Impact Of The Depression (1929) Flashcards
What happened to the unemployment rates for young due to the Depression and how was this seen in June 1933?
They skyrocketed. June 1933 - unemployment in Hamburg for 14-25 age group was 39% for males and 25.2% for females
What were the consequences of youth unemployment?
. 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
Why were male unemployment rates worse for males than females during the Depression?
. 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
What happened to the levels of 14-25 year olds being accused of crime?
Increased, more young men being charged with theft
What kind of charges towards youths were increased (particularly men)?
Theft, offences against the state and assault/threatening behaviour
What are offences agains the state and what does this show?
Violence during political demonstrations - shows worsening political situation
How many juveniles were accused of crimes in Hamburg across 1932?
Almost 1000
What happened to the levels of young people in extremist political organisations?
It increased
How did the left draw young people into political extremism?
KPD partly successfully got young working-class people from the ‘wild cliques’ to engage in street battles and political demonstrations
How did the right draw in political extremism for youths?
. 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
How did youth involvement in political extremism vary by gender and majority?
Girls and young women were the least involved and the majority of unemployed youths stayed away from these organisations
What did Adam Stegerwald (minister if Labour) do in March 1931 and what did his views reflect?
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
What were the priorities of Brüning’s government?
. 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)
How did Brüning put his priorities in place using compulsory schemes?
- Day centres for young people to take part in work-related activities
- Emergency labour schemes where unemployed youths had to do unskilled manual labour and were paid below the legal minimum
How were both compulsory schemes for unemployment viewed by youths and what did this lead to?
Unpopular, led to October 1930 and June 1932 strikes for higher wages
What were the voluntary labour schemes that Brüning’s government put in place?
. Young unemployed were sent to residential work camps for 6 months away from the cities
What was the problem with the voluntary labour schemes for the young unemployed?
. 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.’
What was written in 1931 about the effects of the Great Depression on women and what did it say?
‘Twilight for Women’ - ‘the meaning of women’s employment and their right to it are suddenly being questioned.’
What one way did women workers do better than males from the depression?
Female proportion of the total workforce increased
What main problems did the Great Depression cause for women?
. 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’
Was the right-wing campaign against the employment of ‘double earners’ successful?
Partly, as in May 1932 a law was passed allowing female civil servants to be dismissed
How was the May 1932 female civil servant dismissal law limited?
. Limited to central government employees only
. Women could only be dismissed if their economic circumstances were proved to be secure
How did the May 1932 law change things?
. 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
Who were ‘double earners’ during the Great Depression?
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
What were the consequences of the Great Depression on the political system?
. Collapse of Müller’s Grand Coalition
. Opportunity for extremist parties to gain support and undermine democracy
. Political violence intensified
When does Müller’s Grand coalition collapse?
March 1930
When was the Wall Street Crash?
October 1929
When was the Reichstag election in 1930?
September, communists and Nazi made gains (political extremism clear)
When was the collapse of an Austrian bank?
May 1931
When was the financial crisis in Germany?
July 1931
When was the Nazi SA ban and Hindenburg re-elected?
April 1932
When does Brüning resign and Papen replaces?
May 1932
When do Nazis become largest party after a Reichstag election?
July 1932
What was the Grand Coalition made up of?
5 parties from SPD and moderate right wing DVP
What problems created tension in the Grand Coalition?
. 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
How did the Grand Coalition split?
. DVP wanted to reduce unemployment benefits
. SPD wanted to protect the level of welfare benefits and raise taxes to maintain the benefits
What did the split in the Grand Coalition lead to?
Müller’s resignation in March 1930, he was replaced by Heinrich Brüning (centre party)
Who influenced Hindenburg to appoint Brüning as chancellor?
. 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
What were the views of Schleicher and Groener?
. Opposed parliamentary democracy
. Saw March 1930 political cris (Grand coalition split) as an opportunity for a more authoritarian government
How did the composition of government under Brüning lay a serious threat to democracy?
. Brüning had authoritarian leanings
. 2 army generals in government
. Hindenburg was opposed to democracy but respected the coalition
How many laws were passed by decree 1930-1932 and what does this show?
115
Clearly laws are being passed more without the approval of Reichstag
Why did Brüning’s coalition have to use ruling by decree so often?
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
Why did laws getting passed by decree so much cause another political crisis under Brüning?
Article 48 was only meant to be used for emergency
How did SPD cause another election?
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
Who gained the most votes in the 1930 election?
Extremist left and right parties
How many votes did communists gain in 1930 election?
