Gabriella Booth

Contents
Theme 1 - Political and Governmental Change................................................3
The Impact of WW1 on Germany..................................................................4
Creation of the Weimar Republic, 1918-19....................................................5
Overcoming Challenges to the Democratic Constitution, 1918-29................6
Collapse of Democracy, 1930-33...................................................................7
Establishing a Dictatorship, 1933-34.............................................................8
Nature of the Nazi Government, 1934-39......................................................9
Nazi Government in Wartime (WWII), 1939-45...........................................10
Creation of the FRG, 1945-49......................................................................11
Consolidation Under Adenauer and Erhard, 1949-65.................................12
Maintaining Political Stability Under Brandt, Schmidt and Kohl, 1965-89...13
Comparison of Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany and FRG........................14
Theme 2 - Opposition, Control and Consent...................................................15
The Impact of the Treaty of Versailles.........................................................16
Political Extremism and Crises, 1918-33.....................................................17
Opposition and Dissent in Nazi Germany, 1933-45....................................18
Political Dissent and Active Challenge, 1949-89.........................................19
Similarities and differences Between Opposition and Protest in Nazi
Germany and the FRG.................................................................................20
Attempts to control extremism, 1918-32......................................................21
Censorship and Repression, 1933-45.........................................................22
The Constitutional and Legal Response to Political Extremism, 1949-89...23
The Nature and Support for the Weimar Constitution, 1918-32..................24
Support for the Nazi Regime and the Use of Propaganda, 1933-45...........25
De-Nazification Policies of the Western Allies, 1945-49..............................26
The Nature of Support for Democracy in the FRG, 1949-89.......................27
People's Attitudes Towards Democracy in Germany under Weimar, Nazis
and the FRG.................................................................................................28
Theme 3 - Economic Development and Policies.............................................29
Factors That Led to Hyperinflation in 1923..................................................30
Polices for Recovery, 1924-28.....................................................................31
The Effects of the Great Depression, 1929-32............................................32
Changing Living Standards, 1918-32..........................................................33
Attempting Economic Recovery, 1933-36...................................................34
Creating a Command Economy, 1936-39...................................................35
Changing Living Standards, 1933-39..........................................................36
Impact of War, 1939-45................................................................................37
Economic Recovery, 1945-55......................................................................38
The "Economic Miracle", 1955-66................................................................39
Surviving Economic Challenges, 1966-1989...............................................40
Integration into the European Economy, 1949-89.......................................41
Changing Living Standards, 1945-89..........................................................42
Theme 4 – Aspects of Life in Germany and West Germany...........................43
Role and Status of Women, 1918-32...........................................................44
The Impact of Kinder, Kuche, Kirche Policies and WW2 on Women’s Lives,
1933-45........................................................................................................45
Role and Status of Women in the FRG, 1945-89........................................46
Education and Cultural Experimentation in the Weimar Republic, 1918-3247

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Education and Cultural Experimentation in Nazi Germany, 1933-45..........48

Education in the FRG, 1945-89...................................................................49
Cultural Experimentation in the FRG, 1945-89............................................50
The Status Of, and Attitudes Towards, Ethnic Minorities, 1918-32.............51
Nazi Racial Policies, 1933-45......................................................................52
The Status Of, and Attitudes Towards, Ethnic Minorities in the FRG, 1945-
89.................................................................................................................53
Theme 5 – To What Extent was Hitler’s Foreign Policy to Blame for the
Outbreak of WW2?..........................................................................................54
Historiography..............................................................................................55
Influence of German History on Nazi FP.....................................................56
Ideology behind Hitler’s Foreign Policy........................................................58
Did Hitler Drive Nazi Foreign Policy?...........................................................59
Did Hitler Intend to go to War from the Moment He Came to Power?........61
Reasons for the German Invasion of Poland...............................................62
Weaknesses of the League of Nations........................................................63
Contributions of Other nations to the Outbreak of WW2.............................64

