The Weimar Republic
Overview
Statewide Dual Credit Modern World History: Unit 13, Lesson 2
A discussion of the Weimar Republic, a weak, unpopular regime in Germany during the 1920s, that faced numerous challenges including hyperinflation, political instability, and the rise of the Nazi Party. Despite its flaws and ultimate demise, this era also witnessed a flourishing of German artistic and cultural expression.
Given the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859- 1941) at the war’s end, a new government came to power in Germany. Nicknamed after its capital city, the “Weimar Republic” remained a weak, unpopular regime throughout the 1920s. For instance, in 1922, the Weimar government attempted diplomatically to reintegrate into the rest of Europe. Like Germany, the USSR lost millions of soldiers in the Great War and was not afforded a voice at the Paris Peace Conference. In 1922, Weimar and Soviet diplomats signed the Treaty of Rapallo, by which Germany took steps to diplomatically recognize the Soviet Union in return for the USSR foregoing any territorial and reparation claims against their former enemy. At the urging of Foreign Minister Gustave Stresemann (1878-1929), the Weimar government signed the Treaty of Locarno with Belgium, Britain, France and Italy in 1925. By accepting the loss of Alsace and Lorraine to France and promising to submit any future border disputes regarding Poland and Czechoslovakia to international arbitration, Germany secured admission to the League of Nations in 1926. Two years later, Germany signed the well-intentioned but ultimately naive and unenforceable Kellogg-Briand Pact that promoted diplomacy and negotiation rather than war as the primary means of settling disputes between nations.
Despite these encouraging steps, many Germans blamed Britain, France and Weimar officials for their problems. Many right-wing political leaders argued that the German war effort in World War I had been “stabbed in the back” by socialists, Jews and leftists in general. In March 1920, American-born conservative politician Wolfgang Kapp (1858-1922), World War I veteran Hermann Ehrhardt (1881-1971), and their Freikorps (militia) followers seized control of the German government. Only a general strike by German socialists kept the coup from succeeding. Freikorps forces retaliated by assassinating almost 400 progressive political leaders.
Matters came to a head in November 1922 when the Weimar government defaulted on a reparation payment. French and Belgium troops responded by occupying the valuable industrial Ruhr Valley in the Rhineland. Germans countered with a passive resistance campaign, refusing to work or do business with the occupying troops. Weimar officials also inflated Germany’s currency to rob the French government of any profits from the Ruhr. In January 1921, an American dollar was worth 120 German marks. A year later, a U.S. dollar was theoretically worth 4,200,000,000,000 marks. Although this hyperinflation significantly hurt the French economy, it also wiped out the savings and pensions of millions of working-class Germans. Seizing upon the desperation felt by many ordinary Germans, Adolph Hitler (1889-1945), the charismatic leader of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (known popularly as the Nazi Party), launched another coup to overthrow the Weimar regime. Started in a tavern in the conservative-leaning city of Munich, Bavaria, the “Beer Hall Putsch” failed to attract widespread public support. Authorities arrested Hitler, who served an eight-year jail sentence during which he wrote his best-selling Mein Kampf (My Struggle).
In late 1923, the Allied Reparation Commission formed a subcommittee headed by U.S. banker Charles G. Dawes (1865-1951) to address the issue of German war reparations. In April 1924, the committee offered its proposal, known as the “Dawes Plan.” The scheme reduced Germany’s annual reparation payments until the nation’s economy recovered from hyperinflation. The German government would replace its inflated Papiermark with a new form of currency called the Reichsmark, pegged to real estate rather than specie. As a sign of good faith, France and Belgium would withdraw their troops from the Ruhr Valley. U.S. banks would loan Germany $200 million to rebuild its economy and make reparation payments to Britain and France, who would then use such funds to repay American loans incurred during World War I. For his efforts, Dawes would become U.S. Vice-President and win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925.
So long as U.S. loans could guarantee German reparation payments, the Dawes system functioned. However, a stock market crash in October 1929 and a subsequent depression, known as the Great Depression, abruptly ended the conspicuous consumption which had defined the 1920s. Between 1929-1932, the world’s GDP fell by 15%. Savings and pensions were wiped out, unemployment in the U.S. rose to 25%, and prices for farm goods fell by nearly 70%. Under these circumstances, American banks lacked the capital to loan money to Germany. European and American leaders floated different proposals to cancel Germany’s reparation payments (and British and French loans to the United States) but failed to reach a solution.
Ironically, the political instability of the 1920s triggered a period of tremendous German artistic and cultural expression. Walter Gropius (1883-1969) pioneered international or rational architecture, which drew from modernism to reflect the values of a young, urban generation of Germans. Rejecting traditional European architecture’s gilded and ornamental style, Gropius created giant skyscrapers composed of glass and steel, such as the Fagus building in Alfeld and the Haus am Horn in Weimar.
Expressionist painters, including Max Beckmann (1884-1950), Otto Dix (1891-1969), and George Grosz (1893-1959), led the Neue Sachlichkeit (new objectivity) movement. As World War I veterans, they produced art that reflected the brutality and inhumanity of war. Beckman’s The Night (1919) portrayed three men invading a family home, hanging a father, raping a mother, and kidnapping a child. Dix’s Sex Murder (1922) conveyed a woman who had been raped and murdered.
