful in restoring employment and returned Germany´s position of power
among other nations, that convinced many Germans that limitation of freedom was worth
the price
 Propaganda and indoctrination of youth ment that youth was in some cases more loyal to
regime than their parents
 Fear of losing job, or jail for whole family for opposition, state had Gestapo – secret
police, which scared many Germans, they often reported others in order to prove their
place as good citizens
 Foreign countries saw discrimination, but did little to change it, in 1936 were Olympic
games in Berlin, which was a great success for Nazi propaganda, countries did not
boycott them and Nazis had an opportunity to show off their grandeur
 Hitler´s foreign policy
 League of Nations wanted to gradually disarm countries to avoid situation before WWI.,
Germany complied, since they had only 100 000 soldiers, they wanted to disarm fully and
expected other nations to do the same
 Other countries refused total demilitarisation, that gave Hitler justification to rearm so Germany
withdrew from League of Nations in 1933 and started with conscriptions in 1935
 1935: Saar plebiscite – Saar region, which was run by League of Nations after WWI. Held a
referendum to determine if they want to return back to Germany – 90% agreed, big boost for
Hitler
 1936: Remilitarization of Rhineland – since WWI. Rhineland was demilitized because of the
Treaty of Versailles in order to prevent potential invasion; Hitler decided to risk marching the
army to Rhineland, even though German military was still weak and if France decided to
intervene, they would probably crush them
 France thought about a retaliation, but they did not want a war and also they did not have
support from Britain
League of Nation unable to stop conflicts

 Hitler was not the only threat in Europe or world, Italy was unpredictable, Japan was expanding to
China, Soviet Union still scared some Europeans
 League of Nations was unable to prevent these conflicts and punish the aggressors, one of the reason
was that USA, one of the strongest nations at that time, was not part of LoN, so they could not
enforce effective sanctions
 1935: Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, because it was one of the few independent African states, and Italy
failed to conquer them in 19th century, League imposed some economic sanctions, but it was
uneffective
 1936: Spanish civil war – communists vs. Nationalists in Spain got into war, Reich tried out its
aircrafts from Luftwaffe, which caused devastation and injected fear into Europeans, this conflict also
brought Hitler and Mussolini close
 1937: Japan invaded China, some dates this event as a start of WWII. League was again not able to
solve the crisis
Hitler expands

 At first, Mussolini rejected Hitler´s attempts for Anschluss (annexation of Austria), because he
wanted to expand his influence there, he even threatened with war, but after invasion of Ethiopia
and Spanish civil war he realized, that Hitler is more valuable ally than France or Britain
 Hitler also improved relationship with Britain which let him expand Germany´s navy, western
countries began to think that the Treaty of Versailles was indeed too harsh and they let Germany
without check
 1938: Anschluss of Austria, Mussolini gave Hitler consent to annex Austria, Austrian chancellor
wanted a referendum, but Hitler was afraid of the results, so he marched his army to Austria
without resistance
 1938: Munich agreement, Britain and France in order to prevent war gave up Sudetenland,
which was part of Czechoslovakia, Hitler saw this as a weakness of western countries and that
convinced him of their incapability to react