unit 3 just essay Flashcards
economic impact of the depression?
- 1929-32 world trade fell by 70%
- Germany’s export trade dropped by 60%
Industrial production fell by 60% from 1928
❗️Unemployment rose to 6mill in Germany (1 worker in 3) - Unemployment rate 33% by 1933
Wages drastically cut for those still in work
Bankruptcies increased ➡️ 50,000 between 1930-32 - Agriculture depression since 1927 ➡️ prices now fell further, exports declined and more farmers forced to give up farms
social impact of the depression?
- Unemployment benefit system (designed to help 800,000) ➡️ amount had to be reduced as system could not cope + benefits only payable for fixed periods, after which people had to ask local authority for help (local benefits less generous)
- Women + young people received lower benefits than men
- Doctors reported increasing cases of malnutrition, TB and rickets (linked to poor nutrition/living conditions)
- ❗️High youth unemployment eg. Hamburg, June 1933 39% 14-25 males were unemployed ➡️ led to social issues (crime/social disorder) + some began to look to extremist parties (KPD + nationalist right)
- Women experiences resentment for working when male unemployment so high ➡️nationalists insisted married women should not be working (had some success as in May 1932 law passed allowing married women civil servants to be dismissed)
political impact of the depression?
- society was breaking up and out of control
- Many lost faith in the Weimar govt + accelerated the end of WR as its democratic foundations were so poorly established (Nazi offering an alternative to the floundering democracy)
- Sept 1930 election: Nazis made major gains- vote rising to 18% (from 3% in 1928) + KPD vote also rising ➡️extremist gaining support on the expense of pro-democracy parties
- Collapse of the Grand Coalition ➡️disagreements over how to deal with the depression, especially how to finance insurance system (SPD wanted to maintain benefit payments whereas DVP wanted payments from employers to be reduced) causing Muller to resigned ❗️the beginning of the end of Democracy + end of parliamentary government
- Political violence increasing between 1930-33 ➡️ Red Fighting League clashing with SA (by 1932, violence was so bad that Hindenburg issued a decree banning SA but did little)
what political problems did the depression magnify?
- instability of the coalition governments
- (govt deadlocked) ➡️ Muller to resign in 1930, end of grand coalition - lack of control of the weimar
- SA + red fighter league violent (full scale riots)
- First half of 1932, deaths from political violence Nazi’s 84, communists 75 - Caused a turn away from democracy
- Nazis gained nearly 6.5 million votes and representation in the reichstag went from 12 to 107 votes
- sept 1930 election ⅖ voters gave their support to anti-democratic parties
reason for rise of the Naizs (1)
propoganda
- Joseph Goebbels
- innovative and effective election campaigns from the breakthrough election of 1930- November 1932
- Nazis travelled all over Germany making speeches in all the main cities and published many effective posters and pamphlets eg. one focused on the dangers of Communism + on the person of Hitler himself
- ❗️‘Hitler over Germany’ campaign ➡️where he flew to 20 cities in six days at the end of the April 1932 Presidential campaign and the publication of a poster with just Hitler’s face on a black background and the word ‘Hitler’ emblazoned on it ➡️ focus on theme of leadership and mass appeal of him especially during time of crisis during the Great Depression
- targeted different groups
- generic messages ceaselessly repeated eg. ❗️‘Hitler: Our Last Hope’ and ‘Work and Bread’
- glorified military qualities of courage and self-sacrifice
- protection against Communism to middle and upper classes and strong leadership in the person of Hitler
reason for rise of the Nazis (2)?
Nazi ideology
- Hitler personified the qualities of power, strength and determination
- The SA contributed w their image of discipline and unity
- War would be necessary to reconstruct german society and build a new german reich based on the subjugation of other races
- Concept of ‘volksgemeinschaft’ (people’s community) was a strong theme of nazism. It’d allow Germany to become a state based on racial community (only aryans)
- 25 point programme which included economically radical, socialist aims such as confiscation of war profits and land from large estates
- nationalising monopoly industries= an attempt to appeal the working class in early days
- democratic leaders of WR that ‘stabbed G in the back’ signing the armistice of TofV. G needed a dictatorship, a one-party state run on the basis of Fuhrerprinzip
- did not want to merely restore G to it’s 1914 borders, he wanted to expand: reverse TofV, reunite all G speakers into 1 reich, secure Lebensraum to sustain the reich
rise of the Nazis (3)?
communism and failure of democracy
- KPD achieved 100 seats in November 1932 and its Red Fighters League were fighting with both the Nazis and police on the streets ➡️ Fears, fanned by Nazi propaganda, of a possible Communist revolution in Germany, drove many middle and upper-class voters into the arms of the Nazis
- npopular policies of cuts in spending and increases in taxes followed by the Weimar government under Brüning ➡️ intensified the hardship and mass unemployment and made the Nazi message of recovery and strong leadership ever more appealing
role and significance of Hitler? (1)
leadership cult had been created around him
- With his charisma and oratorical skills being the main way this was achieved
- Speeches went on for hours containing repetition and out-right lies but he had a hypnotic effect
- would tailor his message to his audience eg when he addressed 650 businessmen in the industry club in Dusseldorf he did not make a single mention of the Jews
➡️Hitler knew how to play on people’s emotions and fears and to convince them he knew the answer which ultimately was his main significance in the party as this attracted a lot of voters
role and significance of Hitler (2)?
