Unit 9.

1
Was the Weimar Republic doomed from the start?

Impacts of WW1
- Economy: Food and fuel shortages, less workers
- Political impact: Fighting between left and right. People thought
politicians had betrayed Germany.
- Social impact: Huge gap between poor and rich people, anger due to
losing the war.

The creation of the Weimar Republic

- In 1918 Germany had lost the war
- The allies demanded the abdication of the Kaiser
- The refusal of the Kaiser led to a revolt of sailors in the north of Germany in
the city of Kiel
- More revolutions, including the creation of the “Independent
Socialist Republic of Bavaria”
- The Kaiser finally abdicated on November of 1918

The Socialist Republic of Bavaria

- Separated from Germany and made their own country

Left Middle Right

● Communist ● Reform ● Private property

● Working class ● Democracy ● ANTI communism
● Poor ● Working ● Strong government
● Equal society middle class ● Monarchy again
● Upper class

Friederich Ebert
- Became the leader of Germany after the Kaiser quit
- Proclaimed that Germany now had: freedom of speech, political rights and
freedom of worship
- Socialist leader
- He had the opposition from the right and the left
- 1919: he became the 1st president of the Weimar Republic

The November criminals

1. The Germans started calling those who signed the TOV “The November
criminals” since they were stabbed in the back by them
2. The TOV was seen as a “Diktat”
3. The Germans referred to the LON as “The League of Victors”
The Weimar constitution
1. Everyone over the age of 20 is allowed to vote
 2. System of proportional representation. If a party gained 20% of the votes,
they gained 20% of the seats in the parliament (Reichstag)
3. The Chancellor: responsible for day-to-day government. He acts on behalf
of the President. He acts on behalf of the President, but he needed the
support of half the Reichstag
4. Article 48: Cases of emergency, the President is allowed to rule the country
directly without the Reichstag. This gave him emergency powers.

Threats from the left

● The left opposed to the Weimar-Republic mainly because it wanted a
proper revolution
● The Spartacists
- Led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg.
- Communist group which wanted Germany to be ruled by worker
councils or Soviets
- They started a revolution in 1919 that ended with the death of its
leaders.
- The socialist Republic of Bavaria: In 1919 they declared themselves as
Communists

Threats from the right

The right wanted:
➔ The return of the Kaiser
➔ A strong dictatorial leadership with a strong army and industry
➔ TO ELIMINATE THE TOV

The Freikorps
- Paramilitary group mostly composed by ex-soldiers
- They hated the left and were used by Ebert to destroy the Spartacists
- In 1920 Dr. Wolfgang Kapp started a rebellion called the “Munich Putsch”
- Take over the government
- They reach bankruptcy because they weren’t generating income and
spending a lot, so they had to leave because the government no longer
had money
- The socialist governments comes back

Economic disaster
- The treaty of Versailles forced the Germans to pay 6.600 millions in
reparations to be paid in early installments.
- In 1922 the Germans didn't pay their early quota.
➔ In 1923 the French and the Belgians crossed the Ruhr and began
taking raw materials and goods as compensation. STRIKE!
 Hyperinflation

Gustav Stresemann
- One of the most influential politicians in the history of the Republic.
- He became Chancellor for 100 days during the crisis of the Ruhr in 1923.
- From 1923 to 1929 he was in charge of Germany's foreign policies.
Economic achievements
He solved hyperinflation by
1. Calling off the passive resistance in the Ruhr
2. Burning off the marks and introducing the Reichsmark
3. He negotiated the Dawes plan which stated: Germany will only pay
reparation installments when they can: They end the occupation of the
Ruhr. America loans to Germany over 800 Reichsmarks which he used to
kickoff the industries

Economic recovery
1. By 1928 Germany had managed to rebuild its industries to the same level
as in 1914.
2. However, they had managed to do that thanks to relaying on the American
Loans, political figures as Hitler were highly critical of this.
3. In 1929 Stresemann negotiated the Young Plan. This highly reduced the
amount of reparations Germany had to pay and paved the way for more
loans to be received.

