1928-1933

• Wall street Crash Economic impacts:

  • USA were financing Germanys economic recovery so not only did their investment stop but they demanded it back.
  • 1929-32 Germanys exports declined by 61% and industrial output fell by 58%
  • Companies had to reduce workforces and cut hours
  • Unemployment meant by 1932 1/3 of all German workers were registered as unemployed. This doesn't even reflect full scale as many didn't register
  • White collar workers lost jobs or salaries cut
  • Farmers problems increased even more than from the 'Golden Age' as prices collapsed
• Wall Street Crash Social Impacts

  • Increasing poverty
  • Costs of benefits increased so much that they became less generous and strictly means-tested
  • Towns that relied on a single industry were hit the hardest
  • Diseases spread due to poor diets and living conditions
  • Shanty towns began to appear
  • Youth with no jobs joined gangs and crime was increasing
  • Involvement of young men in extremist political organisations increased
  • Emergency labour schemes gave youth opportunities in manual labour but were payed well below minimum wage
  • Civil rights of women suffered as female civil servants were dismissed if they were married
• Collapse of Grand Coalition

  • Muller resigned after problems caused by great depression and the opposing views in the party due to there being 5 different political parties
  • Bruning was appointed and his coalition excluded the SPD so they did not have enough support in the Reichstag to gain a majority
  • Goverments began to have to rely on ruling by presidential decree, even before Hitler was appointed democracy was dead
• 1930 Election:

  • Extremist parties of Left and Right gained over a million votes
  • Nazi representation in Reichstag went from 12 seats to 107 making them the second largest party
• Intensification of political violence:

  • 1924-9 violence had subsided but from 1930-33 it rose dramatically
  • Nazi's and Communists took their political struggle to the streets and attempted to break up eachothers meetings
  • Bruning banned wearing of political uniforms and even outlawed the SA. This had little impact on SA and their membership reached 400,00 by 1932