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Theme 1 - Political and

Governmental Change

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The Impact of WW1 on Germany

Treaty of Versailles
Land - was taken away and given to France, Denmark, Belgium and Poland and had to return taken land to Russia
Army - restricted to 100,000 men; no tanks, air force or submarines; 6 capital marine ships; Rhineland made into demilitarised zone
Money - had to pay reparations to the Allies and were forbidden from uniting with Austria to form a super state
Blame - had to accept full responsibility for start of war in War Guilt Clause 231 forcing them to pay reparations

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Creation of the Weimar Republic, 1918-19

Event Information Failure/problems faced
8 November  Vote extended to all men rather  Many things remained the same:
1918 - Failure of than only those over 25 Germany being at war and being
Max von  Army and ministers made ruled over by the Kaiser
Baden's responsible to government o Kaiser present so democracy
Government rather than the Kaiser still had elements of
o Helped to further democracy
introduce idea of  Many thought reforms made were
democracy fake and cynical
 Public wanted revolution to change
government
 Bavaria broke with Germany,
government couldn't last so
ultimately failed
10 November  Led by socialist groups holding  Still left with problems of previous
1918 - Council power of Reichstag rule causing disruption and unrest in
of o (Independent) Social public
Representatives Democrats  2 parties disagreed with each other
 Ebert became chancellor o Ebert = early elections, leave
 Made up new government changes to new National
 Social reforms including: Assembly
independent trade unions, 8 o Hasse = social and economic
hour working day, ex-soldiers change immediately, no army
given help input
 No support from smaller parties and
arguments between them
 Embarrassed at having to sign
armistice
January 1919 -  Rosa Luxembourg and Karl  Demonstration was poorly organised
Spartacists Liebknecht wanted revolution o Resulted in some
Revolt similar to Russian Revolution demonstrators leaving early
 Wanted to overthrow  Less impact and not seen as serious
government and replace with due to demonstrators leaving
soviet workers and soldiers o Meant people paid less
councils attention to them
 50,000 person demonstration in  Very violent in actions making people
centre of Berlin taking over a not want to join in
workers strike  A lot of discontent amongst
demonstrators
19 January  President chooses chancellor  Proportional representation = near
1919 - Weimar and ministers who sit in the impossible to have majority
Constitution Reichstag, then Reichstrat, government
Lander (states) and electorate  Article 48 = president could suspend
 SPD formed coalition with civil rights and rule by decree in
centre and DDP, other parties emergency, dictatorship in
did have seats democracy

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 Traditional institutions remained

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Overcoming Challenges to the Democratic Constitution, 1918-

29
Challenge Overcoming it
 Germany was rejected from the  Gustav Stresemann managed to
League of Nations convince the League of Nations to
o People felt dejected from the admit Germany in 1926 by signing the
rest of Europe and hated Treaty of Locarno to accept the
other countries in it boundaries set in the Treaty of
Versailles
 Proportional representation made it  Gustav Stresemann's Great Coalition
near impossible to have a majority o All of the political parties had to
government - 9 different coalitions follow certain policies even if
occurred between 1919-23. they had opposing political
 Many arguments and disagreements beliefs
between parties making it difficult to o Resulted in only 6 coalitions
make laws and policies being made between 1924-29
 Common "trust no one, betray
everyone" ideology
o Made it hard for the
Government to be run
effectively as none of the
parties trusted each other
 Large reparation payments had to be  The Dawes Plan (1923)
paid to the Allies for all of the o Created agreement with USA to
damage caused to their countries lend 800 million gold marks to
because of the war Germany to help restart
 German economy and people were economy
suffering making it near impossible o Advised German Reichsbank
to pay the reparations reformed and created new
currency and destroy old one
 Brought end to
hyperinflation across the
country
o Encouraged creation of jobs to
increase number of jobs
available and reduce
unemployment
 By 1928 unemployment in
Germany had fallen to
8.4%
 Dawes and Stresemann negotiated a
longer time for the reparations to be
paid back
o Gave time for German economy
to pick up so easier to pay
reparations