Political stability
- During those years, Political support greatly increased as well as political
violence decreased
- By 1928, the government had around 72,8% of supporting seats in the
Reichstag

“The golden twenties”

● The late 20’s became known as “The golden twenties” in Germany due to
their cultural advances such as:
1. The end of Censorship
2. Intellectuals flourished (writers, actors, musicians, etc)
3. Cinema’s golden age

Foreign policy
● 1925: Stresemann signed the “Locarno treaties”
● 1926: Germany was accepted into the LON

Problems
- Economy: Dependance on the US loans. Poor and middle class remained
affected
- Politics: Raise of the Nazis and the communists
 - Culture: Moral decline
- Foreign policy: Left and right criticized the Locarno treaties

Hitler and the Nazis

- The nazis began as the German Workers party DAP, led by Anton Drexler
- Hitler joined in 1919 and rapidly became in charge of propaganda and the
political ideas of the party
- In 1920 he releases the 25 point programme
- 1920 he renamed the party to National Socialist German Workers Party
(Nazis for short)
- In 1921 he removed Drexler as the leader

25 point programme
➔ Abolition of TOV
➔ Union of Germany and Austria
➔ Only true Germans to be allowed in Germany (Jews to be excluded)
➔ Large industries and business to be nationalized
➔ Generous old age pension
➔ Strong central government

The S.A.
- Sturm Abteilung, 1920
- Group of people to protect the nazis from the communists at meetings to
prevent fights
- Quickly evolved into a paramilitary group (illegal army)
- Led by Ernst Röhm
- Half of the men that were a part of it were unemployed men who saw the
S.A as something that gave them both: Purpose and a warm meal

Munich/Beerhall Putsch
- Hitler and Ludendorff (old war hero) attempted a military coup since
Germany was going through the invasion of the Rhur.
- He wanted to convince other political parties to help him but they wanted
to do it without him.
- The other political parties were discussing this plan in a beerhall so Hitler
surrounds them with the S.A. and threatened them
- They joined him and start to take control of some public buildings and
claimed that he was taking over Bavaria
- Ludendorff let the right leaders go away and they told Hitler’s plans to the
police and he got arrested
- In his trial, instead of defending himself, he started justifying what he did
by propaganda and tried to receive a short term sentence, he became
famous.
Mein Kampf
● National Socialism: Loyalty to Germany, racial purity, equality and state
control of the economy.
● Racism: The Aryans were the master race. All the other races (jews
especially) were inferior.
● Armed force: Hitler believed that war and struggle were an essential part of
the development of a healthy Aryan race
● Living space/Lebensraum: Germany needed to expand as its people were
contained. This expansion would be mainly at the expense of Russia and
Poland

Who did the Nazis target?

➔ Jews
➔ Homosexuals
➔ Gypsies
➔ Mentally handicapped individuals
➔ Blacks
➔ Political oponents
➔ Physically handicapped
➔ Jehovah’s witnesses

The Nazis in the wilderness

- 1924 - 1929
- During his time in jail, Hitler realized that he wouldn’t be able to seize
power by force. He NEEDED the democratic system
- In 1924, for the first time ever he won 32 seats in the Reichstag
- As soon as he got out of jail, he rebuilt the party so that it could take power
through democratic means
- Seeking for new followers, he created a network of local Nazi parties, the
Hitler Youth and the Nazi Students League

New organisms
1. The Hitler Youth: They taught the kids how to be Nazis and Nazi soldiers
2. The Nazi Teachers Association: Taught them how to teach the children
3. The Order of German Women: Taught women the nazi ideology, how to be
housewives, how to be nurses, and how to teach children Nazi ideologies
4. The Union of Nazi Lawyers: They defended the Nazi’s problems

The Schutzstaffel (SS)

- Created in 1925
- Highly trained Arian fanatics loyal to Hitler
- Led by Heinrich Himmler
- Primary responsibility: Destroying opposition to Nazism and carrying out
the racial policies of the Nazis
 - Two important sub-divisions were: The Death’s Head Unit and the wafen-
SS
The depression and the rise of the Nazis

The crash
- In 1929 the American stock market crashed and sent USA into a disastrous
economic depression
- To pay off their debts, they asked German banks to repay the money they
had borrowed. Result? Economic collapse
- Business went bankrupt, workers were laid off and unemployment
rocketed

Enter the Nazis!

