German+Sentiments+On+The+Weimar+Republic

 Andrew Mariotti IB History December 8, 2009

Unwanted and Unloved During the first week of school in our IB history class, we learned a new vocabulary word: Singularize. Singularization is the act of stereotyping a group of people and lumping them into a category based on the acts of people associated with them. When speaking about groups of people that lived in the past, it is hard to avoid singularization, such as dissecting the views and sentiments of the German people about the Weimar Republic. The statement "unwanted and unloved" describes some but not all of the sentiments of the citizens of Germany in respect to the Weimar republic.

The year is 1918 and WWI has just ended. As a result the Versailles treaty, among many others [i], was signed and in its wake the Weimar Republic was created for Germany. This new democratic government was created to replace Germany's old monarchy. Because of German propaganda, many citizens grew to hate the allied forces; in fact some propaganda was so intense that many Germans were surprised to hear that they had lost the war. When the Versailles Treaty was instituted in Germany, many people felt it was forced upon them, dictated to them. The Treaty became known as the "Diktat" and in effect, many Germans looked down upon this new government. It didn’t help also that, “ Article 231[of the Versailles Treaty] enjoined Germany to accept full responsibility for the war caused “by the aggression of Germany and her allies.” [ii] To top it all off, the ensuing war reparations that the allies forced the Germans to pay were also not a help to the overall sentiment of the nation. Many Germans felt that the Diktat had also forced them to sign a “blank check” for the Allies that they might be paying forever. All of these negative sentiments were linked to the Versailles Treaty and in effect, the Weimar Republic started off in a hole.

German citizens living under the Weimar Republic could be classified into three major categories as far their political views were concerned; Conservatives, liberals and Pro-Democrats. Liberals were generally in favor of a new government other than that of the Weimar Republic and preferred a more socialistic government. There were varying degrees of liberalism, the most radical of which manifested itself in the Bolsheviks aka the Sparticists. The Bolsheviks were an extremist group who often resorted to violence and terrorist acts. They “gave the impression that Germany was really facing a Bolshevik-inspired ‘red threat’. Consequently, many Germans began to have exaggerated fears about the possibility of impending revolution.” [iii]

The Conservatives were on the opposite end of the liberals and took the "diktat" view, longing for the return of traditional monarchy. Some of the more extreme Conservatives were the Freikorps. The “ Freikorps was a volunteer militia made up of ex army men set up to defend the borders of Germany. It was strongly anti-communist and took brutal steps to restore order.” [iv] The Friekorps was the conservative answer to the question of how to control the radical left wing Sparticists. The Freikorps and Bolsheviks clashed on many occasions. On January 5, 1919 “ The Independent Socialists and the Sparticists, led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, attempted to establish a Communist government in Germany.” [v] The Conservative Friekorps were quick to react and put the coup down. This is merely one example of many in which Germany’s clash of ideals resulted in violence.

Throughout this turmoil, there was the middle ground, the Pro-Democrats. Some Pro-Dems were truly invested in making democracy work however others known as Vernunftrepublikaners, “ ‘A rational Republican’ – used in the 1920s to define those people who really wanted Germany to have a constitutional monarchy but who, out of necessity, came to support the democratic Weimar.” [vi] One man rose out of this school of thought and truly put the Weimar Republic to work for good of the nation.

Gustav Stresemann became chancellor of Weimar Germany from the years 1923-1929. Stresemann himself was a Vernunftrepublikaner. He straightened out many issues in his time as chancellor. His first achievement was the resolution of the Ruhr Crisis. France had accused Germany of deliberately defaulting on their reparations payments. France decided to punish Germany for their insubordination by seizing the Ruhr, an important manufacturing area of Germany, as a way to teach them a lesson. The German workers chose to use “’Passive Resistance,’ refusal to work with occupying forces,” [vii] as a way to fight back against the French. However, it only launched the German economy into a state of hyper- inflation because the government continued to pay workers even though they weren’t working. When Stresemann came into office during the Ruhr crisis, he called off the strikes and helped to restore the failing economy. Stresemann’s innovative policies solved the economic problems of Germany (at least for the time being). When Stresemann first arrived in office on November 1923, one American dollar was worth 200,000,000,000 German Marks. However, Stresemann introduced the Rentenmark into the German economy in place of the old currency. Each Rentenmark was to be worth 1,000,000,000,000 marks. Following the Rentenmark, Stresemann initiated the Dawes Plan. The Dawes Plan was a system in which America would loan money to Germany in order to stimulate its economy and aid in paying off its reparations. Dawes Plan, coupled with the Rentenmark, significantly helped the struggling German Economy, which in turn led to greater happiness among the German populous. The sole hitch in the Dawes plan was that the German Economy more or less became completely dependent upon American loans, a problem that would later come back to haunt the German Nation.

