Impact Of The Depression (1929)

Question 1

What happened to the unemployment rates for young due to the Depression and how was this seen in June 1933?

Answer 1

They skyrocketed. June 1933 - unemployment in Hamburg for 14-25 age group was 39% for males and 25.2% for females

Question 2

What were the consequences of youth unemployment?

Answer 2

. Gangs of young men who now had no jobs/future prospect congregated in public spaces in German towns and cities, causing alarm for older, middle class citizens
. Fears of youth involvement in crime increased as this could lead youth to be drawn into extremist political organisations

Question 3

Why were male unemployment rates worse for males than females during the Depression?

Answer 3

. Women were less likely to register as unemployed
. Traditional female roles such as in service industries was much less affected than male roles such as manufacturing and transport

Question 4

What happened to the levels of 14-25 year olds being accused of crime?

Answer 4

Increased, more young men being charged with theft

Question 5

What kind of charges towards youths were increased (particularly men)?

Answer 5

Theft, offences against the state and assault/threatening behaviour

Question 6

What are offences agains the state and what does this show?

Answer 6

Violence during political demonstrations - shows worsening political situation

Question 7

How many juveniles were accused of crimes in Hamburg across 1932?

Answer 7

Almost 1000

Question 8

What happened to the levels of young people in extremist political organisations?

Answer 8

It increased

Question 9

How did the left draw young people into political extremism?

Answer 9

KPD partly successfully got young working-class people from the ‘wild cliques’ to engage in street battles and political demonstrations

Question 10

How did the right draw in political extremism for youths?

Answer 10

. Paramilitary organisations on the right tried to recruit unemployed youths
. Hitler Youth and SA offered uniforms and excitement of battle so youths could escape and avoid the boredom of unemployment

Question 11

How did youth involvement in political extremism vary by gender and majority?

Answer 11

Girls and young women were the least involved and the majority of unemployed youths stayed away from these organisations

Question 12

What did Adam Stegerwald (minister if Labour) do in March 1931 and what did his views reflect?

Answer 12

Sent a letter to Labour Exchanges on his priorities in creating courses for the young unemployed
. ‘Maintaining their will to work’
. ‘Protecting them from the physical, intellectual and moral dangers of unemployment.’
- reflected Brüning’s governments policies towards the unemployed

Question 13

What were the priorities of Brüning’s government?

Answer 13

. Keep control over expenditure on unemployment benefits
. Lessen the damaging effects of unemployment on young people
- he did this all whilst reliantly waiting on market forces to revive the economy (risky)

Question 14

How did Brüning put his priorities in place using compulsory schemes?

Answer 14

1. Day centres for young people to take part in work-related activities
2. Emergency labour schemes where unemployed youths had to do unskilled manual labour and were paid below the legal minimum

Question 15

How were both compulsory schemes for unemployment viewed by youths and what did this lead to?

Answer 15

Unpopular, led to October 1930 and June 1932 strikes for higher wages

Question 16

What were the voluntary labour schemes that Brüning’s government put in place?

Answer 16

. Young unemployed were sent to residential work camps for 6 months away from the cities

Question 17

What was the problem with the voluntary labour schemes for the young unemployed?

Answer 17

. Didn’t usually offer a possibility of vocational training
. Didn’t help to find youths permanent employment as the priority was to get young unemployed ‘off the streets.’

Question 18

What was written in 1931 about the effects of the Great Depression on women and what did it say?

Answer 18

‘Twilight for Women’ - ‘the meaning of women’s employment and their right to it are suddenly being questioned.’

Question 19

What one way did women workers do better than males from the depression?

Answer 19

Female proportion of the total workforce increased

Question 20

What main problems did the Great Depression cause for women?

Answer 20

. Dismissal of millions of workers from jobs brought back the debate on whether married women should stay employed when males were out of work.
. Right wing parties campaigned against the employment of ‘double earners’

Question 21

Was the right-wing campaign against the employment of ‘double earners’ successful?

Answer 21

Partly, as in May 1932 a law was passed allowing female civil servants to be dismissed

Question 22

How was the May 1932 female civil servant dismissal law limited?