Hitler’s ideas now had a special relevance:
★ Is the Weimar Republic’s government indecisive? Germany needs a strong
leader.
★ Are reparations adding to Germany’s problem? Don’t listen to the TOV!
★ Unemployment? Send them to the army and public works!
- In the 1930 elections the Nazis got 103 seats in the Reichstag. In 1932 Nearly
200. They had become the biggest single party.

Why did the Nazis succeed in the elections?

- Joseph Goebbels
- Hitler became the greatest campaigning asset of the Nazis.
- Goebbels spread his word via Films, radio, records, meetings and more.
- Hitler traveled by plane all over Germany and presented himself as
someone who understood the people (they even opened soup kitchens)
- They heavily relied on the use of posters with simple but energetic slogans.
- They showed the order of the SS and the SA to show how disciplined the
Nazis were.

Negative cohesion
Some people supported the Nazis not because they liked Hitler but because they
shared the same fears or complaints such as:
- Disillusionment with democracy: Politicians seemed unable to solve the
problems caused by the Great Depression. Chancellor Bruning even asked
the people to make more sacrifices. The Reichstag was practically useless
and Germany was ruled by Hindenburg’s emergency powers.
- The communist threat: Farmers, shop owners, higher class, everyone was
afraid of a possible communist revolution.
- Decadence: They attacked the loss of German traditional values

Enter the depression

Once the Great Depression got to Germany the Nazis used several methods to
increase their popularity such as:
- Propaganda
- Speeches
- Political violence

Hitler for president?

- In 1932 Hitler decided to compete for the presidency against Hindenburg.
- Hitler began a massive propaganda campaign, he traveled all around
Germany.
- The results of the first poll saw no candidate taking over 50% of the votes,
so a second round was set up.
- After the second round Hindenburg got over 50% of the votes while Hitler
only got 36,8%.

July 1932
- In the elections of July 1932, The Nazis won 230 seats and became the
largest single party of the Reichstag.
- However, Hindenburg refused to appoint Hitler as chancellor and in its
place he elected Franz Von Papen.
- Von Papen proved to be a very unpopular chancellor and after 4 months
on the job he was sacked by Hindenburg.

Kurt Von Schleicher

- On november of 1932 Hindenburg elected Kurt Von Schleicher as
chancellor.
- Schleicher's plan was to split the nazis. He knew that some members of
the Nazi party did not like Hitler and instead supported another figure of
the party, Gregor Strasser.
- Schleicher made Strasser vice chancellor and in the elections of November
1932 the Nazis lost 34 seats in the Reichstag.
- One month later Hitler managed to recover his popularity inside of the
Nazi party. Schleicher's plan had failed.

Hitler becomes chancellor

- Von Papen saw an opportunity to get revenge on Schleicher. He went to
Hindenburg with a plan that Hitler should be made chancellor, but in a
government that had few Nazi ministers.
- Von Papen would be Vice-chancellor and there would be many
conservative ministers to limit Hitler´s power. This would lead to one of
two consequences:
1) Hitler would do well and the financial crisis would end so
Hindenburg could take the credit for appointing him.
2) Hitler would do badly and the crisis would get worse causing Nazi
support to collapse.
 - Hindenburg met with leading Generals of the army and key industrialists.
- Fearing that a revolution could ocurre (either by the Nazis or the KPD),
Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor on the 30th of January 1933.
- However, his power was severely limited:
1) Hindenburg could sack him at any time.
2) He didn’t control the Army.
3) There were only three Nazis in a cabinet of 14 ministers.
4) The economy was still weak, therefore he did not have a big
budget
5) He had 196 of the 584 seats in the Reichstag

Unit 9.2
Why was Hitler able to dominate Germany by 1934?

How did Hitler consolidate his power?

1. JANUARY 1933: Chancellor
2. FEBRUARY 1933: Reichstag fire
The Reichstag mysteriously sets on fire, Hitler blamed communism. The police
found someone “responsible” and they were communists. Due to the state of
crisis, Hitler asked Hindenburg to give him the emergency power, to prevent
future terrorist attacks, and chase down the ones he thinks are responsible. No
jails. Due to this, the Nazi start building the first concentration camps
3. MARCH 1933: Elections. Enabling act!!!
The feb. elections were pushed back to March. As most of the communist leaders
were in jail, Hitler and the Nazis won by majority.
Hitler wanted to pass a very controversial law that would change the constitution,
but he needs more votes than he had. To do so, he negotiated with the catholic
center party. He promised that the catholic church and schools were to be
untouched by him. There still weren't enough votes, so he used the SA and the SS
to convince (violently) them to vote in his favor.

