THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73386
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Post by thelivyjr »

Weimar Republic, continued ...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

End of the Weimar Republic

Hitler's chancellorship (1933)


Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor on the morning of 30 January 1933 in what some observers later described as a brief and indifferent ceremony.

By early February, a mere week after Hitler's assumption of the chancellorship, the government had begun to clamp down on the opposition.

Meetings of the left-wing parties were banned and even some of the moderate parties found their members threatened and assaulted.


Measures with an appearance of legality suppressed the Communist Party in mid-February and included the plainly illegal arrests of Reichstag deputies.

The Reichstag fire on 27 February was blamed by Hitler's government on the Communists.

Hitler used the ensuing state of emergency to obtain the presidential assent of Hindenburg to issue the Reichstag Fire Decree the following day.

The decree invoked Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution and "indefinitely suspended" a number of constitutional protections of civil liberties, allowing the Nazi government to take swift action against political meetings, arresting and killing the Communists.


Hitler and the Nazis exploited the German state's broadcasting and aviation facilities in a massive attempt to sway the electorate, but this election yielded a scant majority of 16 seats for the coalition.

At the Reichstag elections, which took place on 5 March 1933, the NSDAP obtained 17 million votes.

The Communist, Social Democrat and Catholic Centre votes stood firm.

This was the last multi-party election of the Weimar Republic and the last multi-party all-German election for 57 years.

Hitler addressed disparate interest groups, stressing the necessity for a definitive solution to the perpetual instability of the Weimar Republic.

He now blamed Germany's problems on the Communists, even threatening their lives on 3 March.


Former Chancellor Heinrich Brüning proclaimed that his Centre Party would resist any constitutional change and appealed to the President for an investigation of the Reichstag fire.

Hitler's successful plan was to induce what remained of the now Communist-depleted Reichstag to grant him, and the Government, the authority to issue decrees with the force of law.

The hitherto Presidential Dictatorship hereby was to give itself a new legal form.


On 15 March, the first cabinet meeting was attended by the two coalition parties, representing a minority in the Reichstag: The Nazis and the DNVP led by Alfred Hugenberg (288 + 52 seats).

According to the Nuremberg Trials, this cabinet meeting's first order of business was how at last to achieve the complete counter-revolution by means of the constitutionally allowed Enabling Act, requiring a 66% parliamentary majority.

This Act would, and did, lead Hitler and the NSDAP toward his goal of unfettered dictatorial powers.


TO BE CONTINUED ...
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73386
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Post by thelivyjr »

Weimar Republic, continued ...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

End of the Weimar Republic

Hitler cabinet meeting in mid-March


At the cabinet meeting on 15 March, Hitler introduced the Enabling Act, which would have authorised the cabinet to enact legislation without the approval of the Reichstag.

Meanwhile, the only remaining question for the Nazis was whether the Catholic Centre Party would support the Enabling Act in the Reichstag, thereby providing the ⅔ majority required to ratify a law that amended the constitution.

Hitler expressed his confidence to win over the centre's votes.

Hitler is recorded at the Nuremberg Trials as being sure of eventual Centre Party Germany capitulation and thus rejecting of the DNVP's suggestions to "balance" the majority through further arrests, this time of Social Democrats.

Hitler, however, assured his coalition partners that arrests would resume after the elections and, in fact, some 26 SPD Social Democrats were physically removed.


After meeting with Centre leader Monsignor Ludwig Kaas and other Centre Trade Union leaders daily and denying them a substantial participation in the government, negotiation succeeded in respect of guarantees towards Catholic civil-servants and education issues.

At the last internal Centre meeting prior to the debate on the Enabling Act, Kaas expressed no preference or suggestion on the vote, but as a way of mollifying opposition by Centre members to the granting of further powers to Hitler, Kaas somehow arranged for a letter of constitutional guarantee from Hitler himself prior to his voting with the centre en bloc in favour of the Enabling Act.

This guarantee was not ultimately given.

Kaas, the party's chairman since 1928, had strong connections to the Vatican Secretary of State, later Pope Pius XII.