Hitler’s leadership was able to make the Nazi’s a strong,uniform party
- 24 February 1920, Hitler announced the Nazi Party’s 25-point programme (taking direct action and offering solution to fragmented democracy)
- Hitler devoted his time to writing his autobiography, Mein Kampf (My Struggle). Mein Kampf set out Hitler’s political ideas and ideology
- Reorganised the Nazi party through Nazi Volksgemeinschaft (people’s community) and and through his strong leadership skills (fuhr principle)
who did the Nazi’s appeal to and why?
- Women: more likely to vote nazisim in most regions. Nazis realised the power of the female electorate in the early 1930s consciously attempted to attract the female vote. Women were dissatisfied by the attitudes of the Weimar era. Women appeared to be moved by nazism proposed solutions to problems such as poverty
- Groups that were overrepresented: self-employed, farmers, white collared workers (office workers), public/civil servants
- Appealed to religion (protestant more than catholic): between 1928 and 1933, support for the NSDAP rose in all regions of the country however in catholic areas the % of vote for the nazis rose to around 30%, whereas in protestant areas it rose to over 50% (germany predominantly protestant)
- Age groups: 18-30 year olds represent 31% of population, but 61% of nazi membership= in contrast 47% of population was over 41 years old and only 16% were party members = youth attracted to nazism.
reasons for rise of the communists?
Between 1928-32 the communist became a growing political force in Weimar Germany
May 28: 10%
July 32: 15% (to 17% in Nov)
Before 1929, KPD focused on unionised industrial workers but Depression forced them to focus more broadly on unemployed ➡️some success in winning support through its actions against benefits cuts + marches against hunger
1. policies and ideologies
- KPD close cooperated with Russia ➡️ committed to overthrow of WR
- KPD and Russia believed the depression was the last nails in capitalisms coffin and would soon lead to a worker’s revolution (priority to undermine SPD)
2. strengths
- propoganda, smashing capitalism and workers taking control
- SPD often attacked as the tools of capitalism
- Good organisation at local levels + political violence that stood up for the Nazi threat ➡️gave KPD support
reasons communist support not as strong as Nazis?
- Turnover of members high + support remained relatively restricted to industrial areas
- Limited appeal to women
- short of money as unlike Nazis who had big business backing, the communists could raise little money from the unemployed
- Focus of attacking the SPD also meant they missed valuable opportunities to attack more serious threat of the Nazis
➡️
The rise in communist support can be partly a result of the failure of the WR and the Depression, which caused people to lose faith in democracy, pushing them towards extremism. Although, the KPD’s effort can not be ignored. Their propaganda was effective with messages of smashing capitalism and the workers taking control, as well as fighting against the Nazi threat. Despite this their rise was limited due to them being too focused on attacking the SPD which meant they missed significant opportunities to attack the more serious threat of the Nazis, along with their lack of funding which meant their campaigns were not as good as they could have been in order to gain more support.
reason for Hitler as chancellor (1)?
persuasion/support of the elite
- Nazis biggest party from 1932 but Hitler still did not necessarily have the most support
- elite were able to persuade Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as chancellor
- 1932 key industrialists were concerned by the lack of an effective govt ➡️ had never been committed to parliamentary democracy and now believed their fears were confirmed
- possibility of using the Nazis’ popular support to channel the political system in a more authoritarian direction
- Junker upset by Bruning’s and later Schlierchers reform proposals to buy bankrupt estates to resettle poor forearm
reason for Hitler as chancellor (2)?
Hindenburg appointing Hitler
- Hitler was able to manipulate Von Papen
- After the July 1932 election Von Papen asked hitler to join his govt. - refused unless chancellor
- Nov 32 election Nazis lost 2 million votes (opportunity for Papen and Hindenburg to eliminate Hitlers power)
- Jan 1933 Hindenburg summoned Hitler to Berlin and appointed him as chancellor, surprising as he disliked Hitler
- Both Papen and hindenburg grossly underestimated Hitlers power (due to his lack of experience)
reason for Hitler as chancellor (3)?
Political instability
- Brunings coalition govt was losing support due to rising unemployment (as a result of fiscal policies) ➡️ electoral support for Nazi’s increased ➡️ growing alarm among middle and upper class that Germany was descending into chaos (which Hitler, with his authoritarian leadership could solve)
