STAGES IN THE DISSOLUTION OF THE
WEIMAR REPUBLIC
1925-28: Failure of the attempt to integrate the DNVP into
the parliamentary system.
1928-30: Failure of the Great Coalition led by the SPD to
agree on any response to rising unemployment.
April 1930-May 1932: Shift toward rule by Article 48 decree
under Heinrich Brüning (in tacit agreement with SPD).
June-November 1932: Chancellor Franz von Papen declares
war on the SPD.
December 1932-January 1933: Failure of the last attempt
to defeat Hitler under General Kurt von Schleicher.
Field Marshall
Hindenburg in 1925:
“I extend my hand to
every German who
supports the nation
and desires
confessional and
social peace.”
The Weimar Coalition united behind the Center Party
chairman & ex-chancellor Wilhelm Marx
But Hindenburg’s campaign
aroused more enthusiasm, and he
defeated Marx, 48.3% vs. 45.3%
President Paul von Hindenburg (born in 1847!)
reviews the troops in 1925
Hindenburg applauded
the recent decision by
the moderate
chairman of the DNVP,
Count Kuno von
Westarp, to support a
right-of-center
majority government
coalition
Otto Dix, “Metropolis,”
triptych from 1927/28
(compare Stibbe, pp. 148-49)
Otto Dix, “War” (triptych painted in 1929-32)
Aristide Briand and Gustav Stresemann signed the
Treaty of Locarno in 1925 and won the Nobel Peace Prize
The DNVP walked out of the government in protest
LEGISLATIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE
RIGHT-OF-CENTER 4th MARX CABINET IN 1927
A Work Hours’ Law to mandate a 25% bonus for all
work over 8 hours (time-and-a-quarter for overtime)
Protective tariffs for German farmers and tax breaks to
promote capital formation
A National Unemployment Insurance Act (with
premiums calculated on the premise that
unemployment would not exceed two million)
In the winter of 1927/28, a backlash against participation
in government emerged again among DNVP members….
THE VOTERS REPUDIATED THE DNVP’S MODERATION
IN MAY 1928, AS THE SPLINTER PARTIES GREW
Year
KPD
SPD
DDP
Center
DVP
Splinters*
DNVP
Nazi
May
1924
12.6
20.5
5.7
16.6
9.2
8.6
19.5
6.5**
Dec
1924
9.0
26.0
6.3
17.4
10.1
7.5
20.5
3.0
1928
10.6
29.8
4.9
15.2
8.7
13.9
14.2
2.6
1930
13.1
24.5
3.8
14.8
4.7
13.8
7.0
18.3
* Refers to single-issue parties for farmers, inflation victims,
shopkeepers, and separatists.
** Includes the North German “Racial Freedom Party”
Hermann Müller’s cabinet of the Great Coalition
(from SPD to DVP), June 1928: Rudolf Hilferding was finance
minister, with Wilhelm Groener as defense minister
Stresemann explains the Young Plan in a turbulent
Reichstag session, 1929.
Germany
would
continue to
owe
around 2
billion
marks per
year in war
reparations
for 50
years….
Until 1930 the KPD was much larger than the NSDAP: Ernst
Thälmann leads the Red Combat Veterans, Berlin, 1927
“Karl Liebknecht
House,” the KPD
headquarters in Berlin,
1929
DNVP chairman Alfred Hugenberg and the leaders of the
Stahlhelm allied with the NSDAP to combat the Young Plan
“Unto the third generation must
you slave away!”
(“Freedom Law” referendum
campaign poster, 1929)
UNEMPLOYMENT RATES, 1928-1933: The DVP and SPD
clashed over whether to raise taxes or slash jobless benefits
(The French figures are doubtless understated.)
CAUSES OF THE PARALYSIS OF
THE REICHSTAG
A deepening rift on the Left between the SPD and a
newly Stalinized KPD.
The growth of single-issue parties that drained support
from the moderate parties.
The turn of the DNVP toward a fascistoid course under
Hugenberg.
The growing impatience of President Hindenburg and
the Reichswehr with SPD opposition to rearmament and
agrarian protectionism.
