1924-33 Flashcards
Who were the 3 candidates for 1925 Presidential election?
- Marx (centre)
- Thalmann (communist)
- Hindenburg (Right Wing)
What % of votes did every President candidate achieve?
- Hind = 48.3%
- Marx = 45.3%
- Thalmann = 6.4%
How did the middle classes suffer 1924-29? (3)
- Bankrupt by hyperinflation
- White Collar workers did not enjoy the wage rises of industry, and they could not gain access to welfare
- Had no clear political party e.g. SPD for working classes
What improved the lives of the working classes 1924-29? (4)
- 1927, compulsory unemployment coverage covers 17 mil workers
- Article 155 of constitution stated the German state must require ‘secure healthy housing’
Meant 1924-31, over 2 mil houses were built - 1924 Arbitration scheme allowed workers to argue for more favourable working conditions before a neutral judge
- National Income 12% higher 1928 than 1913
How did the lives of those in agriculture suffer? (3)
- Global Grain surplus 1925-26 caused price slump
- 1929: agricultural production is 3/4s of 1913 level
- In the late 1920s, wages in agriculture were 44% lower
How many companies went bankrupt 1923 compared to 1924?
1923 = 233 1924 = over 6,000
How did exports increase?
1920: 3.7 bil
1929: 13.5 bil
How many cartels were there in 1925?
3,000
What major cartel formed 1926?
Why was it major?
Vereinigte Stahlwerke
Controlled at least 40% of total iron and steel production
36% of coal production
What was the unemployment rate 1929?
3 million - 14.5% of workforce
How did social welfare improve? (2)
- 1927, compulsory unemployment coverage covers 17 million workers
- Public spending on housing increased. 1929 it is 33 x more than it was in 1913
How did the lives of the Elites become lessened 1924-29?
- Weimar constituion removed all legal privileges of aristocracy.
- Prussian Junker military were undermined by demilitarisation
How did the lives of youths improve?
1922 Youth Welfare Law meant every child had right to education
How did the lives of youths suffer?
- Hit by high levels of unemployment and were drawn to the Nazi party.
- ‘Wild cliquen’ of rebellious young men
- Only 7% of secondary school students were working class 1930
What was a Rentmark worth?
I rentmark = 1 trillion marks
1 dollar = 4.2 rentmarks
What did the Dawes Plan state? (4)
- Ruhr returned to full control of Germans
- Reparations payments 1 billion in 1st year, then 2.5 annually
- Allies would supervise reconstruction of Reichsbank and take a degree of control of G’s central banking system
- G would receive a loan of 800 million gold marks from USA
When Schact took over the Reichsbank, what did the government stop doing? (3)
- Stopped offering credit to industry
- Lending rates controlled
- New taxes on individuals and companies
What did Stresemann do September 1923?
Called off passive resistance in Ruhr, promised to resume reparations and established plans for new currency
Who did Stresemann appoint 1923 to oversee introduction of new currency?
Schact
How many votes did a party need to representation in Reichstag?
60,000
What parties did Weimar’s proportional system create?
Saxon Peasants
- 1928 election, achieved 0.4% of vote, yet had 2 seats
How did the Nazi party do in the 1928 election?
2.6% of vote and 12 seats
What developments were seen in the chemicals industry? (2)
Farben became largest manufacturing enterprise in Europe
Formation of cartel Farbeninaustrie
Why did right-wing parties critique the Dawes Plan?
- It still accepted Reparations
- Felted allied control of banks was an invasion of sovereignty
How did the DNVP label the Dawes Plan?
A ‘second Versailles’
How dd the Dawes Plan impact the German economy?
Prevented Reichsbank from allowing interest rates to drop to below 5%
- Made Germany attractive to overseas investors
- However, made Germany dependent on and vulnerable to investment whims of foreign capital
What two extreme political groups often fought?
Nazi’s SA and KPD’s Red Fighting League
How did Germany’s level of coal production change?