Answer 22

. Limited to central government employees only
. Women could only be dismissed if their economic circumstances were proved to be secure

Question 23

How did the May 1932 law change things?

Answer 23

. Symbolic victory for people who believed married women should only work at home
. After law was passed, Reich Postal Service dismissed around 1000 married women from employment
. Equal rights for women was set back during the Depression years

Question 24

Who were ‘double earners’ during the Great Depression?

Answer 24

Typically households where both the husband and wife worked. The term was often used in a derogatory manner, as it was like saying these households were taking jobs from other families where the breadwinner was unemployed

Question 25

What were the consequences of the Great Depression on the political system?

Answer 25

. Collapse of Müller’s Grand Coalition . Opportunity for extremist parties to gain support and undermine democracy . Political violence intensified

Question 26

When does Müller’s Grand coalition collapse?

Answer 26

March 1930

Question 27

When was the Wall Street Crash?

Answer 27

October 1929

Question 28

When was the Reichstag election in 1930?

Answer 28

September, communists and Nazi made gains (political extremism clear)

Question 29

When was the collapse of an Austrian bank?

Answer 29

May 1931

Question 30

When was the financial crisis in Germany?

Answer 30

July 1931

Question 31

When was the Nazi SA ban and Hindenburg re-elected?

Answer 31

April 1932

Question 32

When does Brüning resign and Papen replaces?

Answer 32

May 1932

Question 33

When do Nazis become largest party after a Reichstag election?

Answer 33

July 1932

Question 34

What was the Grand Coalition made up of?

Answer 34

5 parties from SPD and moderate right wing DVP

Question 35

What problems created tension in the Grand Coalition?

Answer 35

. Unemployment soared after Wall Street Crash . Unemployment benefits increased in prices for government, leading to a strain in state finances . Falling tax revenues All of this meant the state budget was in a massive deficit by the end of 1929

Question 36

How did the Grand Coalition split?

Answer 36

. DVP wanted to reduce unemployment benefits . SPD wanted to protect the level of welfare benefits and raise taxes to maintain the benefits

Question 37

What did the split in the Grand Coalition lead to?

Answer 37

Müller’s resignation in March 1930, he was replaced by Heinrich Brüning (centre party)

Question 38

Who influenced Hindenburg to appoint Brüning as chancellor?

Answer 38

. General Groener (Defence minister since 1928) . General Kurt Von Schleicher (Groener’s political advisor) Clearly, the army is beginning to play a key role in politics, who were made up of conservative elites

Question 39

What were the views of Schleicher and Groener?

Answer 39

. Opposed parliamentary democracy . Saw March 1930 political cris (Grand coalition split) as an opportunity for a more authoritarian government

Question 40

How did the composition of government under Brüning lay a serious threat to democracy?

Answer 40

. Brüning had authoritarian leanings . 2 army generals in government . Hindenburg was opposed to democracy but respected the coalition

Question 41

How many laws were passed by decree 1930-1932 and what does this show?

Answer 41

115 Clearly laws are being passed more without the approval of Reichstag

Question 42

Why did Brüning’s coalition have to use ruling by decree so often?

Answer 42

It didn’t include the SPD (largest party in Reichstag at the time), so couldn’t get support for majority to pass laws in Reichstag As ruling by decree was the only real option, Weimar democracy essentially died and allowed Hitler to be so influential when he came Chancellor

Question 43

Why did laws getting passed by decree so much cause another political crisis under Brüning?

Answer 43

Article 48 was only meant to be used for emergency

Question 44

How did SPD cause another election?

Answer 44

They won Reichstag support under Brüning’s government to withdraw the decree that Hindenburg had passed to allow Brüning’s balancing the budget changes to be law This meant, in September 1930, Brüning dissolved the Reichstag and called an election, hoping to reverse these changes

Question 45

Who gained the most votes in the 1930 election?

Answer 45

Extremist left and right parties

Question 46

How many votes did communists gain in 1930 election?

Answer 46

Over a million

Question 47

How did the Nazis fare in the 1930 election?

