The Weimar Republic's Failure and Hitler's Gain of Power in 1933

Hitler’s assumption of power on the 30th of January 1933 was seemingly due to the mass popularity of the Nazi party. However it was far off achieving the 50% majority it needed to put Hitler automatically in power. As well as popularity, backstairs intrigue and the short-sightedness of those in power enabled Hitler to become Chancellor. The weaknesses of Germany’s political leadership were fundamental to Hitler’s success. In some senses the popularity of the party only provided an opening, available for exploitation.

After Germany’s humiliating defeat in World War I, Germans had little faith in their government, and in the early 1930s following the stock market crash in New York, Germany was economically struggling . Millions of people were out of work due to the world wide catastrophe making it an opportune time for Hitler and the Nazis to rise into power. Hitler, who was a powerful and spellbinding speaker, attracted Germans desperate for change. He promised to make Germany a better country and promised the disenchanted, a better life. Nazis appealed especially to the youth, unemployed, and members of the lower to middle class. Hitler’s rise to power seemed instantaneous. Before the economic depression, Nazis were virtually unknown, winning less than 3 percent of the vote to the Reichstag, which was the German Parliament. However, in the 1924 elections, the Nazis won a whopping 33 percent of the votes which was more than any other party. In January of 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor, the head of German Government . The Germans were convinced that they had found a savior for the Nation. The timing of his rise made it very easy for Hitler to gain power in a democratic government because people were hopeless and wanted a fast solution to the deficit. He promised things like a stronger economy, prosperity, and anything that they desired . He focused on first getting noticed and then grew from there. He didn’t say anything but what the people wanted to hear. Getting the people of Germany to trust him was how he started to gain so much control. Unfortunately, Hitler’s charm and persuasion was not the sole reason why Hitler gained so much power in a democratic

Due to the failure of the Weimar Republic and general public dissatisfaction arising from poor economic conditions exacerbated by the Treaty of Versailles, coupled with the 1929 Wall Street Crash, German citizens were understandably desperate for change. Until this point in time the Nazi party, and Hitler, had been essentially unpopular. However, the economic situation ensured Hitler’s increasing popularity as the people looked toward more extreme but non-communist ideals. The initial consolidation of Nazi power in 1933 arose from key events such as the support of the Nationalist Party with the Nazis to form a coalition government, implementation of the Enabling

During the 1930’s Germany was at an all time low as the worldwide economic depression hit Germany hard. The confidence in Germany from the people was lacking due to the fresh memory of their defeat in World War I. This caused great need of a new leader, someone who could give the people change, and Adolf Hitler knew he could do just that. His rapid rise to power began when he started to promise things that intrigued the German people. He promised the hopeless and needy a better life, and promised opportunities that were exactly what the people needed. This caught the attention of so many young unemployed and middle class people. His party, known as the Nazi Party, won 33 percent of the votes in the 1932 elections. And by January 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor, which was the head of the German government. Germany started to feel like they might've found the leader they'd been so desperate for.

The Nazi group had a major impact on the government and influenced the decision for the next Chancellor of Germany. “...Paul von Hindenburg, had appointed Hitler Chancellor. Having won more than 37 percent of the vote in the previous year's legislative elections, Hitler's Nazi party had enough power to effectively paralyze Germany's democratic government, which had been in place since 1919,” Smith says (pg.15). This shows that Hitler's Nazi group was extremely powerful and explains how Hitler arose to power. This quote reveals that Hitler had the most power since 1919, which demonstrates how powerful Hitler will become in the future. “By the early 1930’s, Germany was in desperate shape. Its defeat in World War One and the harsh conditions imposed by the United States, Britain, and France in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles - included debilitating reparation payments to the victors - had left Germany humiliated and impoverished, with ruinous inflation eating away at its economy. The worldwide Depression that followed the 1929 U.S. stock market crash exacerbated the situation as banks

During the hardship of the 1920s and1930s, political incompetence was highlighted, the Weimar Government proved its incompetence time and time again. .The instability of the Weimar Republic was so great that the average life-span of Reich cabinets was from 6-7 months. Their incapability of providing justice to outbreaks of violence, such as political assassinations is one example of the incompetence of the Weimar Republic. When Germany found its self in undesirable economical situations due to the Treaty of Versalles, they printed money to pay off reparations, which resulted in super-inflation. During the period of super-inflation people’s life savings became worthless which contributed to the downward circle of a reduction in standard of living. As unemployment rose and people began to afford less and less with their money, people commenced searching for a better alternative to the Weimar Government. Hitler’s ability to build upon these feelings whilst offering security, prosperity and full employment, convinced Germany, in a state of disillusionment, to support the nazi party. The Weimar’s instability contributed to the collapse of the Weimar republic provided perfect conditions for the nazi party to rise to power.

