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

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 Traditional institutions remained

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Overcoming Challenges to the Democratic Constitution, 1918-
29
Challenge
 Germany was rejected from the
League of Nations
o People felt dejected from the
rest of Europe and hated
other countries in it
 Proportional representation made it
near impossible to have a majority
government - 9 different coalitions
occurred between 1919-23.
 Many arguments and disagreements
between parties making it difficult to
make laws and policies
 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
paid to the Allies for all of the
damage caused to their countries
because of the war
 German economy and people were
suffering making it near impossible
to pay the reparations
Overcoming it
 Gustav Stresemann managed to
convince the League of Nations to
admit Germany in 1926 by signing the
Treaty of Locarno to accept the
boundaries set in the Treaty of
Versailles
 Gustav Stresemann's Great Coalition
o All of the political parties had to
follow certain policies even if
they had opposing political
beliefs
o Resulted in only 6 coalitions
being made between 1924-29
 The Dawes Plan (1923)
o Created agreement with USA to
lend 800 million gold marks to
Germany to help restart
economy
o Advised German Reichsbank
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
 Both democratic governments
 Article 48 (Weimar) and 21 (FRG) very similar as both
can allow democracy to be overruled
 Similar structure in way government is run
 Use of Marshall Plan (FRG) and Dawes Plan (Weimar)
o Helped bring money and food into country
 Both used president and chancellor
 Use of proportional representation
 Both kept extreme parties out (use of Article 21)
 Coalitions still formed and needed
o Less parties (FRG)
 President and chancellor elected differently
 Länder elected by votes in 16 regions
o 18 under Weimar
 KPD still a political party
 SPD reformed
Differences
 Germany divided into 4 sections (FRG)
 Both democracy’s used different clauses
 Multiple nations overseeing Germany
(FRG)
 Army, aristocracy, etc. could all put
pressure on government (Weimar)
 KPD in West didn’t want Soviet style
system, wanted “German socialism” (FRG)
 Less political parties (FRG)
 Bundestag replaced Reichstag
 Split meant politics in West dominated by
Socialist Union Party of Germany (FRG)
o SED, combination of KPD and SPD
 FRG (West) and GDR (East) had different
governments, parties and constitutions in
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
 Managed to keep FRG coalitions working
together
o Forceful personality, almost
authoritarian
o Able to elicit effective decision
making and negotiation between
parties
 1957 – CDU/CSU won majority
o One already joint party having
majority in government = decisions
agreed on easily and less opposing
viewpoints
 Focused on cementing relationships with
Western Europe and USA
o Fastest way for FRG to become
self-governing, accepted as part of
Europe and to rebuild economy
o Helped relations with other countries
and economy which had caused
continuous problems
 Excluded political opposition from German
government
o Harder for smaller parties to get
seats
o Fewer coalitions needed so more
stable government
 Allowed ex-Nazis into government
o Quickest way to move on and re-
establish an effective civil service
Adenauer threatened political stability
 Some criticised Adenauer, called leadership a
“chancellor democracy”
o Had authoritarian style and used forceful
management of Bundestag
o More autocratic than democratic
 Appointed weak ministers
o Treated as advisors rather than political
equals to have more power
o Unable to make strong/good decisions
 Focused on cementing relationships with
Western Europe and USA
o Wanted to unite Germany and increase
European relations but closer ties with
West held back unification
 Excluded political opposition from German
Government
o Resulted in 3 party house and shifting
coalitions that all supported status quo
o Stability ran counter to democratic sprit of
basic law
 Allowed ex-Nazis into government
o Too many let in and several sided to not
lose job but no way to tell so could be
pushing Nazi views still
 1955 – FRG created own army
o Ex-Nazis could join = public scared of
return of Nazi methods
o Suggests de-nazification wasn’t effective
 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
Willy Brandt
 Younger than Adenauer and his
generation of politicians
o People may not trust him
to make good decisions
being so young
o May not have enough
experience to keep
control of a government
 Spent war in Norway
o Wouldn’t know how bad
it was for Germany
during war times
o Public not like that he
wasn’t there
 Pushed ahead with Ostpolitik
and remained policy for all
chancellors until 1989
o Not all members of
government supported it,
especially regional
o Faced opposition with
other measures
o Lead to CSU trying to
undermine SPD/FDP
coalition
 Several significant FDP
politicians and members left to
join CDU (October 1970 and
March 1972)
o Harder to make good
and accurate decisions
without significant
members to help
o Public may think not in
control so turn against
him
 One advisor discovered as spy
(1974)
o Hadn’t known spy was
working with him
o Still had support from
party and others in
Bundestag but lost faith
in self so removed spy
Kohl, 1965-89
Helmut Schmidt
 Mainly voted in because
there were no viable CDU
candidates
o Already unpopular
with the public
 Faced period of economic
and domestic upheaval
o Made harder to take
over as chancellor as
had to try and solve
these problems as
well
 Accused of adopting
economic measures making
his as conservative as the
CSU
o High taxation and
welfare cuts
 Had growing opposition by
not pushing through
economic policies
o Meant to be in charge
and able to create
policies needed
o Failing to push
through with them =
not seen as strong
chancellor and people
may lose faith in him
 Faced opposition from the
Green Party
o Green Party growing
stronger with more
o Seen as not being a
strong leader so less
support from public
 1 October 1982 -
"constructive vote of no
confidence" in Bundestag
forced resignation
o Shows people didn't
want him to lead and
had little confidence in
his ability to help them
Helmut Kohl
 Faced opposition in
Bundestag from Greens and
Republicans
o Harder to make policies
if facing opposition as
could cause arguments
and disagreements
o Would look like a lack
of control
 Media constantly uncovering
corruption scandals within
parliament
o Affected all parties
except Greens
o Greens already
opposition so makes
them look better by not
having any scandals
o Encourages idea of
lack of control in
parliament
 Policies followed Ostpolitik
rather than reinforcing
relations with Western
countries
o Promised continuity but
instead followed earlier
governments
 Had outbreak of terrorism
aimed at other governments
and German institutions
o Public lose faith if such
extreme action is being
taken and he is
struggling to control it
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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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