Answer 47

Became the 2nd largest party - 6.5 million votes - went from 12 to 107 seats in the Reichstag

Question 48

How was Nazis having 107 deputies in the Reichstag significant?

Answer 48

It meant they could make their presence known through shouting, chanting and interrupting This made the Reichstag too chaotic and proceedings there became irrelevant

Question 49

What period in 1931 did the Reichstag deputies not meet at all?

Answer 49

February to October 1931

Question 50

What was political power in the hands of in 1931?

Answer 50

. The president and his advisers . The streets - SA stormtroopers chanted on streets such as the ‘song of the storm columns’

Question 51

What was political violence like in early Weimar (1919-23)?

Answer 51

. Frequent riots . Political assassinations . Uprisings

Question 52

What was political violence like during the Golden Age (1924-29)?

Answer 52

. Violence mostly subsided . Nazis claimed 29 of their men died in clashes with communists . Communists claimed 92 supporters were killed

Question 53

What was political violence like during the Great Depression and WSC (1929-33)?

Answer 53

. Nazis had SA and communists had Red-Front Fighters’ League on the streets - each side tried to break up political meetings - rival marches escalated to full-scale riots . Violence particularly bad during election campaigns

Question 54

What did Brüning ban in December 1931?

Answer 54

Issued a decree banning the wearing of political uniforms - SA continue to March in white shirts

Question 55

How was political violence attempted to be controlled in April 1932 and did it work?

Answer 55

Hindenburg was convinced to sign a decree outlawing the SA - SA membership continued to grow and political violence wasn’t controlled

Question 56

What was SA membership by the end of 1932?

Answer 56

Around 400,000

Question 57

When was ‘Black Thursday’ and what was it?

Answer 57

24th October 1929 - New York stock exchange experienced worst ever fall in share prices

Question 58

When was the second collapse of the NY stock exchange?

Answer 58

29th October 1929

Question 59

How bad did the 29th October affect American companies?

Answer 59

Largest companies fell by ten billion in values in that one day alone

Question 60

How was the WSC so bad for business owners?

Answer 60

. Millionaires lost fortunes overnight . Smaller investors lost all their savings . Many companies went bankrupt . Banks stopped lending and called in their existing loans . Workers lost jobs

Question 61

What ways did the Wall Street Crash (WSC) affect Germany?

Answer 61

. Economically . In society . In the political system

Question 62

What was the state of the German economy since 1928?

Answer 62

Had been stagnating (staying the same) as investment decreased

Question 63

How did the WSC destroy Germany’s 1924-28 economic recovery?

Answer 63

. Germany’s economy had been largely financed by American loans which were dried up by the crash . American banks that lent money to Germany on short-term loans demanded immediate repayment - this was a problem as Germany should be getting more investment to stimulate economy, not getting money withdrawn

Question 64

How did the WSC impact Germany’s trade?

Answer 64

Depression drastically reduced demand for imported goods in the USA and and Germany’s export trade declined rapidly

Question 65

What are the stats on Germanys export trade and industrial production from 1929-32?

Answer 65

Export trade declined by 61% Industrial production fell by 58% of 1928 level

Question 66

How did the Great Depression affect Britian?

Answer 66

Declined 11% in industrial production between 1929-32 (not as bad as Germany)

Question 67

What did the Depression force companies to do?

Answer 67

. Go bankrupt and make their workers redundant as prices fell and Germany’s foreign trade collapsed . Even companies that survived has to reduce workforces and cut the hours and wages of the workers still working.

Question 68

How did the Great Depression impact banks?

Answer 68

Got into difficulties as customers withdrew their money and outstanding loans weren’t repaid

Question 69

When was the collapse of an Austrian bank and how did this affect the German banking system?

Answer 69

May 1931, Germany banking system plunged into crisis

Question 70

How did Germany try and give the financial system some breathing space and did it work?

Answer 70

July 1931, government closed the banks and stock exchange for two days However, the Depression deepened and German’s became more desperate

Question 71

What were the official unemployment figures by 1932 and how are they wrong?

Answer 71

About 1/3 of German workers were registered as unemployed. Many redundant workers, especially women, didn’t register as unemployed and so weren’t counted. The true number at January 1933 was about 8 million

Question 72

Which main industrial areas were hit particularly hard by the Depression?

