Collapse of Weimar

1. Collapse of Weimar

2. Origins of Weimar • 9 November 1918, Germany declared Republic, with provisional govt • 6 Jan 1919 Spartacist attempt to seize power; put down within a week with help of Freikorps; Liebknecht and Luxemburg murdered • 19 Jan 1919 elections to create an assembly to draw up a constitution • 6 Feb 1919 assembly begins deliberations, in Weimar because Berlin is considered vulnerable to radical political interference • 11 August 1919 Weimar constitution passed

3. Origins • Sept 1919 govt returned to Berlin, although it did not judge it safe enough to hold elections • Assembly prolonged Ebert's provisional term as president for three years • Elections for Reichstag were delayed until June 1920, when parties of provisional assembly gained only 43.5% of vote • 1920-23: Inflation, becomes hyperinflation in Jan 1923 when French and Belgian troops occupy Ruhr to enforce reparations • 15 Nov 1923: one dollar worth 4.2 trillion German marks, before currency is stabilised • 1924: Dawes Plan reschedules reparations

4. Weimar Constitution: Key Provisions • Proportional representation • Universal adult suffrage • Right of people to organise a national referendum to pass a bill into law against the wishes of the Reichstag • Article 48 – emergency powers to rule by decree by permission of president

5. High point of Weimar • Dec 1925 Pact of Locarno, Germany guaranteed to maintain new postwar boundaries with France and Belgium • Sept 1926 German joins League of Nations • 1928 signs Kellogg-Briand Pact which outlaws aggressive war • May 1928 elections anti-republican parties of Left and Right only 13% of vote • Aug 1929 govt accepts Young Plan to reduce reparations and push final repayment to 1988 • German National People’s Party of Hugenberg sees this as renewed humiliation

6. Yet Tensions • Heavy industry lobby (represented esp. in DNVP) head into anti-republican camp • Demand protectionist policies and radical cuts in welfare state and wages levels • Ruhr lock-out of Nov 1928 – employers refuse to accept state arbitrator’s decision for a small wage increase • Employers’ offensive undermines political compromise of Grand Coalition govt formed in 1928 headed by Social Democrats

7. The Crash and Rise of Right • Hugenberg, with help of Hitler and moribund Nazi Party organises referendum to oppose it – which fails, only 13.8% of vote • 29 Oct 1929 Wall St Crash • 1930 3 million unemployed; 1932 6 million • March 1930 coalition govt collapses over disagreements about costs of maintaining the unemployment benefits system introduced in 1927

8. The issues • Raising employee’s contributions to the Unemployment Insurance Fund, at a time when unemployment was rapidly growing • SPD Parl. fraction insists on increasing contributions • DVP wants to cut benefits • Unemployment benefit system had been designed to cope with around 1 million unemployed, not 6 million

9. Years of Crisis • President Hindenburg invoked Article 48, to appoint Heinrich Brüning of the Catholic Centre Party as chancellor, with a ‘grand coalition’ govt with SPD which had no parl majority • Sept 1930, elections, dramatic increase in Nazi vote (18%), smaller increase in CP vote (13%); SPD offer ‘reluctant toleration’ of Brüning govt by decree • Spring 1932, presidential elections. Hindenberg vs Hitler vs Ernst Thälmann. Hindenberg wins, but Hitler gets 37% of vote

10. Months of crisis • May 1932 Brüning resigns, having lost Hindenberg’s support • Von Papen (who was tool of army under General Schleicher who felt he could control Hitler and introduce military rule) govt formed. • Hitler agrees to support it in return for unbanning of SA and new elections • July elections held in atmosphere of terror and disorder. Nazis largest party - 230 seats, 37.4% of vote • Hindenberg refuses to appoint Hitler chancellor; Papen remains in office, fails to govern, and calls elections in November

11. Almost final collapse • Nov 1932 elections produce stalemate. Nazi vote falls marginally, but still largest party; CP vote increases 2%; SPD loses votes; Nazi and CP jointly have over 50% • Nazi support needed for any parl majority, but Hitler insisted on being Chancellor • Schleicher takes over from Von Papen, tries to split the Nazis by offering a post to Gregor Strasser, but this fails • Schleicher rules with no majority and no real programme

12. Final Intrigues • Meanwhile Hitler negotiates with Papen (who wants revenge on Schleicher, and who still has influence with Hindenberg) • Hindenberg agrees to a Hitler-Papen-Hugenberg government • 30 Jan 1933 Hitler is appointed chancellor of govt with only 3 Nazi ministers • Centre Party refuses to join Hitler’s coalition and he calls for new elections. SA violence, Goebbels propaganda and Reichstag fire of 27/2/33

13. Final Collapse • 5 March 1933 elections, Nazis 43.9% of vote, but Hugenberg’s DNVP’s 8% give them majority • 23 March 1933 Enabling Act passed allowing Hitler to rule by decree • By end of 1933: • All parties dissolved or violently disbanded • TUs replaced by Labour Front • Powers of local govt removed • Unity of Party and State proclaimed • 30/6/34 Night of Long Knives. Strasser and Schleicher also murdered • 1935 Nuremberg laws

15. Fault of the system or the political forces? • “The sections of society with the greatest influence on the levers of power – mainly business leaders, landowners, military top brass, and some figures in prominent positions in the civil service – were increasingly determined to exploit the crisis in order to overthrow Weimar democracy at the earliest available opportunity and restore some form of authoritarian rule.” (Kershaw) • “While the replacement of German liberal democracy by some form of authoritarianism was as good as certain by 1930, or at the latest by the summer of 1931, there was nothing at all predetermined about the appointment of Hitler as Reich Chancellor.”(Kershaw)