Governments’ and voters’ responses to

the slump

Governments’ responses

Governments across the world – not just Weimar Germany -

struggled to deal with the effects of the Depression.

Many Germans believed the government did not need to intervene as the country had overcome a 1926 economic

slump without state intervention.

This led to different proposals about the German government

should do to maintain the strength of the currency.

Suggestions included:

• Cut welfare spending

• Raise taxes

• Reducing/stopping reparation payments

The German government found it difficult to end the crisis.

The coalition nature of governments made it hard to

agree actions. In March 1930 the SPD government collapsed as they could not agree on welfare cuts.

German governments also feared that intervention could cause

hyperinflation.

Germans governments’ actions were also restricted by outside

groups too.

Legal restrictions in the Dawes and Young Plans meant the

Reichsbank could not simply print more money.

Foreign investors also did not want to lend to Germany as

they did not trust the currency.

Governments coped by spending less money, including making

unpopular welfare cuts.

From 1931, the government started spending more money

(in 1931 reparation payments were suspended for a year), including on public works

schemes and giving land to peasants and workers.

German governments also introduced protectionist

policies, although these arguably made the situation worse for

Germany.

Protectionism is when a government prioritises products from its own country over those

bought elsewhere (imports). This can be done using import taxes.

Protectionist policies provided a certain benefit in that it helped some German companies to hire

or retain staff.

However it resulted in retaliatory policies when

foreign governments did the same to German products, thus

reducing exports. Also, Germans had to pay higher prices for

certain products.

Voters’ responses

The economic crisis – especially unemployment and falling wages – caused huge

anger amongst Germans.

As a result of this, many of them began to lose faith in the

Republic and democracy, leading to growing support for

extreme parties.

During the period of economic depression there were five

national elections, and also various state elections.

Each of them was held against a backdrop of rising unemployment

and homelessness as workers could not afford to live in their

homes, often moving into shanty towns instead.

From July 1928 to December 1932, unemployment rose from

1.25 million to 5.75 million.

During this time, Nazi election votes went from around 1 million

to c. 11 million.

Also in this period, the Communist Party’s (KPD) votes went from around 3.2 million to 6

million.

Extremist parties offered simple messages which

attracted votes from desperate Germans.

The Communists pledged to take control of factories and businesses in order to create work for Germans. The Nazis

portrayed their leader Hitler as the only man who could save

Germany. ‘Our last hope:

Hitler’

Weimar Germany had always struggled to gain support from

most Germans.

The economic crisis saw the concept of democracy lose even more support. There was a huge

increase in anti-democracy parties in the Reichstag, meaning parliamentary democracy could no

longer function.

Historians’ views

• William Carr: “inconceivable” that Hitler could have ever come to power without the effects of the world economic crisis.

• Detlev Peukert: The end of the Republic did not happen overnight and was not the product of any single set of causes.

• Eberhard Kolb: The downfall of the Republic was the fault of opponents that “destroyed it by unscrupulous methods.”

• Eric Weitz: The effects of war, Versailles, hyperinflation and the Depression left Germans desperate for a solution by 1932.