Answer 72

The Ruhr, Silesia and the main port cities such as Hamburg

Question 73

What workers were badly hit by the Depression?

Answer 73

. White-collar workers . In the civil service, there were severe cuts in the workforce and reductions in the salaries of those who remained . Farmers

Question 74

How did the Depression further worsen the already bad situation for farmers?

Answer 74

. Prices collapsed . Exports of agricultural produce declined . Sale of food fell as Germans had less money to spend . Many more farmers were forced to give up their farms as the banks demanded repayment of loans . Unemployment spread to the countryside as farm labourers lost their jobs

Question 75

Why were crime rates higher during the depression?

Answer 75

As there was high unemployment, Nazis wanted this chaos to be visible to show the failure of democracy

Question 76

What were the ‘roaring 20s’ in America?

Answer 76

1920s: time of labour-saving devices e.g hoovers, fridges, washing machines

Question 77

What were ‘Liberty Bonds’?

Answer 77

US government sold these during WW1: they were government debts sold to citizens. After 10-25 years you could redeem it at an interest rate of 3-4.25%

Question 78

What did ‘Liberty Bonds’ popularise in America?

Answer 78

The idea of investing

Question 79

When did stock markets return to peak October 1929 levels?

Answer 79

Not till November 1954

Question 80

What did Liberty bonds lead to?

Answer 80

Speculation

Question 81

What is speculation?

Answer 81

A form of gambling where people would buy shares in the hope that they would increase and then sell the shares and make a profit

Question 82

What were the effects of speculation on Americans?

Answer 82

. Many average Americans began to invest in the stock market . Stocks went up with new labour-saving devices, people got very rich . Americans began to believe that the stock markets couldn’t fail as everyone was doing well

Question 83

What were the problems with speculation?

Answer 83

. Share prices became far higher than the real value of the companies . Industry and spending slowed down . Loads of items were mass-produced but not bought, meaning companies lost a lot of money

Question 84

How did the WSC occur?

Answer 84

Share prices got to record levels, so the economy slowed down and people started to doubt speculation . This led to people ‘panic selling’ their shares . Prices began to fall as people panic sold . There were a few false alarms before people really properly panic sold and the crash happened as share prices fell rapidly from all the selling

Question 85

What desperate measures did some Americans have to take to make up for money lost on the stock market?

Answer 85

People began to sell their own products in their homes

Question 86

What happened to unemployment and welfare benefits in Germany by 1930?

Answer 86

There were moved to limit the amounts of benefit being paid as the costs became too high with so much unemployment during the Great Depression

Question 87

How were the unemployed getting worse benefits during the Depression?

Answer 87

. Only entitled to state benefits for a fixed period . After this fixed period, they had to apply to local authorities for relief . Local benefits less generous and strictly means-tested . Women received less benefit than men and young people less than adults

Question 88

What areas were hit worst by the Depression in Germany?

Answer 88

In towns that depended on a single industry rather than towns with a more diverse economy

Question 89

What were the effects of the Great Depression on Brand-Erbisdorff (near Dresden)?

Answer 89

. By April 1931, the local glassworks had closed, which was the only main industry there . Since most of the unemployed (which were many now) had been out of work for at least two years, they didn’t qualify for state unemployment benefits . They had to rely on local benefits/relief (much less generous)

Question 90

How was health declining during the Depression?

Answer 90

. Increasing poverty . Diseases linked to poor nutrition and living conditions such as rickets were increasing . Doctors reported numerous cases of malnutrition among children . Suicide rates increased

Question 91

How did the Depression impact life on the edges of large cities such as Berlin?

Answer 91

Unemployed tenants were unable to pay rent and were evicted, leading to the building of tent cities and shanty towns (for poor people)

Question 92

What did Hubert Knickerbocker (American journalist) find out about diet during the depression?

Answer 92

The daily meal for an average family consisted of six small potatoes, five slices of bread, a s,all cabbage and a knob of margarine. Meat rarely featured in this ‘poverty diet’