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Collapse of Democracy, 1930-33

Treaty of Versailles
 Had no choice but to accept the terms stated which caused many
problems to be resolved
 Signing seen negatively by public as felt betrayed
o Democracy didn’t have support needed to keep from collapsing
o “November Criminals” and the “Stab in the back theory” used to
degrade democracy by opponents to turn public against it
 Public voted to hinder rather than support democracy
o Voted Paul von Hindenburg in as president in 1925 to show
dislike and stop democracy working effectively
 Geary: “No one in their right mind would claim that he terms of the
Treaty of Versailles did not play a major role in the collapse of the
Weimar Republic”
o Suggests terms were main cause for collapse of democracy
 Signing led to reparation payments creating problems with later
economic factors

Economic Factors
 The Wall Street Crash (1929)
o Already had to pay reparations, now had to pay back money
loaned from USA as well
 Resulted in German economy crumbling and
hyperinflation
o Resulted in collapse of Democracy as seen as inefficient
 Taxes still in place, struggled to sell goods abroad,
couldn’t agree on economic policy
 Public turned to extremist parties who became more
powerful and able to challenge democracy
o Kershaw: “The future [for Weimar] looked promising. And
without the onset of the world economic crisis from 1929 it might
have remained so”
 If economic factors hadn’t occurred, democracy may not
have collapsed

Weaknesses in the Weimar Constitution

 Proportional representation = no majority government
o Many coalitions formed causing arguments and disagreements
 Article 48 = suspension of all civil rights and president rules by decree
o For emergency situations but emergency never clarified
 Spartacists Revolt showed people already not supporting democracy

Rise of Nazi’s power and support

 Fear of Communism increased by Reichstag fire = increased Nazi
support
 Hindenburg’s actions let Hitler use his and other weaknesses (SA use)

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 Laffan: “the National Socialists came to power because of their

enemies weaknesses and failures than because of their own strength”

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Establishing a Dictatorship, 1933-34

Event What happened, was it legal or illegal
27 February 1933 -  Nazis caught Dutch Communist Marinus van de Lubbe who
Reichstag Fire supposedly started the fire, though could have been Nazis
o Made Nazi party increasingly more popular, weakened
communist party so less competition for Nazis
o Meant Nazis could use anti-communist propaganda to influence
public views
 Legal – if Lubbe started fire as legal way of gaining power as nothing
done wrong
o Illegal if they did start fire as arson and false accusation
28 February 1933 -  Hitler given power to control police and govern without Reichstag
Presidential Decree o Persuaded Hindenburg to rule by decree (Article 48)
giving Hitler  Legal – Hitler given legal power over use of Article 48 and as an
emergency power emergency was never clarified, could use whenever he wanted
o Article 48 how Hitler gained power legally so if he hadn’t been
given it would have been done illegally
5 March 1933 - Nazis  Gained majority vote with 288 seats with the DVNP’s support (52
gain majority in seats)
Reichstag election o Gave Nazis overall power in Reichstag
o Meant Hitler’s ideas and policies more likely to be passed as
fewer arguments would occur
 Legal – got majority vote through the general public’s voting
o Some illegal campaign tactics were used
21-24 March 1933 -  Passed 444 to 84 votes
Enabling Act let Hitler  No longer had to use Article 48 and could be used at any time
enact laws without o Gave power of Reichstag
Reichstag  Legal – act was passed by vote and won with large majority
14 July 1933 - Law  No more opposition for Nazis to compete against
banning all political  Legal – law passed legally to ban them to create 1 party state
parties making country o Illegal if Enabling Act used to by-pass Reichstag and to better
one party state Nazi party standing
2 August 1934 - Death  Hitler combined roles of president and chancellor into Führer so had
of Paul von ultimate power and ruling over country
Hindenburg, o Turned country into a dictatorship
Chancellor of Germany  Legal – could legally combine roles after Hindenburg’s death
30 June 1934 - Night  Hitler ordered murder of political opponents in and out of Nazi party
of the Long Knives o Rohm (commander of SA) murdered as critical of Hitler’s power
 Feared possible opposition so removed it
 No one had as much power as him or to oppose Hitler
o Senior members of SA arrested and shot
 Public happy SA calmed so more support from hatred
and fear of them
 Illegal – had innocent people murdered because of fear of opposition
o Public weren’t told full extent so was untruthful to his people
o As Führer, could create ways to make legal and justify if needed