In return for pledging his support for the act, Kaas would use his connections with the Vatican to set in train and draft the Holy See's long desired Reichskonkordat with Germany (only possible with the co-operation of the Nazis).

Ludwig Kaas is considered along with Papen as being one of the two most important political figures in the creation of the Nazi regime.

TO BE CONTINUED ...
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73386
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Post by thelivyjr »

Weimar Republic, continued ...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

End of the Weimar Republic

Enabling Act negotiations


On 20 March, negotiation began between Hitler and Frick on one side and the Catholic Centre Party (Zentrum) leaders — Kaas, Stegerwald and Hackelsburger on the other.

The aim was to settle on conditions under which Centre would vote in favour of the Enabling Act.

Because of the Nazis' narrow majority in the Reichstag, Centre's support was necessary to receive the required two-thirds majority vote.

On 22 March, the negotiations concluded; Hitler promised to continue the existence of the German states, agreed not to use the new grant of power to change the constitution, and promised to retain Zentrum members in the civil service.

Hitler also pledged to protect the Catholic confessional schools and to respect the concordats signed between the Holy See and Bavaria (1924), Prussia (1929) and Baden (1931).

Hitler also agreed to mention these promises in his speech to the Reichstag before the vote on the Enabling Act.

The ceremonial opening of the Reichstag on 21 March was held at the Garrison Church in Potsdam, a shrine of Prussianism, in the presence of many Junker landowners and representatives of the imperial military caste.

This impressive and often emotional spectacle — orchestrated by Joseph Goebbels — aimed to link Hitler's government with Germany's imperial past and portray Nazism as a guarantor of the nation's future.

The ceremony helped convince the "old guard" Prussian military elite of Hitler's homage to their long tradition and, in turn, produced the relatively convincing view that Hitler's government had the support of Germany's traditional protector — the Army.

Such support would publicly signal a return to conservatism to curb the problems affecting the Weimar Republic, and that stability might be at hand.

In a cynical and politically adroit move, Hitler bowed in apparently respectful humility before President and Field Marshal Hindenburg.

TO BE CONTINUED ...
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73386
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Post by thelivyjr »

Weimar Republic, continued ...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

End of the Weimar Republic

Passage of the Enabling Act


The Reichstag convened on 23 March 1933, and in the midday opening, Hitler made a historic speech, appearing outwardly calm and conciliatory.

Hitler presented an appealing prospect of respect towards Christianity by paying tribute to the Christian faiths as "essential elements for safeguarding the soul of the German people".

He promised to respect their rights and declared that his government's "ambition is a peaceful accord between Church and State" and that he hoped "to improve [their] friendly relations with the Holy See".

This speech aimed especially at the future recognition by the named Holy See and therefore to the votes of the Centre Party addressing many concerns Kaas had voiced during the previous talks.

Kaas is considered to have had a hand therefore in the drafting of the speech.

Kaas is also reported as voicing the Holy See's desire for Hitler as bulwark against atheistic Russian nihilism previously as early as May 1932.

Hitler promised that the Act did not threaten the existence of either the Reichstag or the Reichsrat, that the authority of the President remained untouched and that the Länder would not be abolished.

During an adjournment, the other parties (notably the centre) met to discuss their intentions.

In the debate prior to the vote on the Enabling Act, Hitler orchestrated the full political menace of his paramilitary forces like the storm division in the streets to intimidate reluctant Reichstag deputies into approving the Enabling Act.

The Communists' 81 seats had been empty since the Reichstag Fire Decree and other lesser known procedural measures, thus excluding their anticipated "No" votes from the balloting.

Otto Wels, the leader of the Social Democrats, whose seats were similarly depleted from 120 to below 100, was the only speaker to defend democracy and in a futile but brave effort to deny Hitler the ⅔ majority, he made a speech critical of the abandonment of democracy to dictatorship.


At this, Hitler could no longer restrain his wrath.

In his retort to Wels, Hitler abandoned earlier pretence at calm statesmanship and delivered a characteristic screaming diatribe, promising to exterminate all Communists in Germany and threatening Wels' Social Democrats as well.