1927, it is at 68% of 1913 level
How did the mid-1920s collapse in food prices affect agricultural wages?
By late 1920s, income in agriculture is 44% below national average
What was the new German art movement and what did it aim to do?
New Objectivity
Believed art should comment on society and be understood by ordinary people
- ‘Verism’
What artists were associated by New Objectivity
George Grosz and Otto Dix
What controversial book was published 1929?
All Quiet on the Western Front - by Erich Maria Remarque
How did Conservatives react against cultural developments?
- Nationalist parties campaigned against the ‘Tides of Filth’
- Wilhlem Frick was the first Nazi in 1930s state government, ordered all modern art to be removed from museums
What new art school was founded? By who?
Bauhaus
Walter Gropius
How did Expressionist artists shock Germans?
Kirchner painted nudity
Karl Schmidt was inspired by African masks
How did the German gov respond to cultural developments? (2)
- 1926, Reichstag passed law to ‘protect youth from pulp fiction and pornography’
- Public spending cuts 1929 meant local governments withdrew subsidies from avant-garde productions
How was the ‘New Women’ image not a reality?
- Women were not given equal pay, especially post-financial crash
- Married women who worked were labelled ‘Doppelverdiener’
Who represented the ‘New Woman’ image in Germany?
Marlene Dietrich
- Openly Bisexual and symbolic of the growing sexual freedom of women
How did the lives of women improve?
Formally gained equal rights with the Weimar Constitution
- Could vote in national elections
1920: 11 women elected to Reichstag
1925, 35% of women employed
What happened 1929?
The Wall Street Crash that triggered the Great Depression
What was the impact of the Great Depression?
1932:
- 6 million officially unemployed
- Output of German economy 58% of 1920s high points
- Real wages fell by 1/3rd
What unstable government was formed 1928-30?
Hermann-Muller’s ‘Grand Coalition’
Who was in the ‘Grand Coalition’
SPD DDP DVP BVP ZP
Who was Chancellor 1930-32?
Bruning
Who was Chancellor 1928-30?
Hermann-Muller
Why did Bruning resign 1932?
He lost the support of Schleicher (commander of army)
Who is Chancellor June-December 1932?
Von Papen
What was the result of the July 1932 election?
- NSDAP became largest party with 230 seats (increase of 123)
- SPD second smallest with 133
- KPD = 89
What was significant about July 1932 election?
NSDP and kPD totalled over 50% of votes and thereby blocked any gov that did not include them
What was the result of the November 1932 election?
- NSDAP lost 34 seats (196 total.)
- KPD gained 11 to win 100
Nazis still = largest party, however, don’t have enough to form majority
Who is Chancellor December 1932 - Jan 1933?
Schleicher
When is Hitler appointed Chancellor?
30 Jan 1933
Who (probably) started the Reichstag Fire 1933?
Communist Marinus van der Lubbe
What did Hitler pass in 1933 in response to the Reichstag Fire?
The Decree for the Protection of the people and the State
What did the 1933 Decree for the Protection of the People and the State do? (2)
- Suspended constitutional civil rights
- Gave the federal government powers of arrest without judicial interference
- Decree was used to ban KPD and arrest 1000s of communists
What % of the vote did the Nazis achieve in the 1933 election?
44%
What did the 1933 Enabling Act do? (2)
Allowed Hitler to rule by decree for 4 years
Removed accountability
What two acts established a one-party state?
- 1933 Law Against the Formation of New Parties
- 1934 Law for the Reconstruction of the State (dissolved all state assemblies and replaced them with Nazi-appointed Reich Governors.)
What action did Hitler take to get the army on his side?
1934 Night of the Long Knives (Hitler’s purge of the SA)
Who died in August 1934?
Hindenburg
What did the army swear to Hitler in 1934? What did it do?
Oath of allegiance to Hitler as commander-in-chief of armed forces and head of state
Combined posts of Chancellor and President
How many seats did the Nazis win in the 1933 election??
288
