Hitler:Chancellor

and Führer

Of the Thousand Year Reich

The Weimar Republic and War Debt• At the end of WWI Germany was

on the verge of total collapse• The Kaiser abdicates, leaving the

country to more moderate leaders

• The Weimar Republic is created – Set up a parliamentary system

of government with a chancellor

They’ve got 99 problems…

• Inflation – France occupies the Ruhr Valley,

a coal-rich area• Workers resisted passively by

refusing to work so the government paid them by printing a massive amount of money

• German money quickly became worthless

• Salaries rose by billions of marks!

What happened?How could Germany have lost WWI?

• Spartacist League– Uprising 1919– Marxist Organization against WWI

• The Jews

• The Stab in the Back!

German Anger!The Freikorps Organize

• Ex-military• Hate the reality of post-war Germany• Freikorps kill Spartacist leader Rosa Luxemborg• Wanted revenge for WWI and to bring in military gov’t to

replace Weimar

…but culture isn’t one• Attracted authors and

artists from around the world, the same a Paris

• The Three-Penny Opera openly criticized middle-class values

• George Grosz pointed out the failures of the Weimar Republic through scathing drawings and pictures

Queue Hitler

• Born in Austria• Failed artist• Decorated WWI Hero• Resented Treaty of Versailles• He tried to take over Germany

from the Weimar Republic via a small-coup, which promptly ended with jail-time – But the jail-time resulted Mein

Kampf

The Ideas of Hitler• He despised the Weimar Republic – thought it was weak• Anti-Semitic• Wanted to return Germany to greatness: Hyper-nationalism• Believed in Fascism • Aryan Race – “master race” made up of light-skinned Europeans

– Greatest Enemy: guess?• Oddest Thing: Hitler got this Anti-Semitism from history, the

Jews had been kicked around from place to place for a long time

• LEBENSRAUM – living space for the pure German people

• As the problems in parliament worsened, Nazis and Communists were able to gain more seats but not enough for a majority until…– Conservative politicians were worried about the

communists so they turned to Hitler• In 1933 he was appointed chancellor• Hitler Speech

• 30 January 1933 – Hitler elected• 27 February 1933 – The Reichstag (German Parliament) is destroyed by arson – The Communists are blamed

• 5 March 1933 – Chancellor Hitler calls for an emergency election for new parliament members– Naturally, the Nazi’s take the majority

of the seats

• Within a year, Hitler had control of Germany • His actions:

– Suspended civil rights– Destroyed the socialists and communists– Disbanded other political parties– Outlaw strikes and unions

• Depression Solutions:– Foreign Expansion (hey it worked for the

Romans…)– Military build-up (clash with Versailles?)– Massive public works projects

• Once he has control of the Reichstag and the Chancellery, Hitler starts to implement his totalitarian reign– SCHUTZSTAFFEL (SS) – military unit loyal only to Hitler– GESTAPO – secret police used to ensure obedience

• Starts his campaign against the Jews (1935): – NUREMBERG LAWS – deprived German Jews of citizenship

and placed severe restrictions on them• Prohibited from: attending or teaching at German schools,

marrying non-Jews, holding government jobs, practicing law and medicine, publishing books

• 7 November 1938– A Jew shoots and wounds a German diplomat in Paris and

Hitler uses it to attack all the Jews in Germany• “The Night of Broken Glass” – 9 & 10 November 1938

– Nazi-led mobs attacked Jewish communities all over Germany

– They burned synagogues, stole registers– Destroyed Jewish homes and businesses– Beat any Jewish people they found

• Propaganda• Nazi Youth• Book burning• Criticism of the government was outlawed• League of German Girls