KQ3

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Jess

Cards (32)

  • Impact of the 1929 depression - economic:
    24 October 1929 - Black Thursday.
    29 October 1929 - Value of American companies fell by $10 billion.
    America stopped loans and demanded all repayment of loans immediately.
  • Impact of the 1929 depression - economic:
    1929 - 1932 - Germany’s export trade fell by 61% and its industrial production fell by 28%.
    May 1931 - collapse of an Austrian Bank.
    July 1931 - Government closed the banks and the stock exchange for 2 days to provide the financial system with some breathing space but this was only temporary and did not really help.
    By 1932 - 1/3 of all Germans were unemployed (in reality much more but women etc didn’t count with the register).
  • Impact of the 1929 depression - Social - Poverty:
    Unemployed could only have state benefits for a fixed period, then had to apply for local authorities which were less generous and strictly means tested.
    Many couldn’t pay rent so tent cities and shanty towns began to appear on the edges of large cities like Berlin.
  • Impact of the 1929 depression - Social - Young People:
    June 1933 - unemployment rate among males 14 - 25 was 39% and for females it was 25.2%
    Although the rate of juvenile convictions did not increased , the number of 14 - 25 accused of crime did.
  • Impact of the 1929 depression - Social - Schemes to help the young unemployed:
    Established day centres for work related activities.
    Emergency Labour Schemes where unemployed youth had to take part in unskilled manual labour.
    Unpopular - 2 wives of strikes for higher wages in 1930 and 1932.
    Volunteer labour schemes - unemployed sent away from the cities to residential work camps for periods of 6 months.
    Priority to get young people off the streets.
  • Impact of the 1929 depression - Social - Women:
    Female proportion of the workforce increased during the depression years.
    “Double-earners”
    May 1932 - Law passed allowing married women civil servants to be dismissed.
    Reich Postal Office dismissed about 1000 married women.
  • Impact of the 1929 depression - Political:
    The collapse of the Grand Coalition:
    The rising unemployment and cost of employment benefits put severe strain on state finances.
    On the right, the DVP wanted to reduce unemployment benefits.
    On the left, the SPD wanted to protect the level of benefits.
    March 1930 - Muller resigned.
    After this, the government had. a much more authoritarian style.
  • Impact of the 1929 depression - Political:
    1930 - 98 laws by Reichstag, 5 by decree.
    1932 - 5 laws by Reichstag, 66 by decree.
  • Impact of the 1929 depression - Political:
    Growth of political extremist parties:
    Bruning’s response was to cut expenditure and raise taxes to balance the budget.
    Passed using Article 48.
  • Impact of the 1929 depression - Political:
    Growth of political extremist parties:
    1930 election:
    Communists gained over a million votes and 77 seats in the Reichstag.
    Nazis gained nearly 6.5 million votes and 107 seats.
    The Nazis could now disrupt Reichstag meetings through interrupting.
    Meetings became unmanageable and irrelevant so the Reichstag did not meet at all between February and October 1931.
  • Impact of the 1929 depression - Political:
    The intensification of political violence:
    1924 - 29 = Nazis claimed 29 of their men were killed in clashes with communists who said 92 of theirs had been killed.
    1930 - 33 = Political violence increased dramatically, Nazis and communists with their Red Front Fighters League took their struggle to the streets.
    December 1931 = Decree banning the wearing of political uniforms but the SA continued to march just in white shirts.
    April 1932 = Decree outlawing the SA (However, by the end of 1932 it still had 400,000 members.
  • The appeal of Nazism and Communism - Electoral support:
    Nazis:
    Promised to help farmers, secured 68% of the vote in one rural area.
    Support from the middle class worried about a communist revolution.
    27.7% of the vote where manual labourers.
    September 1930 - July 1932 = doubled their vote.
    The 1932 election - Hitler flew around the country presenting himself as a national saviour, secured 37% of the vote.
    Communists:
    Strongest with the unemployed especially.
  • The appeal of Nazism and Communism - Appeal of Nazism:
    Nazi ideology:
    25 point programme of 1920
    Mein Kampf.
    The power of the will:
    Force of change for Germany.
    SA gave an image of discipline.
  • The appeal of Nazism and Communism - Appeal of Nazism:
    Struggle and war:
    Hitler claimed scientific justification of his view that struggle and conflict between races was part of the order of things.
    A radical community:
    Volksgemeinschaft, aimed to create a new man and woman to fit with his ideals.
  • The appeal of Nazism and Communism - Appeal of Nazism:
    A national socialism:
    Adopted the title NSDAP to gain working class support.
    They called for radical ideas such as the confiscation of war profits however they were never committed to these radical aims and the messages changed depending on what audience they were addressing.
    The Fuhrerprinzip:
    Hitler argues that democracy was not fundamentally German but Jewish.
    They also saw democracy as being based on betrayal so it should be destroyed and replaced with the fuhrerprinzip (principle of leadership).
  • The appeal of Nazism and Communism - Appeal of Nazism:
    Importance of Hitler:
    His speeches had a hypnotising effect, going on for hours with lots of repetition and outright lies.
    Propaganda:
    Joseph Goebbels understood how to use propaganda to ensure success.
    Hitler travelled by air to make speeches in all key cities.
    Nazi speakers were well trained in oratorical techniques and in the party‘s ideolog.
  • The appeal of Nazism and Communism - Appeal of Nazism:
    Role of anti - semitism:
    Claimed problems were from Jewish Capitalism.
    Only used when Hitler believed it would be effective.
    Rapid expansion of SA contributed as they often beat Jews up in the streets.
    But most Nazi propaganda in 1932 had nothing to do with antisemitism.
  • The appeal of Nazism and Communism - Appeal of Communism:
    Gained 2 million votes in the Reichstag elections between 1928 and July 1932.
    Membership increased from 117,000 to 300,00 in 1932.
    After 1929, forced to focus on the unemployed due to the depression.
  • The appeal of Nazism and Communism - Appeal of Communism:
    Ideology:
    Demanded end to cuts in unemployment benefits, wages, legalise abortion and close co operation with the USSR.
  • The appeal of Nazism and Communism - Appeal of Communism:
    Strengths:
    Propaganda - Speeches emphasised class struggle and the smashing of the capitalist system.
    Slogan of “bread and freedom”.
    Most propaganda attacked SPD.
    Electoral support grew reaching a peak of 16.9% in November 1932.
  • The appeal of Nazism and Communism - Appeal of Communism:
    Weaknesses:
    Fear of a communist revolution led to many supporting the Nazis.
    High membership turnovers, more than 50% of its members in 1932 left within a few months.
    Failed to gain outside of industrial areas and with women.
    Most members unemployed so always low on funding.
    Focused on attacking SPD divided anti - Nazi forces at a crucial time.
  • The appointment of Hitler as Chancellor:
    30th January 1933
    Hindenburg and Papen believed he would be easy to manipulate.
  • The fall of Bruning’s government - May 1932:
    Coalition was in power from March 1930 to May 1932.
    His economic policies were to reduce state expenditure by cutting welfare benefit, reducing the number of civil servants and cutting wages.
    These contributed to the deepening depression and by February 1932 unemployment in Germany exceed 6 million.
    April 1932 - Outlaws the SA to handle street violence but doesn’t work and he resigns.
  • Papen’s government, May - December 1932:
    Only party that supported his coalition was the DVP which was rewarded with 2 posts in the cabinet but otherwise operated on a no party basis.
    He ruled by decree due to his limited Reichstag support but this also supported his authoritarian leanings.
    Papen looked down on the Nazis but saw them as useful allies and sympathised with some of their ideas.
    June 1932 - Lifted the ban on the SA which caused more violence.
    17th July 1932 - Large SA March in Hamburg with communists, killed 18 and injured over 1000.
  • July 1932 - election results:
    KPD - 14.3%
    SPD - 21%
    NSDAP - 37.3%