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Nature of the Nazi Government, 1934-39

Administration
 Civil service meant to work with Nazi ideology and follow dictator rules
o Did have power to make own rules but frequently overruled
 Clashed with Reich special agencies and Nazi officials
o Arguments = possibly more rebellion against Nazi ideologies
 Had power to make own decisions but regularly overruled
o May not want to work under Nazi party anymore/agree with
them

Leadership
 “Führer Power” - Germany ruled as Hitler wanted
o “Führerprinzip” - people had to follow authority orders due to
strict structure
 People couldn’t show initiative/make own decisions, had
to work together as nation for common good
 Had delegates but all worked to Hitler’s ideal
 Public had to change from democratic, where everyone had an opinion,
to dictatorship, where they had to follow strict instructions

Decision making
 Most decisions left to others, told to run their section in way that was
“working towards the Führer”
o Achieved desired results = given position
 Kept ministers from Weimar but weren’t allowed to meet as group
o Could only send drafts of laws to one another
o Stopped from gathering to create opposition towards Hitler
o Possibly kept as likely to know more about previous government
 Non-Nazi supporters see old ministers still working so
might encourage support

One-nation
 Germany should be ruled by centralised state and administration
 Hitler didn’t like the Länder
o Powers officially stopped, unity overruled regional differences
 Gauleiters in charge of regional party organisation
o Frick meant to reorganise Länder but never happened

Control
 Gestapo (secret police) used to have strict levels of control on politics
o Had lots of control over citizens
o Ran own court system alongside old one
 Meant could be freed by old system but arrested by
Gestapo, found guilty and put in a concentration camp
 Concentration camps set up
o People could be held indefinitely without a trial

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Nazi Government in Wartime (WWII), 1939-45

Gauleiters became more powerful
 Land increased so harder to rule from centralised government
o Empire bigger so needed to keep control
 Made Reich Defence Commissioners as government administration
taken over by SS (join Nazi party or lose job)
 Powers gained
o Ran all home front activities in local areas
 Civil defence, rationing, rehousing, Home Guard
o Control over local bureaucracy and some of local businesses

Each armed forces given own ministry

 Able to arrange supplies and troops for each armed force
o Wilhelm Keitel high commander of armed forces and
responsible for overseeing work

August 1939 – Ministerial council for defence of the Reich set up

 Organised domestic affairs to support war effort
 Failed though as Hitler didn’t like the meeting as could create
oppositional groups

11 new Reichsgau (regional government) set up

 Allocated new land to German people and ran as part of Germany
o Reallocated Polish land to German citizens

Weaknesses How were they a weakness?

SS and Gestapo Used fear and hatred to control the people. Did
work in controlling the public if they were scared of
them. Those who weren’t scared tried to rebel in
increasingly violent ways
More land gained Made communication between the areas harder
so harder to control all of the areas as a
centralised government
Hitler’s prevention of Made it much harder to pass effective policies as
group meetings no discussion could be had
Loss of the war They had to make decisions that may not have
been beneficial or what they wanted to do. Had to
split troops as facing a war on two fronts (Russia
one side, Europe on the other)
Many Gauleiters in All trying to lead different areas under Hitler’s
different areas power. Lead to not all of the areas being run
exactly the same as very hard for so many to all
rule exactly the same as Hitler would
Delegation of Hitler’s Hitler delegated his responsibilities to other people
responsibilities who may have interpreted ideas differently. Made
it hard for all of them to rule exactly the same way
Too many ministries Lead to many arguments and disagreements

