Weimar Germany 1919-1932: The Failure of Liberalism

1. Weimar Germany 1919-1932:The Failure of Liberalism

2. 1918- The Chaotic End of WWI • Oct. 28th Mutinies by sailors and soldiers begin in the home garrisons in Germany, followed by the formation of workers' and soldiers' councils. • Nov. 9th Revolution breaks out in Germany. The Empire collapses, the Kaiser abdicates, and a republic is proclaimed. • Nov. 10th - Feb. 6th A provisional government of socialists is established, responsible to the workers’ and soldiers' councils; until Dec. 29 it includes the radical communists as well as the moderate social democrats. • Nov. 11th Armistice: The war ends.

3. 1919- Republic and Revolution • Feb. 6th The National Assembly (elected on Jan. 19) meets in Weimar because Berlin has become too violent. A government of the "Weimar Coalition" (SPD, DDP, Center) is formed with Philipp Scheidemann as Chancellor. • Feb. 11th The National Assembly elects Friedrich Ebert (SPD) as the first President of the Republic. • April 4th - May 1stCommunists establish a Soviet Republic in Bavaria which is put down by a coalition of government troops and right wing militia (freiskorps). The leaders of the revolution, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Leibkind, are shot.

4. 1919- Republic and Revolution • June 23rdVersailles Treaty: The Treaty, drafted by Britain, France, and the United States, is imposed on the protesting German government. • Germany is forced to yield up Alsace-Lorraine, the Polish Corridor, Silesia, Denmark, and Belgium, • Germany is forced to limit the size of its army to 100,000 men, • Germany is forbidden to keep troops in its Western provinces (the "demilitarized" Rhineland), • Germany is required to pay heavy reparations for damage caused in the war, • Germany is barred from the League of Nations. • July 31st Weimar Constitution: The National Assembly, sitting in Weimar, adopts a constitution for the Republic. • In September Adolf Hitler joins the tiny German Workers Party (later renamed the National Socialist German Workers Party, NSDAP, or Nazi Party) in Munich.

5. 1920-22: Right Wing Coup Attempt • March 13th – 17th The Kapp Putsch is attempted: an unsuccessful military coup against the Republican government. It is followed over the next two weeks by armed radical revolts in the Ruhr and elsewhere. It’s leaders are sentenced to brief prison terms. • 1921 May 11th The German government (under duress) accepts the Allies claims for reparations. • Oct. 12th After a plebiscite, the League of Nations partitions Upper Silesia and awards a large part to Poland. • 1922 April 16th The Treaty of Rapallo between Germany and Soviet Russia opens a diplomatic back door for Germany. • June 24th German Foreign Minister Walter Rathenau is assassinated by right-wing anti-Semites. In reaction to this outrage, Republican institutions are consolidated for a time.

6. 1923: Hyper-Inflation and Hitler’s First Attempt to Seize Power • 1923 Jan. 11th Germany’s main heavy industrial area is occupied by French and Belgian troops in an attempt to force payment of reparations. The local population practices passive resistance, subsidized by the German government; these expenditures lead to rapid escalation of the already steep inflation in Germany. • Aug. 12th - Nov. 23rd A "Great Coalition" government (SPD, DDP, Center, DVP) led by Gustav Stresemann (DVP) ends the passive resistance and the inflation. Stresemann remains as foreign minister in every succeeding government until 1929. • Nov. 8th - 11th"Beer Hall Putsch”: Hitler’s first attempt to seize power takes place in Munich. It is a fiasco. Afterwards, Hitler is caught, arrested and sentenced to a year in minimum security prison during 1924-25. While in prison he writes Mein Kampf.

7. 1924-28: American Financial Aid and Stability • 1924 April 9thThe Dawes Plan eases Germany's reparations payments and leads to an influx of American capital. • 1925 April 26th Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg is elected President of the Republic. • Oct. 16th Germany signs the Locarno Treaties, voluntarily guaranteeing her Western borders. This move restores normal relations with the Western powers. • 1926 Sept. 8th Germany is admitted to the League of Nations. • 1928 June 13th A "Great Coalition" government (the first since 1923) is formed under Hermann Müller (SPD), after national elections that seems to confirm the stabilization of the Republic.

