The Decline of Weimar and the Rise of Nazism 1929-1932
Impact of the World Economic Crisis on Germany
Parliamentary Government's Breakdown
Bruning: Presidential Government
From Burning to Papen
The Deat of the Weimar Republic
Trade
Slump in world trade
German exports fell rapidly -> 55% 1929= £630m & 1932= £280m <-steel, machinery and chemical
Employment
Workers laid off= mass unemployment
1929= 1.8m 1932= 5.6m
Indusrty
Industrial production declined sharply
Production 1928 & 1929= 100 1932= 58
50,000 businesses collapsed
Agriculture
Wages + income= fell sharply
Agricultural prices 1913= 100 1927= 138 1932= 77
Finance
Banking sector dislocated by loss of confidence
1931= 5 major banks collapse
50,000 businesses = banlrupt
German Economic Weaknesses Pre Wall Street Crash
Balance of trade was in red = debt
1929= 1.9 million unemployed
Many farmers already in debt <- failing incomes since 1927
From 1929 government finances = deficit
Human Effects of the Great Depression
Political Implications
Muller's Crand Coalition
Fromed after the election of May 1928
Government was being torn apart by the reparations issue
Dawes Plan (1924) -> reschedule payments based on Germany's ability to pay <- temporary until Germany gained economic strength
Young plan
1929= IARC formed a committee of international finaners chairman= Owen Young
Roprt in June 1929= New scheme of payments -> Ger. to still pay repaartions until 1988 but final sum reduced = £185 million (1/4 of 1921 demand)
Right wing= any reparations based on a lie (Article 231 Treaty of Versailles) <- opposed the scheme
National committee formed called National Opposition. Leader = Hugenberg (leader of the Nationalists) -> Ger. greatest media tycoon <- owned 150 newspapers, a publishing house and UFA (world-famous film organisation) -> used to promote his message
National Opposition won only 5.8 million/ 21 million votes required by the constitution for success
Bring together many right wing opponents and stirred up nationalist emotions
Grand Coalition Collapse
Internal divisions
Sharp increase in unemployment= large deficit in new national insurance scheme-> coalition couldn't agree on how to tackle this
SDP
Strengthened many right-wing opponents ie Hitler
Party membership grew to 130,000 by end of 1929
Nazism gained a national standing for the first time
Main Party rally at Numberg had been a great propaganda success
Hitler had influential political contacts on the extreme right wing
Opportunity of having access to Hugenbrg's media empire
Appointment
Granted the post of Chancellor by President Hidenburg
Leader of the ZP, the 2nd largest party in the Reichstag
Manoeuvered into office by a select circle of political intriguers <- surrounded the aging president
Hostility of Germany's vested interests
Ongoing economic problems
Limited base of popular support
Winter 1929-30= 2 million unmeployed 12 months after Wall Street Crash= 3 million January 1932= 6.1 million
Many industrial workers (skilled + unskilled) = prospect of long term unemployment <- wives couldn't feed families or keep houses warm with money from limited social security benefits
Middle class eg shop keepers and lawyers -> decline in economic position + onset of poverty made more difficult by loss of pride + respectability
Farmers -> demand fell = agricultural depression deepends= widespread rural poverty <- some farmers evicted from their homes (often in families for generations)
City of Cologne couldn't pay back interest on their debts= banks closed : :
Berlin large crowds of unemployed youngsters occupied with open air games -> chess and cards
People lost faith in the Weimar Republic
Democratic basis of the government not well established
1932= industrial production fallen by 42% of 1929 level
1933= 1 in 3 workers unemployed
Otto Meissner- President's State Secretary
Oskar von Hidenburg- President's son
Major General Kurt von Schleicher- Leading general who held a series of government + military posts
3= conservative nationalists -> wanted Article 48 to be used <- authoritarian government
Response to growing economic crises
Economic policy= cut in government expenditure -> achieve a balanced budget + prevent the risk of reviving inflation
July 1930= Rejected in the Reichstag by 256 votes to 193
Used an emergency decree <- signed by president (Article 48)
Reichstag challenged the decree's legality + voted for its withdrawal
Deadlock had been reached -> HB asked to dissolve the Reichstag + call an election for September 1930
Nazi Breakthrough
September 1930 election= votes increased from 810,000 to 6,409,600
107 seats + 18.3% = NSDAP party became the 2nd largest political party in Germany
Vote of DNVP halved from 14.2% to 7%
DDP and DVP ( middle-class democratic parties) lost 20 seats between them
Left-wing parties -> SPD from 29.8% to 24.5%+ KPD from 10.8% to 13.1%
ZP + DNVP bothy moving to the political right
Main parties of German liberalism -> DDP + DVP losing support from 1924
SPD -> balance loyalty + commitment against its failures to join the coalitions in the mid-1920s + its conflicts with left-wing partner KPD
Schleicher recommended the new chancellor, Papen to Hidenburg
Aristocrat -> good connections with high society
Catholic= member of centre party
Political views mirrored the Nationalists
Politically ambitious
'Cabinet of Barons'