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being created

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Creation of the FRG, 1945-49

Similarities and differences between the FRG and the Weimar Republic

Similarities Differences
 Both democratic governments  Germany divided into 4 sections (FRG)
 Article 48 (Weimar) and 21 (FRG) very similar as both  Both democracy’s used different clauses
can allow democracy to be overruled  Multiple nations overseeing Germany
 Similar structure in way government is run (FRG)
 Use of Marshall Plan (FRG) and Dawes Plan (Weimar)  Army, aristocracy, etc. could all put
o Helped bring money and food into country pressure on government (Weimar)
 Both used president and chancellor  KPD in West didn’t want Soviet style
 Use of proportional representation system, wanted “German socialism” (FRG)
 Both kept extreme parties out (use of Article 21)  Less political parties (FRG)
 Coalitions still formed and needed  Bundestag replaced Reichstag
o Less parties (FRG)  Split meant politics in West dominated by
 President and chancellor elected differently Socialist Union Party of Germany (FRG)
 Länder elected by votes in 16 regions o SED, combination of KPD and SPD
o 18 under Weimar  FRG (West) and GDR (East) had different
 KPD still a political party governments, parties and constitutions in
 SPD reformed each

Problems the Weimar government faced that could cause problems in the FRG
Problem faced What the problem was How to avoid it in FRG
Economic factors Many countries occupied by USSR were They shouldn't borrow money that they
becoming communist, USA encouraged set will be unable to pay back
up of Marshall Plan Use the Marshall Plan effectively
Similar to Weimar's Dawes Plan
Coalitions and Both big problems in Weimar, still Have more parties join together so
proportional happened in FRG fewer coalitions
representation Made majority vote near impossible Change to different voting system
Presence of Nazis in Lead to ultimate takeover of Weimar, Remove from government and ensure
government still present in FRG so could plot unable to takeover if they remain or take

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takeover advantage of the system

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Consolidation Under Adenauer and Erhard, 1949-65

Adenauer created a stable base Adenauer threatened political stability
 Managed to keep FRG coalitions working  Some criticised Adenauer, called leadership a
together “chancellor democracy”
o Forceful personality, almost o Had authoritarian style and used forceful
authoritarian management of Bundestag
o Able to elicit effective decision o More autocratic than democratic
making and negotiation between  Appointed weak ministers
parties o Treated as advisors rather than political
 1957 – CDU/CSU won majority equals to have more power
o One already joint party having o Unable to make strong/good decisions
majority in government = decisions  Focused on cementing relationships with
agreed on easily and less opposing Western Europe and USA
viewpoints o Wanted to unite Germany and increase
 Focused on cementing relationships with European relations but closer ties with
Western Europe and USA West held back unification
o Fastest way for FRG to become  Excluded political opposition from German
self-governing, accepted as part of Government
Europe and to rebuild economy o Resulted in 3 party house and shifting
o Helped relations with other countries coalitions that all supported status quo
and economy which had caused o Stability ran counter to democratic sprit of
continuous problems basic law
 Excluded political opposition from German  Allowed ex-Nazis into government
government o Too many let in and several sided to not
o Harder for smaller parties to get lose job but no way to tell so could be
seats pushing Nazi views still
o Fewer coalitions needed so more  1955 – FRG created own army
stable government o Ex-Nazis could join = public scared of
 Allowed ex-Nazis into government return of Nazi methods
o Quickest way to move on and re- o Suggests de-nazification wasn’t effective
establish an effective civil service  Limited freedom of speech
o Many worried democracy would shift to
autocracy so opposite of original intention

