Weimar Republic

The period of German history from 1919 to 1933 is known as the Weimar Republic IPA {{IPA|/?va?mar/}} (German Weimarer Republik). It is named after the city of Weimar where a national assembly convened to produce a new constitution after the German Monarchy and German Empire were abolished following the nation's defeat in World War I.

Collapse and the rise of Hitler

Loss of credibility

The last years of the Weimar republic were stamped by even more political instability than in the previous years. On March 29, 1930, the finance expert Heinrich Brüning had been appointed the successor of Chancellor Müller by Paul von Hindenburg after months of political lobbying by General Kurt von Schleicher on behalf of the military. The new government was expected to lead a political shift towards conservatism, based on the emergency powers granted to the Reichspräsident by the constitution, since it had no majority support in the Reichstag.

Related Topics:
March 29 - 1930 - Heinrich Brüning - Paul von Hindenburg - Kurt von Schleicher - Reichstag

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After an unpopular bill to reform the Reich's finances was left unsupported by the Reichstag, Hindenburg established the bill as an emergency decree based on Article 48 of the constitution. On July 18, 1930, the bill was again invalidated by a slim majority in the Reichstag with the support of the SPD, KPD, the (then small) Nazi Party (NSDAP) and DNVP. Immediately afterwards, Brüning submitted to the Reichstag the president's decree that it would be dissolved.

Related Topics:
Article 48 - KPD - DNVP

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Reichstag general elections on September 14, 1930, resulted in an enormous political shift: 18.3% of the vote went to the NSDAP, five times the percentage compared to 1928. This had devastating consequences for the Republic. There was no longer a majority in the Reichstag even for a Great Coalition of moderate parties, and it encouraged the supporters of the NSDAP to bring out their claim to power with increasing violence and terror. After 1930, the Republic slid more and more into a state of civil war.

Related Topics:
September 14 - 1930

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From 1930 to 1932, Brüning attempted to reform the devastated state without a majority in Parliament, governing with the help of the President's emergency decrees. During that time, the Great Depression reached its highpoint. In line with liberal economic theory that less public spending would spur economic growth, Brüning drastically cut state expenditures, including in the social sector. He expected and accepted that the economic crisis would, for a while, deteriorate before things would improve. Among others, the Reich completely halted all public grants to the obligatory unemployment insurance (which had been introduced only in 1927), which resulted in higher contributions by the workers and less benefits for the unemployed -- not exactly a popular measure to adopt.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The economic downturn lasted until the second half of 1932, when there were first indices of a rebound. By this time though, the Weimar Republic had lost all credibility with the majority of Germans. While scholars greatly disagree about how Brüning's policy should be evaluated, it can safely be said that it contributed to the decline of the Republic. Whether there were alternatives at the time remains the subject of much debate.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On May 30, 1932, Brüning resigned after no longer having Hindenburg's support. Five weeks earlier, Hindenburg had been reelected Reichspräsident with Brüning's active support, running against Hitler (the president was directly elected by the people while the Reichskanzler was not).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Franz von Papen calls for elections

Hindenburg then appointed Franz von Papen as new Reichskanzler. Von Papen lifted the ban on the SA, imposed after the street riots, in an unsuccessful attempt to secure the backing of Hitler.

Related Topics:
Franz von Papen - SA

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Since most parties opposed the new government, von Papen had the Reichstag dissolved and called for new elections. The general elections on July 31, 1932 yielded major gains for the KPD and the NSDAP. The latter won 37.2% of the vote for the NSDAP, supplanting the Social Democrats as the largest party in the Reichstag. Hitler now demanded to be appointed Chancellor, but was rejected by Hindenburg on August 13, 1932. There was still no majority in the Reichstag for any government; as a result, the Reichstag was dissolved and elections took place once more in the hope that a stable majority would result.