    Society had become very polarized.
    NSDAP attracted large numbers of middle class and unemployed voters.
    Papen invited Hitler to join his government but Hitler refused saying he would only participate as chancellor.
    The Nazis and other parties debated a vote of no confidence for Papen’s government which was passed 512 votes to 42.
  • The end of Papen’s government:
    Loosing credibility in the eyes of the army.
    He considered banning the. Axis and communists and using the army to enforce an authoritarian style government which would bypass the Reichstag altogether.
    Schleicher informed him the army wouldn’t support so he had to resign.
  • Schleicher’s government:
    He had plans to succeed by inviting Hitler to join his government.
    Hitler refused to join and fired the man who engaged in negotiation about it to regain control of the party.
    When the economic situation began to improve he cancelled Papen’s wage and benefit cuts.
    He considered a job creation scheme and distributing land from estates to smaller farmers but this could never happen because of a lack of support for the idea.
  • The Backstairs Intrigue:
    Schliecher asked Hindenberg to dissolve the government and give him virtually dictator powers but he refused so Schliecher resigned.
    Negotiations with Hitler were still on going and Hindenberg had suggested he would support a Nazi led coalition.
    A deal was agreed where Hitler would lead a coalition.
    Papan assured Hindenberg that Hitler would not be able to govern the country any way he wished.
    Apart from Hitler There would only be 2 other Nazis in the cabinet.
  • The Hitler Cabinet:
    30th January 1933 - Appointed as Chancellor and held his first cabinet meeting.
    Papen was vice chancellor and had the right to be present every time Hitler met with President Hindenberg.
    The real decisions in the cabinet would be taken by the non-Nazi majority.
    On the evening of the 30th January, Hitler stood on the balcony of the Reich Chancellery to review a procession by around 100,000 Nazi members organised by Geobbels with the aim to show the change.
  • November 1932 - election:
    KPD = 16.9%
    SPD = 20.4%
    NSDAP = 33%
    The Nazis remained the largest party in the Reichstag but lost 2 million votes and 34 seats in the Reichstag.
    Many middle class voters had turned back to the DNVP after Hitler’s attacks on Papen and the Nazis had supported a Communist led transport strike which upset communist fearing middle class voters.
    The 3 elections in the space of 8 months exhausted Nazi funds.
    Hitler appeared to have lost his chance of taking power through legal means.
  • Nazi violence against political opponents:
    SA membership expanded from 500,000 in January 1933 to 3 million a year later.
    The SA also gained legal authority.
    Late February 1933, the SA and Stahlhelm were merged and became the Auxillary Police and the normal police force were ordered not to interfere with them.
    The SA unleashed a sustained assault on trade unions and KPD members.
    5th February = a young Nazi shot dead a SPD member which was ignored by police.
    All SPD and Z newspapers condemning the killings were banned.
  • Nazi violence against political opponents:
    Thousands of communists, socialists and trade unionists were imprisoned in concentration camps.
    30th March - 1st permanent concentration camp was set up with space for over 5000 people.
    July 1933 = 26789 political prisoners had been imprisoned in some 70 camps.