Chancellor
Heinrich Brüning
(1885-1970)
• Born to a middle-class
Catholic family in
Münster
• Economics Ph.D
• Decorated combat
veteran (rose to captain)
• Ex-functionary of the
Christian trade unions
BRÜNING’S ASSUMPTIONS
That Germany’s budget must be balanced, because any
deficit would cause a run on the mark-- (TRUE, because
memories of hyper-inflation made investors panicky).
That deflation would revive German export industries
and employment– (true to some extent, but deflation
also slows the velocity of the circulation of money).
That the government could distribute sacrifices fairly
among all social classes– (FALSE, because Hindenburg
insisted that landowners receive debt relief and tariff
hikes, and that the military be spared any budget cuts).
Brüning and Foreign Minister
Curtius bid farewell to U.S.
Secretary of State Henry
Stimson, Berlin, July 1931
Brüning secures support
for the abolition of
reparations from Mussolini
in Rome, August 1931
Brüning achieved a diplomatic breakthrough with the
Hoover Moratorium of July 1931, but two major German
banks failed at the same time
“Resignation &
Discussion,”
photo by Walter
Ballhause from the
series
“Unemployment”
(1930)
Alfred Hugenberg APPEARED to forge a united front of all
rightist organizations at Bad Harzburg in October 1931
Brüning united a broad
front from the SPD to
moderate conservatives
to secure Hindenburg’s
reelection in April 1932
MOST NAZI PROPAGANDA IN 1928 WAS OVERTLY ANTI-SEMITIC
“The Blow Must Be Felt!”
“Death to the Lie”
(Marxism=High Finance)
BUT HITLER STUDIED MEDIA STRATEGY TIRELESSLY
“Combative” ---- “Visionary” ---- “Ironic”
HITLER ADDRESSES NAZI LEADERS, AUGUST 1928:
Analyzing their election defeat, they noted
some success in rural areas….
The Nazis campaigned in Aug/Sep 1930 on the platform
that war reparations had caused the economic crisis
“Freedom and Bread”
They astonished everyone in
September 1930 by winning 18%
of the vote & 107 Reichstag seats
Corporal Hitler
challenged Hindenburg
for the presidency in
March 1932:
“We choose
Hindenburg! -We choose Hitler!
Look at these faces, and
you will known where
you belong!”
“Our last hope:
HITLER”
(March 1932)
THE FALL OF BRÜNING, MAY 1932
Hindenburg had long desired a rightist majority cabinet
stretching from the Center to the NSDAP.
Hindenburg was deeply wounded when most of his
monarchist friends endorsed Hitler for President.
In April 1932 Brüning banned the SA and sought to
partition bankrupt agricultural estates for homesteaders.
Hindenburg appointed the right-wing Catholic
monarchist Franz von Papen to replace Brüning at the
end of May, hoping that his government would be
tolerated by the Center Party and NSDAP.
Franz von Papen’s “Cabinet
of Barons” was supported by
only one party, the DNVP.
Many regarded the new
chancellor as the puppet of
the Defense Minister, General
Kurt von Schleicher
Papen & Schleicher at the
racetrack, September 1932
Papen lifted the SA ban, called for new elections, and
forcibly removed the SPD-led Prussian state government
on July 20, 1932 (in the Preussenschlag)
“The People Will Die
from this System!”
(SPD, July 1932)
“The Worker in the Realm
of the Swastika!”
(SPD, July 1932)
By 1932 the Nazis
focused their
propaganda on the
traditional enemies
of middle-class
Protestants,
the Reds and the
Blacks:
“The Final Blow!”
(July 1932)
THE POLARIZATION OF THE GERMAN
ELECTORATE IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Communist
Social Democrat
Moderate (Libs + RC)
Con./Nationalist
Nazi
1919 1928 1930 Jul-32 Nov32
Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher addresses a rally in
Berlin on January 15, 1933
The Hitler-Papen “Cabinet of National Renewal,” appointed
on January 30, 1933 (only 3 of 11 ministers were Nazis)
“In our deepest need,
Hindenburg chose Adolf Hitler
as Reich Chancellor. You too
should vote for List #1”
“The Reich will
never be destroyed
– if you remain
united and faithful”