8. 1929 Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression • 1929 June 7th The German government accepts the Young Plan, which further eases German reparation obligations. In the ensuing nationalist campaign opposing the Young Plan, Hitler gains his first national prominence. • 1929 Oct. 24thThe Wall Street Crash, symbolic start of the Great Depression, finds the German economy already in decline, and leads to the withdrawal of American short-term loans.

9. 1930-31: Liberal Rule by Emergency Decree • 1930 March 27th After the collapse of the coalition government, a minority government of center and right-wing parties is formed under Heinrich Brüning (Center). When the Reichstag fails to cooperate with his program, Brüning resolves to rely on President von Hindenburg's powers of emergency decree. • Sept. 14th National elections, called by Brüning to strengthen his position in the Reichstag, result in a surge in the Nazi and Communist vote. The "Great Coalition" loses its ability to form a majority coalition, and Brüning has no way to legislate except by Presidential decree. • 1931 May 11th The collapse of Austrian Credit-Anstalt starts a banking crisis in Germany that accelerates the slow decline of the German economy and makes it clear that the depth and duration of the depression will be extraordinary.

10. 1932: Hitler Maneuvers for Position • 1932 April 10th Hindenburg is reelected President by a small margin over Hitler. • May 31st Franz von Papen becomes Chancellor after Brüning loses Hindenburg's confidence and resigns. • June 16th The Papen government lifts a ban on the SA, the left wing thugs of the Nazi party. • July 31st National Elections, called by Papen to strengthen his position in the Reichstag, result in the doubling of Nazi representation. Now, no coalition government of any kind is possible without either the Nazis or the Communists. • Aug. 13th Hitler declares that he will not serve in the government in any office other than as Chancellor. • Nov. 6th National elections fail to resolve the deadlock; the Nazis lose some seats, but the Communists gain. • Dec. 2nd General Kurt von Schleicher becomes Chancellor.

11. 1933: The Nazis Win Election and then Establish Dictatorial Power • 1933 Jan. 30thHitler is named Chancellor with a cabinet numerically dominated by conservatives who believe they can control him. • Feb. 27thFire partly destroys the Reichstag building. The government takes the occasion to step up persecution of the opposition parties. • March 5thIn national elections the NSDAP wins 44%, the Nationalists win 8%, for a majority between them; immediately after the election, Communist representatives are arrested or forced underground, and the Nazis alone possess the majority of Reichstag members. • March 23rdEnabling Act: This bill, which receives the necessary two-thirds majority with the aid of the Center Party, grants full legislative powers to the cabinet without requiring the assent of the Reichstag. It is the formal basis of Hitler’s power for the remainder of the Third Reich.

12. 1933 Nazis Consolidate Power and Begin to Persecute Jews • April 1st An official national boycott of Jewish businesses is organized by the Nazi government, but it lasts only a few days because of public resistance. • April 7th The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service enables the dismissal of all Jews and opponents of the regime from the civil service. • May - July All political parties other than the Nazis are disbanded and all trade unions are absorbed into the Labor Front. • June Inauguration of the Reinhardt Plan of expanded public works expenditure, including construction of superhighways (Autobahns). • Oct. 14th Germany begins to rearm. In a referendum 93% of the voters approve of these actions.

13. The Contestants for Power • Liberals • Marxists • Nazis How did the Nazis seize power even though they never polled more than 37% of the vote?

14. Treaty of Versailles • Germany is blamed for the war. • Germany loses its colonies. • Germany loses territory in the east to the new nations of Poland and Czechoslovakia, and in the west they lose to France and Belgium the valuable coal producing regions Alsasce and Lorraine. • Paying 6,600,000,000 gold marks in reparations to the Allies. • The German Army must contain no more than seven divisions of infantry and three divisions of cavalry (# of men not exceeding 100,000). • Signing the Treaty plunged Germany into bankruptcy.

16. Reactions Against the Versailles Treaty • German Generals let representatives of the Weimar Republic sign the treaty, so Germans would blame the liberal leaders of the Republic. • General Ludendorff calls it “The Versailles Blackmail” (Pace) • Rightist factions would call out for revenge for the injustices done unto them as a result of losing World War I (even though it was the army that was responsible for the defeat). • Hitler claimed it was a deliberate plan by the liberal government (and the Jews) to stab Army in the back. • Overall, the liberals were hamstrung from the start because they signed a treaty that was terribly unpopular with the German people.