Related Topics:
Reichstag - July 31 - 1932 - KPD - NSDAP - Social Democrats

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This was not the case. The November 6, 1932 elections yielded 33.0% for the NSDAP: it lost over four percent. Franz von Papen stepped down, and was succeeded by General von Schleicher as Reichskanzler on December 3. Von Schleicher's audacious plan was to build a majority in the Reichstag by uniting the trade unionist left wings in the various parties, including that of the NSDAP led by Gregor Strasser. This did not prove successful either.

Related Topics:
November 6 - 1932 - December 3

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On January 4, 1933, Hitler met secretly with von Papen at the house of the Cologne banker Kurt von Schroeder. They agreed on forming a joint government. Besides Hitler, only two other NSDAP members would be part of the Reich government: (Wilhelm Frick as Minister of the Interior and Hermann Göring as Commissary for Prussia), with von Papen being Hitler's Vice Chancellor. The new cabinet included the influential media mogul Alfred Hugenberg, who was chairman of the (also right-wing) DNVP party at the time. Hitler had outwitted von Papen. The three posts held by the NSDAP were the most influential.

Related Topics:
January 4 - 1933 - Cologne - Kurt von Schroeder - Wilhelm Frick - Hermann Göring - Alfred Hugenberg - DNVP

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From November 6, 1932 to January 31, 1933 the Nazis were a barely restrained minority excluded from an Army Reichswehr General-anchored Cabinet led by general Kurt von Schleicher and ruling under Decree 48 of the Weimar Constitution. From January 4th Hitler and the ex-Chancellor, non-Party member Franz von Papen, planned between themselves to replace the cabinet.

Related Topics:
1932 - 1933 - Nazi - Minority - Reichswehr - General - Cabinet - Kurt von Schleicher - Decree 48 - Weimar Constitution

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hitler learned from von Papen that the general had no authority to abolish the Reichstag parliament, whereas any majority of seats did. The cabinet (under a previous interpretation of Decree 48) ruled without a sitting Reichstag, which could vote only for its own dissloution. Hitler also learned that all past crippling Nazi debts were to be relieved by German big business.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On January 22, Hitler's efforts to persuade Oskar von Hindenburg (the President's son) included threats to bring criminal charges over estate taxation irregularities at the President's Neudeck estate (although 5000 extra acres were soon alloted to Hindenburg's property). Out maneuvered by von Papen and Hitler on plans for the new cabinet, and having lost Hindenburg's confidence, Schleicher asked for new elections. On January 28th von Papen described Hitler to Paul von Hindenburg as only a minority part of an alternative, von Papen-arranged government.

Related Topics:
Neudeck - Paul von Hindenburg

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next day Hitler and von Papen thwarted a last-minute threat of an officially-sanctioned Reichswehr takeover, and on 30 January 1933 Hindenburg accepted the new Papen-Nationalist-Hitler coalition with the Nazis holding only three of eleven Cabinet seats. Later that day, the first cabinet meeting was attended by only two political parties, representing a minority in the Reichstag: The Nazis and the Alfred Hugenberg-led DNVP (Nationalists) (196 + 52 seats). Eyeing the Catholic Centre Party Germany's 70 (+ 20 BVP) seats, Hitler refused their leader's demands for constitutional "concessions" (amounting to protection) and planned for dissolution of the Reichstag.

Related Topics:
1933 - Alfred Hugenberg - Centre Party Germany - BVP

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nationalist suggestions to "balance" the majority through further arrests were rejected by Hitler at that first meeting, although the Nationalists were assured arrests would resume after the elections. Following a meeting with centre leader Monsignor Ludwig Kaas, Hitler called for fresh elections to be held on 5 March.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Although he was fiercely anti-Nazi and had defeated Hitler in the 1932 presidential election, Hindenburg reluctantly agreed to von Papen's theory that, with Nazi popular support on the wane, Hitler could now be controlled as chancellor. The date dubbed Machtergreifung (seizure of power) by the Nazi propaganda is commonly seen as the beginning of Nazi Germany.

Related Topics:
Machtergreifung - Nazi Germany

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hitler appointed Chancellor

Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor on the morning of January 30, 1933 during what some observers later described as a brief and indifferent ceremony. By February, Communist and left-wing meetings were banned and even moderate Centre Party figures had been physically threatened and attacked. A quasi-legal outlawing of communism in mid February included the plainly illegal arrests of Reichstag Deputies.

