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The Collapse of the Weimar Republic

The Collapse of the Weimar Republic. Week 10, December 2. The rise of unemployment. Reichstag and Landtag elections. Unemployment and radical votes. Bold line : unemployed White line : votes for the NSDAP and KPD ( Bundesarchiv ). Conservative politicians instrumental in the collapse.

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The Collapse of the Weimar Republic

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  1. The Collapse of the Weimar Republic Week 10, December 2

  2. The rise of unemployment

  3. Reichstag and Landtag elections Unemployment and radical votes Bold line: unemployed White line: votes for the NSDAP and KPD (Bundesarchiv)

  4. Conservative politicians instrumental in the collapse Paul von Hindenburg, president, 1925-1934 Heinrich Brüning, Chancellor 1930-32

  5. Brüning as chancellor • To many historians, his cabinet marks the end of the Weimar democracy • Backed by Hindenburg, used article 48 to approve his budget and minority govt • Major cuts in welfare • IR priority, confrontational position with the Western powers, break with Stresemann’s careful policy • Instrumentalized the rising unemployment against the Western powers • Lead to further escalation of the domestic situation

  6. Rise of the NSDAP • Early postwar Germany a fertile breeding ground for radical right-wing organizations. • 1919: Anton Drexler founds the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (German Workers Party, DAP). • Adolf Hitler joined the DAP in Sept. 1919, quickly rising through the ranks to become the party’s chief theorist and propaganda officer. • Feb. 1920: Hitler heads a committee which draws up the Party’s ’25 Point Programme’ which remains the basis of Nazi ideology until 1945. • April 1920: The DAP renamed the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party, NSDAP or Nazi for short). • July 1921: Hitler ousts Drexler & is appointed Party Chairman.

  7. NSDAP, cont. • 1923 beer-hall coup; 23-24 Hitler in Landsbergprison • 1925: Nazi party re-founded with a new commitment to achieving power through legal means. • 1926: The Bamberg Conference – Hitler re-established his supremacy in the Party, overcoming the challenge to his leadership from GregorStrasser, but was forced to concede that the 25-Point Programme (with its socialist elements) remained inviolable. • Establishment of new efficient Party structure and youth and women’s organisations led to a growing membership: 27,000 in 1925 increased to 108,000 in 1928. • But still had little popular support – they won only 2.6% of the vote in the Reichstag elections of 1928.

  8. Programmatic points of the NSDAP • Key concepts: • Race and antisemitism • Führerprinzip (one leader) • Anti-Communism • Nationalism • Volksgemeinschaft(folk community) • The 25 Points: • Creation of a Greater Germany encompassing all ethnic Germans • Revocation of Treaty of Versailles and back to old borders • Demand for space (Lebensraum) (vehemently anti-Slavic, anti-Soviet, anti-Polish) • Only members of the Volk can be citizens: no Jew can be a citizens & all non-citizens to be deported • The primary duty of the State is to provide a livelihood for its citizens: introduction of profit sharing & extension of welfare state

  9. Election results in Weimar

  10. Communists in the Weimar Republic Communist youth organization,1925

  11. Ernst Thälmann, 1886-1944 (KPD leader) Liebknecht house, Bülowplatz, KPD headquarters

  12. Politicians in the collapse II Kurt von Schleicher, chancellor 11/1932-1/33 Franz von Papen, chancellor 6-11/1932

  13. Preußenschlag (Prussian coup), July 1932 Papen ousted the minority govt of Otto Braun (SPD) in Prussia, the largest German state, continually governed by the social democrats, and named himself interim head of the state

  14. Federal Elections July 1932largest legal gains for the Nazi party (37,8%), negative majority together with the KPD (319 seats from 608 in the Reichstag)

  15. The Iron Frontanti-Nazi and pro-democratic movement of SPD, labor unions, and the Reichsbanner (veterans’ association affiliated with the SPD) Tchakhotin’s Three arrows

  16. Federal election November 1932Last democratic elections of Weimar Germany

  17. Reasons for failure of the Weimar democracy: • economic crisis and unemployment • distrust in the system, no longer believable • rise of fascism • split on the left • Weimar ran out of alternatives; only returning to monarchy or some kind of dictatorial leadership • Syndicate of elites now backing the Nazis, endowing them with legitimacy

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