17. Weimar Weaknesses • The liberal leaders received the blame for signing the Versailles Treaty and ending the war. • The extreme right expressed their opposition of the liberal government by attempting many putsches (coups). • As the German Army originally supported a more authoritarian government, the fact that it’s ranks were not purged after the signing of the Versailles Treaty means that when the Weimar Republic failed, they were ready to step in and take over.

18. Weimar Weaknesses: • Constitution was highly unstable: • weak executive • multiple political parties particularly on the left • “The whole business of forming coalitions, and therefore of governing at all, was made infinitely more difficult and complicated. Party leaders in government were compelled to divert a good deal of their time and energy to mollifying their own party organizations.” • Runaway Inflation • Versailles Treaty made Germany pay more than it could afford • 1919: mark had 20% less value • October 1923: trillions of marks to buy bread

19. Rosa Luxemburg: Leftist Anti- War Activist • “The War and the Workers” • The Social Democratic Party had betrayed the workers and the country by supporting the war. • Liberal government would betray the people. • Only a revolution, like the one that had just taken place in Russia, could bring social justice to Germany. • “The madness will cease and the bloody demons of hell will vanish only when workers in Germany and France, England and Russia finally awake from their stupor, extend to each other a brotherly hand, and drown out the bestial chorus of imperialist war-mongers and the shrill cry of capitalist hyenas with labor's old and mighty battle cry: Proletarians of all lands, unite!” (Junius Pamphlet)

20. The Spartacist Revolt • 1919 – Germany is in chaos; the Spartacists take control of Berlin • Social Democrats turn to the Army for help: • This decision decreased support for the Spartacists from the people who then saw that the Weimar Republic had abandoned them. • Right Wing freikorps succeed in retaking Berlin. • Luxemburg and Liebknecht tortured and executed. • In short, the Left further weakens Weimar Republic by attempting a revolution. • No radical leftist will ever support Weimar again.

22. The Right’s Reaction: Freikorps and Putsch • In response to the Spartacist Revolt, Freikorps were formed, right wing militias which traveled around country eradicating Leftist revolutionaries. • Kapp Putsch attempted. • March 1920’s, almost succeeded • Strike by workers and civil servants ended it • “There was no real purge of the army and bureaucracy after the departure of the Kaiser, and many of the most important institutions in Germany remained loyal to the authoritarian principles of the Empire and rejected the idea of democracy” (Pace) • Even after the failed putsch, the right was just waiting for the chance to seize power for themselves.

24. Materialism vs. Idealism The intellectual world of the countryside diverges from that of Berlin since German idealism still dominated the thinking of conservatives: “What of the people, whose brains are schooled in Kant, whose sensibilities have stormed the depths with Faust, whose longings for God in the rites of the old church have gained eternal blessing and, in Lutheran faith, an iron resolve?  A people of such heritage will not be impressed by Berlin intellectuality in pan-European style.”  (Pace)

25. The Liberal Message:Metropolis: The Future is Now From Metropolis, Fritz Lang (1928)

26. From Metropolis, Fritz Lang (1928)

27. Liberal Berlin vs. Conservative Countryside: A Cultural Chasm • The Second Industrial Revolution created a large cultural gap between the mores of the city of Berlin and the traditional countryside which surrounded it. • Similarly, the arrogant and bourgeois citizen of Berlin incited the rebellious feelings from the inhabitants of the countryside who strove to preserve their humble, conservative origins. Berlin was un-German: • “The enemy was:  the lip; the saucy airs, more precisely, self-aggrandizement; the insolent self-righteousness and the endless cackle of irony; the snobbish imitation; the shrill prattle; and the extravagances of the freshly civilized immigrants, the balkanized Paris-ianisms.”  (Pace)

28. American Influence: the Bringer of Uniformity and the Destroyer of Biological Identity • German conservatives criticized the influence of American culture and its emphasis on uniformity.. • “Germans, Jews, Americans, Chinese, Hungarians, Italians, Blacks, all races, all languages . . . and yet they are all so much like one another, as two brothers can be like one another.  They all wear the same cheap clothing, the same shirts, the same sale shoes. ” (Pace) • German conservatives also renounced the American emphasis on material things not the moral, spiritual and ideal: • “For only these are produced by industry -- no spiritual values.  The impact of the system, which up to now . . . has been entirely successful, has brought a complete displacement of values in its wake” (Pace) George Grosz, Metropolis, 1916-1917