He did not even want their support for the bill.

"Germany will become free, but not through you," he shouted.

Meanwhile, Hitler's promised written guarantee to Monsignor Kaas was being typed up, it was asserted to Kaas, and thereby Kaas was persuaded to silently deliver the Centre bloc's votes for the Enabling Act anyway.

The Act — formally titled the "Act for the Removal of Distress from People and Reich" — was passed by a vote of 441 to 94.

Only the SPD had voted against the Act.

Every other member of the Reichstag, whether from the largest or the smallest party, voted in favour of the Act.

It went into effect the following day, 24 March.

TO BE CONTINUED ...
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73386
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Post by thelivyjr »

Weimar Republic, continued ...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

End of the Weimar Republic

Consequences


The passage of the Enabling Act of 1933 is widely considered to mark the end of the Weimar Republic and the beginning of the Nazi era.

It empowered the cabinet to legislate without the approval of the Reichstag or the President, and to enact laws that were contrary to the constitution.


Before the March 1933 elections, Hitler had persuaded Hindenburg to promulgate the Reichstag Fire Decree using Article 48, which empowered the government to restrict "the rights of habeas corpus [...] freedom of the press, the freedom to organise and assemble, the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications" and legalised search warrants and confiscation "beyond legal limits otherwise prescribed".

This was intended to forestall any action against the government by the Communists.

Hitler used the provisions of the Enabling Act to pre-empt possible opposition to his dictatorship from other sources, in which he was mostly successful.

The Nazis in power brought almost all major organisations into line under Nazi control or direction, which was termed Gleichschaltung.

The constitution of 1919 was never formally repealed, but the Enabling Act meant that it was a dead letter.-

Those articles of the Weimar constitution (which dealt with the state's relationship to various Christian churches) remain part of the German Basic Law.

TO BE CONTINUED ...
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73386
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Post by thelivyjr »

Weimar Republic, continued ...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

End of the Weimar Republic

Reasons for failure


The reasons for the Weimar Republic's collapse are the subject of continuing debate.

It may have been doomed from the beginning since even moderates disliked it and extremists on both the left and right loathed it, a situation often referred to as a "democracy without democrats".

Germany had limited democratic traditions, and Weimar democracy was widely seen as chaotic.

Since Weimar politicians had been blamed for the Dolchstoß ("stab-in-the-back"), a widely believed theory that Germany's surrender in the First World War had been the unnecessary act of traitors, the popular legitimacy of the government was on shaky ground.

As normal parliamentary lawmaking broke down and was replaced around 1930 by a series of emergency decrees, the decreasing popular legitimacy of the government further drove voters to extremist parties.

No single reason can explain the failure of the Weimar Republic.

The most commonly asserted causes can be grouped into three categories: economic problems, institutional problems, and the roles of specific individuals.

TO BE CONTINUED ...
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73386
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Post by thelivyjr »

Weimar Republic, continued ...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

End of the Weimar Republic

Economic problems


The Weimar Republic had some of the most serious economic problems ever experienced by any Western democracy in history.

Rampant hyperinflation, massive unemployment, and a large drop in living standards were primary factors.


From 1923 to 1929, there was a short period of economic recovery, but the Great Depression of the 1930s led to a worldwide recession.

Germany was particularly affected because it depended heavily on American loans.

In 1926, about 2 million Germans were unemployed, which rose to around 6 million in 1932.

Many blamed the Weimar Republic.

That was made apparent when political parties on both right and left wanting to disband the Republic altogether made any democratic majority in Parliament impossible.

The Weimar Republic was severely affected by the Great Depression.

The economic stagnation led to increased demands on Germany to repay the debts owed to the United States.

As the Weimar Republic was very fragile in all its existence, the depression was devastating, and played a major role in the Nazi takeover.

Most Germans thought the Treaty of Versailles was a punishing and degrading document because it forced them to surrender resource-rich areas and pay massive amounts of compensation.

