The Depression and the Rise of the Nazis

• 1929 - American stock market crashed which sent the USA into a disastrous economic depression

  • countries around the world felt the effects of the depression - especially Germany
  • American bankers and businessmen lost huge amounts of money
• German banks were asked to repay the money they had borrowed from the USA to fix the American debt

  • resulted in economic collapse in Germany
  • businesses went bankrupt and workers were laid off - unemployment rocketed
• Depression became a worldwide problem and Germany wasn’t the only one who suffered

  • Germany had been so dependent on American loans and because they still had reparations debt, the problems were much bigger in Germany
• Weimar constitution made it difficult to make firm and decisive actions
• Hitler’s ideas now was relevant

  • The Weimar govt’s indecisivness showed that Germany needed a strong leader
  • Reparations added to Germany’s problems showed that the TOV should be kicked out
  • Unemployment showed that the unemployed should join the army, rebuild Germany’s armaments, and be used for public works like road building
• Nazi’s 25 points seemed much more attractive to those vulnerable to the depression

  • unemployed, elderly and middle classes
• Hitler offered them culprits to blame for Germany’s troubles: Allies, ‘November Criminals’ and the Jews

  • this wasn’t a new message but just wasn’t successful during the Stresemann years but now the democratic parties couldn’t get Germany to work again
• 1930 elections - Nazis got 107 seats
• November 1932 - Nazis nearly got 200 seats

  • didn’t have the overall majority but were the biggest single party
• 1930s - Nazis were well established in power in Germany

  • propaganda chief (Goebbels) made his own version of the events if 1929-33 where it was Hitler’s destiny to become Germany’s leader and the German people finally came to recognise this
• 1932 - Hitler ran for president

  • defeated but the campaign raised his profile
  • appeared as a dynamic man and leader of a modern party with modern ideas
  • looked like a man of the people who knew and understood the people and their problems as well
• Nazi campaign methods were modern and effective which caused Hitler to rise in power (1)

  • greatest campaigning asset was Hitler - a powerful speaker
  • Hitler was years ahead of his time as a communicator - used films, radio and records which brought his message to millions
  • travelled by plane on tour all over Germany
  • Nazi posters and pamphlets were everywhere
  • Rallies impressed people with their energy, enthusiam and size
• Nazi campaign methods were modern and effective which caused Hitler to rise in power (2)

  • Nazis relied on generalised slogans rather than detailed policies which weren’t clear about what it meant in terms of policies which made it difficult for them to be criticised e.g. ‘uniting the people of Germany behind one lader’ or ‘going back to traditional values’
  • When criticised for a policy, they just dropped the policy
• Nazi campaign methods were modern and effective which caused Hitler to rise in power (3)

  • Repeated at every opportunity they believed Jews, Communists, Weimar politicians and the TOV were the cause of Germany’s problems and believed the Weimar democratic system couldn’t solve Germany’s economic problems
  • Frequent street battles between Communist gangs and the police & large unruly groups of unemployed workers gatehered on street corners which contrasted the SA and SS who gave off an impression of discipline and order - many people felt they needed this order
• Nazi campaign methods were modern and effective which caused Hitler to rise in power (4)

  • Organised soup kitchens and provided shelter in hostels for the unemployed
• In Neidenburg in East Prussia, Nazi support rose from 2.3% in 1928 to 25% in 1931 even though the town had no local Nazi party and Hitler never went there
• Negative cohesion caused Hitler to rise in power - everyone was taken by Hitler’s magnetism but even some skeptics supported the Nazis because of negative cohesion

  • didn’t share the same Nazi views but they shared the same fears as the Nazis
• Disillusionment with democracy caused Hitler to rise in power

  • Politicians seemed unable to tackle the problems of the Depression
  • the Chancellor cut govt spending and welfare benefits
  • urged Germans to make sarifices
  • Reichstag seemed irrelevant as it met for only 5 days in 1932
  • 1930 - new elections gave Nazis opportunity to exploit the discontent in Germany
  • resulted in divided Reichstag
  • gave impression that democracy involved politicians squabbling over which job they would get and did nothing for the real world
  • Often relied on the emergency powers which bypasses the democratic process
• Communist threat caused Hitler to rise in power (1)

  • Communist support rised - Hitler turned this to their advantage as the fear of communist was another shared negative
  • Business leaders feared the communists because of their plans to introduce state control of businesses
• Communist threat caused Hitler to rise in power (2)

  • Business leaders were concerned on the growing strength of trade unions
  • felt Nazi would combat these threats and put money into Nazi campaign funds
  • Farmers alarmed by the Communists as the communist government in the USSR took over all the land and millions of peasants had been killed or imprisoned
  • in contrast, Nazis promised to help Germany’s farmers
• Decadence caused Hitler to rise in power

  • Modern decadent Weimar culture caused many to feel traditional German values were under threat - Nazis utilized this
  • Nazis talked about restoring old-fashioned values
  • Social Democratic Party made the mistake thinking that German people wouldn’t fall for their promises and accusations
  • underestimated fear and anger German people felt towards Weimar Republic
• In 1918, a loaf of bread cost 0.6 German marks. By November 1923, how much did it cost?

  201 billion marks