Related Topics:
Hitler - Chancellor - 1933

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

February 27th brought the Reichstag Fire, which was blamed on the communists. Hitler used this as a pretext for the "emergency" Reichstag Fire Decree which, with assent from the president, suspended civil liberties.

Related Topics:
Reichstag Fire - Reichstag Fire Decree

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hitler and the Nazis used state broadcasting and aviation facilities in a massive attempt to sway the electorate, but this last democratic election yielded a bare working majority of 16 seats for the coalition. Hitler addressed many disparate interest groups, stressing the necessity for a definitive solution to the perpetual instability of the Weimar Republic. He now blamed Germany's problems on the communists, even threatening their lives on 3 March. Centre ex-Chancellor Heinrich Bruning proclaimed the Centre Pparty would resist any constitutional change and appealed to the president for an investigation of the Reichstag Fire.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At the March 15th meeting of the new cabinet, Hitler obtained the Enabling Act, which included arbitrary power enabling him to arrest democratic opposition SPD deputies. Meanwhile, the catholic Centre Party (Zentrumspartei) chaired by Dr. Ludwig Kaas, a priest, was the only remaining question in the equation of a 2/3 majority vote [constitutionally needed to ratify the Act. Centre Party chairman since 1928, Kaas also had strong non-political connections to the Secretary of State at the Vatican. At the last internal Centre meeting prior to the Enabling Act, Kaas expressed no preference or suggestion on the vote, but as a solution to divisions within his party arranged for a letter of constitutional guarantee from the Nazis prior to Centre support on the issue.

Related Topics:
Enabling Act - Ludwig Kaas - 1928 - Vatican

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The ceremonial opening of the Reichstag on March 21 was held at the Garrison Church in Potsdam, a shrine of Prussianism, in the presence of many Junker landowners and representatives of the imperial military caste. This is significant because it conveyed the impression that Hitler and the Nazis had the support of Germany's traditional leaders and the Army. Such support would announce to the population a return to conservatism to curb the problems affecting the Weimar Republic, and that stability might be at hand. In a politically adroit move, Hitler bowed in respectful humility before the world and its press.

Related Topics:
Garrison Church - Potsdam - Prussianism - Junker

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Reichstag convened on March 23, 1933, while Hitler orchestrated the full political menace of his support paramilitaries in the streets. The Communists' 81 seats were vacant, lowering the bar for a constitutional majority. Otto Wels, the Social Democrat leader of 120 seats, the only one to defend democracy and in an attempt to deny the two-thirds majority, made a speech that referred to the soul and provoked Hitler's immediate wrath.

Related Topics:
Paramilitaries - Otto Wels

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In his own speech, Hitler delivered a well-remembered reference to the churches which he had previously attacked, paying tribute to the Christian faiths as "essential elements for safeguarding the soul] of the German people". He promised to respect their rights and declared his Government's "ambition is a peaceful accord between Church and State," and with an eye to the votes of the Catholic Centre party, which he got, added "we hope to improve our friendly relations with the Holy See." (Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William L. Shirer 1959).

Related Topics:
Church and State - Holy See - William L. Shirer - 1959

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Meanwhile, Kaas had not yet received the still feverishly promised but plainly absent letter of guarantee. That morning, ex-Chancellor Bruning had condemned the planned assent to the Enabling Act as treachery, but now he was officially silent. At the same Centre conference that morning, Kaas had presented the choice, between preservation "of our soul" or a division of the party. Following Hitler's speech, Kaas delivered the Centre vote en bloc for the Enabling Act and legal authoritarian dictatorship was born in Germany. Shirer writes about the many interested parties including Hindenburg and his friends, the Junker and monarchist Barons, Hugenberg and his business/Nationalists, the officers of the Weimar Reichswehr (Army) and the big business interests.

Related Topics:
Authoritarian - Dictatorship - Junker - Reichswehr

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~