29. The New Woman • After WWI, women began to take on new roles in Germany. Since women had taken the jobs of the men who had gone off to war. • “If during the war women were forced to take over many male jobs, they did not allow themselves afterward to be pushed quite all the way back into the home.” (Pace) • The old woman’s only purpose in life was to be pretty and to bear children. • However, a new image of woman had emerged since the war: she worked just like the men; she was no longer afraid to express her independence, and she had taken possession of her own sexuality. • The New Woman would clear the path for equal rights among men and women • “The new woman has set herself the goal of proving in her work and deeds that the representatives of the female sex are not second-class persons existing only in dependence and obedience but are fully capable of satisfying the demands of their positions in life. . .” (Pace) Marlene Dietrich as Lola in Dem Blauen Engel (1930)

30. Materialism and The Pursuit of Pleasure • The new emphasis on materialism challenged German Idealism, and Liberal Berliners embraced the fast life of Epicureanism: • “All of these fictions, these religious elaborations, these new doctrines of faith help people live, help them not only to endure this difficult, questionable life but to value it highly and hold it sacred.  And if they were nothing but a lovely stimulus or a sweet anesthesia, then even that perhaps would not be so little.”  (Hesse) (Pace) • An emphasis on sensuality and sexual desires mirrored the arrival of materialism in the philosophical realm: • “Grandmama, in a practically knee-length skirt and a bobbed hairdo, danced with young men in the clubs, hotels, and cafés—wherever the opportunity presented itself.” (Pace) Ein Stück Europäischer, (A "Slice" of European Culture) Otto Griebel, (1922)

31. The Liberal Message:The New Realism • In this painting, one can feel the cold reality of the operating room. • The people view the scene as purely scientific – blood, muscles, scalpels. • One also feels the tremendous pain of the patient – it is real, live. • Schad says that the Germans need to balance their Romantic principles with rational thought. An overwhelming Romantic spirit had led in the past to war and destruction. Schad, Operation, 1929

32. Otto Dix, Portrait of My Parents, I, 1921 The German volk. Idealized as being noble and heroic, is represented as actually weak and repressed. These people search for immediate solutions before anything else. How can the socialist appeal not win their support? THEY DO NOT WANT TO VOTE, THEY WANT TO EAT.

33. The Leftist Message: The Dada Rebellion • On the far left, Dadaists rejected all previous forms of representation. • They used photographs and clips from literature to attack political figures like Chancellor Stresseman (to the right). See Hannah HöchandRaoul Hausman and Hans Richter. • “The Dada photo monteur set out to give to something entirely unreal all the appearances of something real that had actually been photographed.” (Pace) Raoul Hausmann, Tatlin at home, 1920

34. George Grosz: Leftist Attacks on Weimar Liberalism Hunger Pillars of Society

35. The Bauhaus: The Socialist Message

36. Bauhaus: Form= Function • Architecture and Craft movement with socialist values founded by Walter Gropius • Form=Function • Merge beauty and function • Strip away unnecessary • Beauty is the essential • Household items are of higher status

37. Bauhaus Design: Victorian Furniture Marcel Breuer, Chair

38. The Leftist Message: Dreams of a Communist Utopia • In early 1920’s when Germany’s economy plunged to an all time low, the people were devastated • The Communist Party promised people an entirely new German society. This was very appealing to the leftists • The rise of the Communist party began a movement in which the communists attempted to sell their party through artwork.

39. Bertolt Brecht’s Threepenny Opera • The classic communist musical: the story of a rich capitalist who gets away with rape and murder. • Main Character of the show represents Jack the Ripper dressed like a gentleman. • Brecht believed theater should provoke political debate about the social environment. • Opened in 1928 and was an instant success.