The punitive reparations caused consternation and resentment, but the actual economic damage resulting from the Treaty of Versailles is difficult to determine.

While the official reparations were considerable, Germany ended up paying only a fraction of them.

However, the reparations damaged Germany's economy by discouraging market loans, which forced the Weimar government to finance its deficit by printing more currency, causing rampant hyperinflation.

At the beginning of 1920, 50 marks was equivalent to one US dollar.

By the end of 1923, one US dollar was equal to 4,200,000,000,000 marks.


In addition, the rapid disintegration of Germany in 1919 by the return of a disillusioned army, the rapid change from possible victory in 1918 to defeat in 1919, and the political chaos may have led to extreme nationalism.

Princeton historian Harold James argues that there was a clear link between economic decline and people turning to extremist politics.

TO BE CONTINUED ...
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73386
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Post by thelivyjr »

Weimar Republic, continued ...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

End of the Weimar Republic

Institutional problems


It is widely believed that the 1919 constitution had several weaknesses, making the eventual establishment of a dictatorship likely, but it is unknown whether a different constitution could have prevented the rise of the Nazi party.

However, the 1949 West German constitution (the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany) is generally viewed as a strong response to these flaws.

The institution of the Reichspräsident was frequently considered as an Ersatzkaiser ("substitute emperor"), an attempt to replace the emperors with a similarly strong institution meant to diminish party politics.

Article 48 of the Constitution gave the President power to "take all necessary steps" if "public order and security are seriously disturbed or endangered".

Although it was intended as an emergency clause, it was often used before 1933 to issue decrees without the support of Parliament and also made Gleichschaltung easier.

During the Weimar Republic, it was accepted that a law did not have to conform to the constitution as long as it had the support of two-thirds of parliament, the same majority needed to change the constitution (verfassungsdurchbrechende Gesetze).


That was a precedent for the Enabling Act of 1933.

The Basic Law of 1949 requires an explicit change of the wording, and it prohibits abolishing the basic rights or the federal structure of the republic.

The use of a proportional representation without large thresholds meant a party with a small amount of support could gain entry into the Reichstag.

That led to many small parties, some extremist, building political bases within the system, and made it difficult to form and maintain a stable coalition government, further contributing to instability.

To counter the problem, the modern German Bundestag introduced a 5% threshold limit for a party to gain parliamentary representation.

However, the Reichstag of the monarchy was fractioned to a similar degree even if it was elected by majority vote (under a two-round system).

The Reichstag could remove the Reichskanzler from office even if it was unable to agree on a successor.

The use of such a motion of no confidence meant that since 1932, a government could not be held in office when the parliament came together.

As a result, the 1949 Grundgesetz ("Basic Law") stipulates that a chancellor may not be removed by Parliament unless a successor is elected at the same time, known as a "constructive vote of no confidence".

TO BE CONTINUED ...
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73386
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Post by thelivyjr »

Weimar Republic, continued ...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

End of the Weimar Republic

Role of individuals


Brüning's economic policy from 1930 to 1932 has been the subject of much debate.

It caused many Germans to identify the Republic with cuts in social spending and extremely liberal economics.

Whether there were alternatives to this policy during the Great Depression is an open question.

Paul von Hindenburg became Reichspräsident in 1925.

As he was an old style monarchist conservative, he had little love lost for the Republic, but for the most part, he formally acted within the bounds of the constitution; however, he ultimately — on the advice of his son and others close to him — appointed Hitler chancellor, thereby effectively ending the Republic.

Additionally, Hindenburg's death in 1934 ended the last obstacle for Hitler to assume full power in the Weimar Republic.

TO BE CONTINUED ...
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73386
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Post by thelivyjr »

Weimar Republic, concluded ...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Constituent states

Prior to the First World War, the constituent states of the German Empire were 22 smaller monarchies, three republican city-states and the Imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine.

After the territorial losses of the Treaty of Versailles and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the remaining states continued as republics.

The former Ernestine duchies continued briefly as republics before merging to form the state of Thuringia in 1920, except for Saxe-Coburg, which became part of Bavaria.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic
Post Reply