Aftermath of the great Depression in Germany

1. Aftermath of the great Depression in Germany Phili phil phil

2. Global Issue - Trade • By 1932 the total value of world trade had fallen by more than half as country after country took measures against the importation of foreign goods. • US required Germany and other defeated nations, to pay war reparations • the flow of American investment credits to Europe dried up, prosperity tended to collapse there as well • protect their domestic production by imposing tariffs, raising existing ones, and setting quotas on foreign imports.

3. Industry • In Germany the United States industrial output fell by about 50 per cent, and between 25 and 33 per cent of the industrial labour force was unemployed. • some governments introduced exchange control (as in Germany)

4. German Extremism • In Germany, economic distress directly contributed to Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933. The Nazis' public-works projects and their rapid expansion of munitions production ended the Depression there by 1936. • In the 1930 Reichstag election, the Nazis gained 143 seats - a vast improvement on their previous showing. Hitler only expected between 50 to 60 seats.

5. Solution • In Germany Hitler adopted policies that were more interventionist,developing a massive work-creation scheme that had largely eradicated unemployment by 1936. • In the same year rearmament, paid for by government borrowing, started in earnest. • In order to keep down inflation, consumption was restricted by rationing and trade controls. • By 1939 the Germans’ Gross National Product was 51 per cent higher than in 1929 — an increase due mainly to the manufacture of armaments and machinery.

6. War Industry as economic Recovery • In Germany, unemployment rose sharply beginning in late 1929, and by early 1932 it had reached 6 million workers, or 25 percent of the work force • September 1928 - 650,000 unemployed • September 1929 - 1,320,000 unemployed • September 1930 - 3,000,000 unemployed • September 1931 - 4,350,000 unemployed • September 1932 - 5,102,000 unemployed • January 1933 - 6,100,000 unemployed

7. In Conclusion • The German case is an extreme example of what happened virtually everywhere in the 1930s. The international economy broke up into trading blocs determined by political allegiances and the currency in which they traded. Trade between the blocs was limited, with world trade in 1939 still below its 1929 level. Although the global economy did eventually recover from the Depression, it was at considerable cost to international economic relations and to political stability.

8. Public Outrage • Protests: there were food riots in Berlin and other major cities as a direct response to the depression. • The crisis of the Great Depression brought disunity to the political parties in the Reichstag. Instead of forging an alliance to enact desperately need legislation, they broke up into squabbling, uncompromising groups. In March of 1930, Heinrich Bruening, a member of the Catholic Center Party, became Chancellor

9. Fear of Extremism • Despite the overwhelming need for a financial program to help the German people, Chancellor Bruening encountered stubborn opposition to his plans. To break the bitter stalemate, he went to President Hindenburg and asked the Old Gentleman to invoke Article 48 of the German constitution which gave emergency powers to the president to rule by decree. This provoked a huge outcry from the opposition, demanding withdrawal of the decree

10. The establishment of various political extremism caused ideological division between the germans. After the Nazis came to power most of the demonstration and protests originated from the communists such as the spartacists. • “Members of the National Socialist Party have perpetrated acts of atrocious violence at various places throughout the Reich from East Prussia to Bavaria”. • the Nazis were producing veritable reigns of terror, through murdering members of their own party on the eve of the elections to be held for a new government, along with the breaking of shop windows, burning of gas stations, diversions of the fire brigades, murdering prominent members of the Socialist and Communist parties, shooting of the German chancellor, and essentially inducing chaos and anarchy across Germany. • Demonstrations: • The navy mutinied (rebelled)