Over a million
How did the Nazis fare in the 1930 election?
Became the 2nd largest party
- 6.5 million votes
- went from 12 to 107 seats in the Reichstag
How was Nazis having 107 deputies in the Reichstag significant?
It meant they could make their presence known through shouting, chanting and interrupting
This made the Reichstag too chaotic and proceedings there became irrelevant
What period in 1931 did the Reichstag deputies not meet at all?
February to October 1931
What was political power in the hands of in 1931?
. The president and his advisers
. The streets
- SA stormtroopers chanted on streets such as the ‘song of the storm columns’
What was political violence like in early Weimar (1919-23)?
. Frequent riots
. Political assassinations
. Uprisings
What was political violence like during the Golden Age (1924-29)?
. Violence mostly subsided
. Nazis claimed 29 of their men died in clashes with communists
. Communists claimed 92 supporters were killed
What was political violence like during the Great Depression and WSC (1929-33)?
. 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
What did Brüning ban in December 1931?
Issued a decree banning the wearing of political uniforms
- SA continue to March in white shirts
How was political violence attempted to be controlled in April 1932 and did it work?
Hindenburg was convinced to sign a decree outlawing the SA
- SA membership continued to grow and political violence wasn’t controlled
What was SA membership by the end of 1932?
Around 400,000
When was ‘Black Thursday’ and what was it?
24th October 1929 - New York stock exchange experienced worst ever fall in share prices
When was the second collapse of the NY stock exchange?
29th October 1929
How bad did the 29th October affect American companies?
Largest companies fell by ten billion in values in that one day alone
How was the WSC so bad for business owners?
. 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
What ways did the Wall Street Crash (WSC) affect Germany?
. Economically
. In society
. In the political system
What was the state of the German economy since 1928?
Had been stagnating (staying the same) as investment decreased
How did the WSC destroy Germany’s 1924-28 economic recovery?
. 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
How did the WSC impact Germany’s trade?
Depression drastically reduced demand for imported goods in the USA and and Germany’s export trade declined rapidly
What are the stats on Germanys export trade and industrial production from 1929-32?
Export trade declined by 61%
Industrial production fell by 58% of 1928 level
How did the Great Depression affect Britian?
Declined 11% in industrial production between 1929-32 (not as bad as Germany)
What did the Depression force companies to do?
. 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.
How did the Great Depression impact banks?
Got into difficulties as customers withdrew their money and outstanding loans weren’t repaid
When was the collapse of an Austrian bank and how did this affect the German banking system?
May 1931, Germany banking system plunged into crisis
How did Germany try and give the financial system some breathing space and did it work?
July 1931, government closed the banks and stock exchange for two days
However, the Depression deepened and German’s became more desperate
What were the official unemployment figures by 1932 and how are they wrong?
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
Which main industrial areas were hit particularly hard by the Depression?
The Ruhr, Silesia and the main port cities such as Hamburg
What workers were badly hit by the Depression?
. White-collar workers
. In the civil service, there were severe cuts in the workforce and reductions in the salaries of those who remained
. Farmers
How did the Depression further worsen the already bad situation for farmers?
. 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
Why were crime rates higher during the depression?
As there was high unemployment, Nazis wanted this chaos to be visible to show the failure of democracy
What were the ‘roaring 20s’ in America?
1920s: time of labour-saving devices e.g hoovers, fridges, washing machines
What were ‘Liberty Bonds’?
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%
What did ‘Liberty Bonds’ popularise in America?
The idea of investing
When did stock markets return to peak October 1929 levels?
Not till November 1954
What did Liberty bonds lead to?
Speculation
What is speculation?
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
What were the effects of speculation on Americans?
. 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
What were the problems with speculation?
. 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
How did the WSC occur?
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
What desperate measures did some Americans have to take to make up for money lost on the stock market?
People began to sell their own products in their homes
What happened to unemployment and welfare benefits in Germany by 1930?
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
How were the unemployed getting worse benefits during the Depression?
. 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
What areas were hit worst by the Depression in Germany?
In towns that depended on a single industry rather than towns with a more diverse economy
What were the effects of the Great Depression on Brand-Erbisdorff (near Dresden)?
. 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)
How was health declining during the Depression?
. 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
How did the Depression impact life on the edges of large cities such as Berlin?
Unemployed tenants were unable to pay rent and were evicted, leading to the building of tent cities and shanty towns (for poor people)
What did Hubert Knickerbocker (American journalist) find out about diet during the depression?
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’