In 1925, “ Gustav Stresemann, [|Aristide Briand], and [|Austen Chamberlain] , along with representatives of the other four nations involved, [viii] met at Locarno, Switzerland, to draw up mutual security pacts.” [ix] The Locarno Pact effectively secured the German borders from France and thus, nullified the chance of a second Ruhr Crisis happening. In all, under the leader of Stresemann, Weimar Germany was a relatively stable nation that caused many Germans to reevaluate if the republic was so bad. However singularization is a trap too easy to fall into therefore it is not correct to say that MOST Germans were happy with the Weimar Republic at the time. There was still a political faction slowly building inside the radical Conservative party. Led by Adolf Hitler, Nazism would “rapidly develop into a mass movement in 1929-33.” [x]

In 1929, Stresemann passed away after an untimely stroke; the Wall Street crash shortly followed his death. Stresemann’s inopportune passage, coupled with the failing of the American economy (which was essentially propping up that of Germany's) catapulted the country of Germany and its people back into a very similar sort of turmoil that plagued Germany during the post world war period. Out of the turbulence, came Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. Over the course of the Weimar republic, pro democratic parties [xi] shrunk in size and the conservative Nazi party slowly grew. This shows us that over time German sentiment leaned towards a more traditional conservative view and a want for the return to the old ways of monarchy. Essentially, the people of Germany voted for no democracy. A majority of citizens voted for Hitler and the Nazi Party in the elections of 1932 and 1933. The 1933 elections “had a very high turnout of 88 percent.” Of the 88 percent, “the Nazis increased their vote from 33.1 percent to 43.9 percent.” [xii] It is apparent that the masses were ready for a change.

The Weimar republic was instituted in a time of great pandemonium and strife. These extreme external and internal forces did not provide a solid nurturing environment for the republic to thrive. To say that the Republic was completely “unwanted and unloved” would certainly be false. Throughout the Weimar's short-lived time, its existence was always controversial but in the end most people (and I don’t wish to singularize) ended up frowning upon the ramshackle Weimar Republic.

[i] **The Treaty of St. Germain-** “held the new Austrian republic to be the successor of the empire and charged with reparations” [ii] "**__International relations__**." __Encyclopedia Britannica__. 2009. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 06 Dec. 2009 <[|**__http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/291225/international-relations__**]>. [iii] Layton, Geoff. __Weimar and the Rise of Nazi Germany__ 3rd edition. London. Hodder Murray, 2005. [iv] Taken from //A Web Of English History//. Dr. Marjorie Bloy. Web. . Dr. Bloy earned her PhD from the university of Sheffield in 1986. She has taught history at Rotherham College in England and at the National University of Singapore. [v] "Chronology 1919." //Indiana University//. Web. 06 Dec. 2009. .
 * The Treaty of Trianon-** forced the same reparations, land and army limitations on Hungary as were on Austria and Germany
 * The Treaty of Neuilly-** Forces Bulgaria to pay reparations, limit army size and lose important territory along the Aegean Coast line
 * The Treaties of Sevres and Lausanne-** these two treaties carved up the Grecian and Turkish borders.

[vi] Layton, __Weimar and the Rise of Nazi Germany__ pg. 86 [vii] Ibid pg. 57 [viii] “The other four” were the nations of Belgium, France, The United Kingdom and Italy. Briand was representing France and Chamberlain was there for the U.K. [ix] "Gustav Stresemann - Biography." //Nobelprize.org//. Web. 07 Dec. 2009. .

[x] Layton, Geoff. __The Third Reich 1933-45__ 3rd edition. London. Hodder Murray, 2005. [xi] DDP- German Democratic Party This party was created from the old National Liberals party of the old Reichstag. It was mostly comprised of Businessmen and people of the middle class. Was very supportive of democracy and constitutional reform. DVP- German People's Party Very supportive of the Weimar Government. Comprised mostly of Middle and Upper-Middle class protestants. This was Stresemann’s political party. SPD- German Social Democratic Party This was a moderate socialist party which supported the new government. It was comprised of peoples from the working class and trade unions. [xii] Ibid pg. 11