Why Erhard failed as Chancellor

 CDU/CSU split into “Atlanticists” (wanting to continue working with West)
and “Gaullists” (prepared to work with France but wanted to focus on co-
operation with East)
o Wanted to follow “Atlanticists” so wouldn’t get support from
“Gaullists”
o Made harder to order party and follow his orders as didn’t agree
 Tried to introduce Emergency Law to tap phones, search homes, open
mail, etc. in times of “serious political tension”
o Not very democratic and public may see as invasion of privacy so
no support
o SPD refused to support measures so reluctant to support Erhard
 Introduced budget with such heavy taxation that FDP ministers resigned
o No ministers from FDP = loss of 67 seats in parliament so had
seats open and no help in ordering country
 Couldn’t form a coalition so had to resign

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Maintaining Political Stability Under Brandt, Schmidt and

Kohl, 1965-89
Willy Brandt Helmut Schmidt Helmut Kohl
 Younger than Adenauer and his  Mainly voted in because  Faced opposition in
generation of politicians there were no viable CDU Bundestag from Greens and
o People may not trust him candidates Republicans
to make good decisions o Already unpopular o Harder to make policies
being so young with the public if facing opposition as
o May not have enough  Faced period of economic could cause arguments
experience to keep and domestic upheaval and disagreements
control of a government o Made harder to take o Would look like a lack
 Spent war in Norway over as chancellor as of control
o Wouldn’t know how bad had to try and solve  Media constantly uncovering
it was for Germany these problems as corruption scandals within
during war times well parliament
o Public not like that he  Accused of adopting o Affected all parties
wasn’t there economic measures making except Greens
 Pushed ahead with Ostpolitik his as conservative as the o Greens already
and remained policy for all CSU opposition so makes
chancellors until 1989 o High taxation and them look better by not
o Not all members of welfare cuts having any scandals
government supported it,  Had growing opposition by o Encourages idea of
especially regional not pushing through lack of control in
o Faced opposition with economic policies parliament
other measures o Meant to be in charge  Policies followed Ostpolitik
o Lead to CSU trying to and able to create rather than reinforcing
undermine SPD/FDP policies needed relations with Western
coalition o Failing to push countries
 Several significant FDP through with them = o Promised continuity but
politicians and members left to not seen as strong instead followed earlier
join CDU (October 1970 and chancellor and people governments
March 1972) may lose faith in him  Had outbreak of terrorism
o Harder to make good  Faced opposition from the aimed at other governments
and accurate decisions Green Party and German institutions
without significant o Green Party growing o Public lose faith if such
members to help stronger with more extreme action is being
o Public may think not in o Seen as not being a taken and he is
control so turn against strong leader so less struggling to control it
him support from public
 One advisor discovered as spy  1 October 1982 -
(1974) "constructive vote of no
o Hadn’t known spy was confidence" in Bundestag
working with him forced resignation
o Still had support from o Shows people didn't
party and others in want him to lead and
Bundestag but lost faith had little confidence in
in self so removed spy his ability to help them

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and resigned

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Comparison of Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany and

FRG

Weimar Nazi Government Government of the

Government FRG
Structure of President > Hitler > Chancellery President >
government Chancellor (Führer and Reich), Chancellor,
(ministers) > court system, the ministers, civil
Reichstag > party > Ministries, service >
Reichstrat > offices, policing, Bundestag >
Länder admin > Civil Bundestrat >
service, officials, Länder
SA, SS, Gauleiters
Role of President elected Hitler removed President elected
elections every 7 years elections after by Federal
through coming into power Convention (all
proportional Bundestag
representation members) every 5
(created coalition years
governments)
Nature of Carry out Same as Weimar Administrate the
the civil administrative but completely laws, similar to
service tasks. Work in ignored Weimar
ministries e.g.
health. Draft
policies and make
suggestions to
government
Role of Pass laws to be Passed laws that Pass the laws of
Federal followed by everyone had to the county that
government everyone follow have to be followed
by everyone
Role of Government of the Länder stripped of Länder returned to
regional Länder – pass power and no longer continue with
government some laws but only needed. Gauleiters original job
for people of the effectively replaced
region them and worked
like a regional
government
Other Private armies of SA, SS and
institutions political parties to Gestapo (private
help keep peace, armies for Hitler’s
e.g. Freikorps use to control the
people)

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