40. The Nazi Message: Dreams of an Idealized Past • Blood and Soil: The Nazis drew popular support by claiming that they would bring rural, pre-industrial culture back to Germany. Yet behind a wall of propaganda, the Nazis really wanted to establish a militarized, highly industrialized state. • The Nazis appealed to the hatred of German conservatives for Western Liberal culture • Liberalism did not suit Germany because to the Germans the volk is more important than any individual • The needs of the volk should come before the needs of the individual

41. Nazi Ideology The Four Main Strands: • Nationalism • Anti-Liberal • Socialism • Expansionism • Anti-Semitism

42. Nazi Ideology: The 25 Points (1920) • Unification of Greater Germany (Austria + Germany) • Abrogation of the Versailles Treaty. • Expand German Land and territory: lebensraum. • Only a "member of the race" can be a citizen. • No Jew can be a citizen. • Only Germans can live in Germany. • No immigration of Jews fleeing pogroms. • Everyone must work. • No unearned income - "no rent-slavery". • Nationalization of industry • Division of profits • Extension of old age welfare. • Land reform • Death to all criminals • German law, not Roman law • Universal Education to teach "the German Way“ • Outlaw of child labour • Encouraging physical fitness • Formation of a national army. • Duty of the state to its volk. • Duty of individuals to the state • Unlimited power of the central government’s leadership

43. The Nazi Idealized Past • The Germans try to sell a pure life, a throwback to a pre-industrial, rural, pastoral country. All that will come after Hitler finishes his conquests in the East. • But this vision is twisted as well: the women are only used for bearing lots of children. It’s also a throwback to Norse mythology. There is a ruling class and a slave class. Their “ideal world” is a sexist, racist, system based on slavery. Hubert Lanzinger, The Flag Bearer

44. Nazi Contempt for Modernist Culture “We, the people of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Haydn, and Handel, cannot and will not any longer allow one of the noblest blooms of cultural life to fall increasingly victim to degeneration and to ultimate degradation to satisfy the demands of big-city night club and international bordellos.” (Hitler)

45. Nazis on Gender • “There is no place for the political woman in the ideological world of National Socialism . . . “ (Pace) • The Nazi propaganda posters show peaceful, rural scenes • A woman’s role in this society is to stay at home and have children. • “The so-called granting of equal rights to women, which Marxism demands, in reality does not grant equal rights but constitutes a deprivation of rights, since it draws woman into an area in which she will necessarily be inferior.  It places the woman in situations that cannot strengthen her position – vis-à-vis both man and society – but only weaken it . . .” (Hitler) • “The German resurrection is a male event.” From Engelbert Huber, Das ist Nationalsozialismus, 1933 Adolph Wissel , Farm Family from Kahlenberg (1939)

46. Bearing Children “‘And it is one of the greatest achievements of National Socialism,’ continued the Führer’s deputy [Rudolph  Hess], “that it made possible for more women in Germany today to become mothers than ever before.  They become mothers not merely because the state wants it so or because their husbands want it so.  Rather they become mothers because they themselves are proud to bring healthy children into the world, to bring them up for the nation, and in this way to do their part in the preservation of the life of their Volk.”  From an account of a mass meeting of the Berlin National Socialist women’s organization, May 27, 1936.

47. Role of Women and Daughters “It might seem amazing that women and girls should return to work at spinning wheels and weaving looms.  But this is wholly natural.  it was something that could have been foreseen.  This work must be taken up again by the women and girls of the Third Reich.” Article from the Völkischer Beobachter, Feb.  2, 1936

48. Nazis Appeal to Conservatives Nazis appealed to conservatives by asserting their desire to overthrow the Versailles Treaty, to eliminate the social democrats and the communists, and to destroy the Jews.

49. Nazi Appeal to Workers A poster for the July 1932 Reichstag election. The caption says: “The workers have awakened!” Various other parties are trying to persuade the worker to side with them, without success. The small chap in the center with the red hat represents the Marxists (note the Jew whispering in his ear). His piece of paper says: “Nazi barons! Emergency decrees. Lies and slanders. The big-wigs are living high on the hog, the people are wretched.” In reality, the Social Democrats and Communist parties dominated the votes of workers.

50. Nazis Play the Anti-Semitic Card • The middle class feared that the Communist Party would create revolution, they also feared for their jobs and their social prestige • The Nazis provided the middle class with propaganda blaming the economic collapse on the Versailles Treaty, Jews, Communists, and the Weimar System • “…they blamed the Jews, who allegedly stood behind Marxism, the Weimar system, much of big business, and economic profiteering. The Nazi accusations were unsophisticated but effective. Lower middle-class unemployed and employed embraced a Nazi party that promised to eliminate this corrupt Weimar system.”