In 1928, Composer Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) created Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera), a satire in which the crime lord Macheath escapes the gallows and is made a Baron by Queen Victoria. Robert Wiene’s (1873-1938) movie Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) used surreal landscapes and multiple camera angles to replicate feelings of isolation and madness. Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) likewise represented a groundbreaking science fiction film that questioned whether human beings would merge with technology in an increasingly mechanized future.
The Great Depression brought about immediate consequences for Germany. By 1932, the German government defaulted on its loan payments to American investors, struggled to address the needs of 6 million unemployed workers, faced an industrial decline of 50%, and suffered the loss of two-thirds of its foreign trade. The aging World War I war hero turned German President Paul Hindenburg (1847-1934) used his emergency executive powers to appoint moderate Heinrich Brüning (1885-1970) as Chancellor. However, Brüning’s austerity policies proved deeply unpopular with German voters. From 1930-1932, the rightwing Nazis and leftwing Socialists made massive political gains in the Reichstag. In particular, by 1932, the Nazis could boast a membership of close to 1,400,000 and appeared to be on the verge of taking over the government.
For an individual who would cause the death of millions, Adolph Hitler came from an unremarkable background. Born to a single mother, Hitler was raised in Braunau am Inn in Austro-Hungary, near the German border. After his mother died of cancer, Hitler became a homeless watercolor artist living on the streets of Vienna. In 1914, he volunteered for service in the German army, serving as a dispatch runner. While recovering from a mustard gas attack, Hitler learned of Germany’s surrender. Devastated, Hitler believed that Jews and subversives had undermined the German war effort from within. He became a member of the German Worker’s Party in 1919. A master orator, Hitler soon became a rising star in the organization. When the party rebranded itself the National Socialist Workers Democratic Party (or Nazi Party for short), Hitler designed its swastika insignia. In 1921, Hitler became the undisputed leader of the Nazi Party.
Two years later, Hitler and his followers attempted a military coup to take over the German government. Referred to as the “Beer Hall Putsch” because it began in a Munich beer hall, Hitler’s movement failed, and he received a five-year prison sentence. Realizing that he could achieve his goals through mass party mobilization rather than a coup, Hitler, after being released from prison, began working toward gaining control of the German government.
By the 1920s, the inability of the Weimar government to address the problems of war reparations and inflation caused the regime to become very unpopular in the eyes of the German public. Hitler agitated for overturning the Treaty of Versailles and making Germany great again. Before the Weimar Republic came into being, Germany was controlled by authoritarian rulers. After the surrender in World War I, a new constitution was written, which established a democratic government, which had a president, chosen by the German people, who appointed a chancellor and cabinet ministers.
As hyperinflation set in following the outbreak of the Great Depression, many Germans lost their pensions. The death of Chancellor Gustav Stresemann (1878-1929) further weakened the Weimar government. The German economy also relied heavily on U.S. loans, and when the Great Depression hit, Washington discontinued the program. The downfall of the German economy in 1930-1931, eventually paved the way for the ascent of the Nazis to political power. Unemployment rose from 2.25 million in early 1930 to 6 million and beyond in 1932. It significantly affected the governing coalition of Social Democrats and moderate conservatives, which collapsed leading to new elections. Those on the right (the Nazis) and the left (Communists) gained followers and with that, seats in the Reichstag. In 1930, the Nazis won 107 seats (they had held only 12 after the previous election). As the economy became more and more unstable, Hitler promised that the Nazi Party would combat unemployment and provide aid to farmers.
In the next national election, the Nazi Party won 14.5 million out of 35 million votes, making it the largest party in the government. Hitler continued to agitate for reform and was eventually appointed chancellor by President Paul Hindenburg (1847-1934) on January 30, 1933. Within eight weeks, Hitler created a dictatorship. He proclaimed his office to be the true source of executive, legislative and judicial power, eliminated competing political groups, and stirred up the masses against the biggest and most dangerous enemies of the Nazis: the communists.
The National Socialists also gained momentum in the German Reichstag due to the disagreement among left- wing forces. The Social Democrats refused to work with the Communist Party because of their radical views. In March 1932, Ernst Thälman (1886-1944) ran for the German presidency against the Social Democrat Hindenburg and Hitler. The famous slogan of the KPD was “A vote for Hindenburg is a vote for Hitler. A vote for Hitler is a vote for war.” After Thälman lost the election, he tried to persuade the leaders of the SPD to organize a general strike to prevent the National Socialists from taking power. Having been refused, Thälman pushed for the overthrow of Hitler’s government.
In late February 1933, the Reichstag building caught fire. Claiming that the state was in danger, Hitler persuaded President Hindenburg to grant him emergency powers. The Nazis accused the Communist Party of setting the fire. This gave them an excuse to arrest and silence critical left-wing opponents. Thälman was arrested on March 3, 1933, and spent 11 years in solitary confinement. In August 1944, he was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. The same month, Hitler ordered that he be killed.
On March 5, 1933, the Nazis won 43.9% of the votes in the Reichstag. Using the near majority, Hitler passed the Enabling Act, granting him and his government the power to rule by decree. To solidify his power, Hitler banned the Communist Party and arrested its leaders so they could no longer vote against him. Within a month, Hitler transformed the German government from a democracy to an authoritarian dictatorship. In April 1933, new laws were passed to remove opposition party members from all government departments. In May 1933, all trade unions were banned and reorganized into a Nazi- controlled organization, the German Labor Front or DAF (Deutsche Arbeitsfront). The Social Democratic Party was outlawed as well. By July 1933, all political parties except the Nazis were banned, as Germany became a one-party dictatorship.