The enabling act: It's a law which gives the chancellor for a period of 4 years the
ability to pass laws without consulting the Reichstag. EXTREMELY DANGEROUS!!!
Some of the laws:
1) No more political parties
2) Bans the communist party
3) Bans the trade union (sindicato)
4) Bans jewish people from going to school and working in the public
workspace.
4. JULY 1934: The night of the long knives (NOLK)
The SA (rohm) demanded Hitler to make the SA official German Army
(Wermatch), which he couldn’t do due to the limit of soldiers that was agreed in
the TOV. couldn’t do that for these reasons:
 1) Wehrmacht would swear loyalty to Hitler
2) Hitler didn’t trust Rhom

The night of the long knives, Hitler made a meeting with the most important
members of the SA. They all stayed at a hotel. That night while the SA were
sleeping, the SS executed 400 members (except Rhom). Rhom was accused of
planning Hitler’s death, and they sent him to jail. Thanks to this, he won the
Wehrmacht and the SA’s trusts.
5. AUGUST 1934: Hindenburg dies. The army oath.
After Hindenburg dies, Hitler combines the vice president position with the
Chancellor, this is called Fuhrer.

He makes the army swear loyalty to him first and then Germany, in exchange of
revealing the army and recovering the lost territory.

Hitler becomes chancellor Hitler consolidates his power

- Von papen/Hindenburg (3) - Reichstag fire (3)

- G.D. (1) - March elections
- Strasser - Enabling Act (1)
- Court trial - Nolk (2)
- Propaganda (2) - H. Dies
- Nazi Youth - Army oath
- Mein Kampf - Propaganda
- Negative cohesion (4) - Nazi youth
- SS + SA (5) - SS + SA
- 25 P programme - Fear
- Constitution

Why was it important? Why was it important?

1. The GD made many Germans desperate 1. The Enabling Act was crucial for Hitler
due to economic problems. Hitler took because it gave him authority to pass laws
advantage of this desperation, blaming without approval. This allowed him to
certain groups and offering a nationalist eliminate opposition and establish a
solution. The Nazis used effective dictatorship. In a nutshell, the Enabling
propaganda, gained popularity, and Act was a significant step in Hitler's path
eventually Hitler became Chancellor in to complete control.
1933. In short, the economic crisis helped 2. The Night of the Long Knives was vital
Hitler rise to power by tapping into since Hitler purged rivals within the Nazi
people's distress and offering a Party and eliminated potential threats.
seemingly appealing solution. This brutal event secured his authority and
2. Propaganda helped Hitler gain support removed internal opposition. It solidified
and become Chancellor by spreading a Hitler's grip on power.
compelling message. It portrayed him as 3. The Reichstag fire was critical because it
a strong leader, promising a better was used to blame political opponents
future for Germany during the Great (like the Communists) and create fear. This
 Depression. This persuasive fear allowed Hitler to push for the
communication swayed public opinion, Reichstag Fire Decree, which suspended
crucial for his rise to power. civil liberties, enabling him to consolidate
3. Von Papen, a politician, thought he control and suppress opposition. In short,
could control Hitler by making him the fire was a catalyst for Hitler's rise to
Chancellor. He underestimated Hitler's absolute power.
ambitions. This move, thinking he could
use Hitler for his own purposes,
backfired. Hitler consolidated power and
became Germany's leader. Von Papen's
miscalculation was key to Hitler's rise to
Chancellor.
4. Negative cohesion was crucial for Hitler
becoming Chancellor. In the face of a
fragmented opposition, Hitler's Nazi
Party, though controversial, gained
power because other parties couldn't
form a strong, united front against him.
This disunity allowed Hitler to rise to the
position of Chancellor and eventually
consolidate his authority.
5. The SS and SA were paramilitary forces
that helped Hitler gain power. They
intimidated and silenced opposition,
creating fear. This fear strengthened
Hitler's position and facilitated his rise to
Chancellor. The use of these forces was a
key factor in Hitler's ascent to power.