In the lead up to the depression the Nazis had 12 seats and just two years later in the peak of the economic crisis the Nazis had 107 seats. This reflects the dissatisfaction that was shown in the present government and the fact that Hitler was the only person who promised the solutions that they people wanted. Many historians have stated that if Stressman had not died in 1929 then Germany may have recovered to its former strength and Hitler may never had the chance at gaining power. From 1930 onwards the country is being ruled by presidential decree through the use of Article 48, so therefore no party could gain a majority for the German economy to get back on its feet. Hitler took advantage of these times of hardship and promised these desperate people what they wanted, employment and a way out of these poverty times. Hitler was the only option left, and is desperate time people look for desperate politics to solve these problems. Weimar

From 1928 to 1932, the Nazi Party went from 12 seats in the Reichstag to 230. This was due to a number of factors including the Wall Street crash and the depression that followed, the weaknesses of the Weimar Constitution and Hitler’s public speaking skills. The actions of President Hindenburg and the crippling nature of Article 48 were certainly important factors in assisting Hitler and his rise to power but perhaps not the most important.

For now, I’m going to leave the Reichstag wrapped up, and move onto Libeskind’s Jewish museum. Over history it could be argued that the Jews have been the most persecuted religion. This is of course true in Germany. In German history the Jews have being accused of poisoning wells and causing the black death, despite the Jews suffering equally from the disease! The Jews were also accused for the loss of the First World War, despite the Jews having the largest proportional of any religious group to fight in the war. The German military high command even produced a censes to show how the Jews didn’t pull their weight, however the findings showed quite the opposite, so of course it was not published. Things however started to look up for the Jews under the Weimar republic. During the Weimar Republic, many Jews played influential roles in the government, and in stabilising Germany’s economy following the war. However, after the markets crashed, once again the German’s wanted someone to blame, and once again the Jews fell victim of persecution. With the rise of Hitler things only got worse. Hitler’s anti sematic death camps eradicated most of Europe’s Jewish population. After World War II, “only 8000 Jews remained in Berlin” (Gilman, L. 2007). Over the cold war period, the Jewish community was relatively stagnant in growth.

Many events took place, leading to the rise of Hitler and his Nazi party. There was the growing unpopularity of the Weimar Republic, the federal republic established in 1919. At the same time, Hitler and his political party, the ‘Deutsche Arbeiterpartei’, commonly referred to as the Nazis (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) became more and more popular under the rule of their leader, Adolf Hitler. This rise to popularity was the effect of Hitler’s dramatic yet effective speeches and the rumours that he spread about the Jews whilst he was in jail, writing his book, “Mein Kampf”.

In November of 1923, Hitler tried to take advantage of the crisis facing the Weimar government by establishing a revolution in Munich, Germany. It seemed like the perfect opportunity, but poor planning and misjudgement resulted in failure and the low security imprisonment of Adolf Hitler. After Germany’s failure in World War I, the Weimar Republic had been declared the new democratic government of Germany in February 1919. “The Weimar Republic was a genuine attempt to create a perfect democratic country [and] looked like the perfect democracy, but it had [several] weaknesses....”

The collapse of the Weimar Republic did not transpire from one sole reason, but from numerous short and long term factors. The immediate impact of the Great Depression definitely catalyzed the demise of the Weimar constitution, however the social, political, and economic instabilities built up the tension that triggered the initial collapse. These underlying issues fuelled governmental weaknesses, encouraging the psychological discontent with the Republic. This atmosphere of disarray enabled the NAZI party to gain power, as they took advantage of the democratic flaws. With each incident that occurred accumulating tension within the republic, the Great Depression was ultimately the final event that the government could not withstand, causing the collapse to occur.

Hitler’s rise to power started in Germany in September of 1919. He had joined the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei political party. The party was formed after the First World War. It was anti-Marxist, opposed the democratic government of the Weimar Republic, did not agree with the Treaty of Versailles, and it believed in anti-Semitism. Hitler rose very quickly in the party and he was able to convince the others in the party to put him in charge as he was very charismatic and persuasive. This became the Nazi Party.

There were various factors that contributed to the failure of the Weimar Republic of Germany and the ascent of Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers Party into power on January 30, 1933. Various conflicting problems were concurrent with the eventuation of the Republic that, from the outset, its first governing body the socialist party (SPD) was forced to contend with.

The Weimar republic from 1919 to 1929 had many successes and failures, starting in chaos and ending in relative stability. However, due to individual perspective these successes and failures were often viewed as both successes and failures- not either. Class, political leanings and other moralistic beliefs, primarily influenced the individual's perspectives. Overall, due to the relative stability, (the aim of any government) primarily achieved by Streseman's influence, the successes outweighed the failures by 1929.