Friedrich's Story

7/27/2019 Friedrich's Story

1/12

Meet Friedrich

A young German boy, 17years old, who lives in the

Ruhr.

The year is 1925 and theRuhr Crisis come to anend.


2/12

As the last of the French soldiersmarched into the distance, Friedrichrecalled that wintery morning inJanuary 1923 when he had come to work,as usual at the coalmine, only to find itbarred by row upon row of Frenchsoldiers.


3/12

The French had seized the coalmines ofthe Ruhr to try and force the Germansto pay reparations. After months ofnegotiations, Friedrich finally read in thepapers that America had promised tohelp out Germany with a loan and thatthe wretched reparations could bereduced. Some fellow named Dawes hadwon a prize - the Noble? Nobel? prize -for helping Germany out.


4/12

What a load of rubbish that all was,Friedrich thought. Important men insuits talking about millions of marks likeit was nothing: he couldnt even scraptogether 2 marks some days. And thatwas after spending all day down in themine, digging, shovelling, carrying,building...


5/12

That night at dinner, he helped his father gethis food as usual. Friedrichs father, Kristoff,couldnt reach the food sometimes - he wasstuck in his wheelchair, the result of fighting inWorld War 1.The family ate in silence. Knives scrappedplates, mouths chewed, but no one dared to saya word. They all knew what day it was.


6/12

It was NOVEMBER 11, 1925.The anniversary of the end of World War 1.The day Friedrichs father, Kristoff, cursedanyone who even dared to breathe a wordabout life in the new Germany.


7/12

Our day of humiliation. Kristoffs voicesounded like poisoned daggers in thesilence. The day our cursed Weimargovernment stabbed us in the back!Darling, lets just have ourstew, murmured Friedrichsmother.


8/12

Father, why was it a stab in our back?piped up Elsa, Friedrichs littlest sister.Friedrich groaned inside. Why didnt Elsajust keep her mouth shut? Now the wholefamily would be forced to sit through yetanother of his fathers bitter rants aboutthe Weimar government.


9/12

We were stabbed in the back! The leaders ofour country now - the Weimar government- they were the ones who decided to end thewar. Our German army, or brave, wonderfulsoldiers, they were doing so well! But thepoliticians signed the armistice just so thatthey could stop the war. We couldhave won the war. The NovemberCriminals stabbed us in theback when they secretivelysurrendered.


10/12

Friedrich looked at the bottom of his soupbowl. He knew exactly what his father wasgoing to say next. In fact, he could almostrepeat it word for word. His father was nowgoing to talk about the Treaty of Versailles.Then he was going to talk about the termsof the Treaty of Versailles and how Britainand France had humiliated Germany anddragged the name of Germany through themud.


11/12

Then he was going to scream about howthe current Weimar government hadsigned all these horrible documents andbrought hardship to Germany.It was almost like a history lesson.


12/12

Vote: Weimar or new leader?

The year is 1925 and Friedrich is 17. He lives under the Weimar government

but dreams of a better life.If you were Friedrich, would you want to

be led by theWeimar government, ORseek anew leader?

Friedrich's Story

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