TREATY OF VERSAILLESProvisions:

▪Loss of territory – reduced by 14%

▪War reparations – Germany had to payabout $31 billion in damages

▪Demilitarization – German army reduced to 100,000 men, navy reduced to 6 ships

▪Full responsibility of the war

Germany is humiliated!

Other European countries thought that if Germany was significantly weakened, future wars would be prevented.

WEIMAR REPUBLIC

▪1919: Weimar Republic established

▪Constitution written & adopted in Weimar, Germany

▪Presidential leader – Socialist Democratic Party (SDP)

▪Economic disaster…

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Friedrich-Ebert#/media/1/177590/192355

4 mins

ECONOMY – WEIMAR REPUBLIC▪German government is unable to pay its debts

▪Some European nations don’t believe this

▪French & Belgian troops occupy Germany’s main industrialarea, the Ruhr (coal & iron)

▪German workers strike & economy tanks

▪Germany prints more money

▪Hyperinflation – German mark loses value & cost of livingrapidly rises

ECONOMY – WEIMAR REPUBLIC▪Dawes Plan

▪Germany can pay back reparations on a sliding scale

▪Germany repairs relations with other European countries,and can join League of Nations

▪ International trade!

▪American Great Depression → German Great Depression

▪Myth that Germany did not lose the war, it was betrayed by German civilians

▪ stabbed in the back by Weimar leaders in an effort to gain power

▪Socialists, Bolsheviks, Weimar Republic, & Jews are blamed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItOpqX-gm6M

2 mins

POLITICAL PARTIES – WEIMAR REPUBLIC

Communist Party (KPD)

Social Democrats (SPD)

Democratic Party (DDP)

Catholic Center Party (Z)

People’s Party (DVP)

German Nationalist Party (DNVP)

National Socialist Party (NSDAP)

FAMILY ROOTS▪Born 20 April 1889

▪ Father: Alois Hitler (illegitimate, mother’s name: Schicklgruber, step-father’s name: Hiedler)

▪ Jewish lineage?

▪Possibility that Hitler’s unknown grandfather was Jewish – no evidence

EARLY LIFE▪ Grew up in Austria

▪ Interest in art

▪ Painting was a hobby

▪ Interest in architecture as a career

▪ 1907 - Mother passed away, rejected from art school inVienna

▪ “disappeared into the depths of Austria’s poverty-strickenunderworld”

AUSTRIA TO GERMANY▪Hitler’s anti-Semitism & anti-Communist ideals developed in Austria

▪ wrote that he became aware of the two greatest threats tothe German people in Vienna – “Marxism & Jewry”

▪ Traveled to Germany to avoid Austrian military service

▪Felt more closely tied to Germany than Austria

▪Munich = German city, Vienna = “Babylon of races”

HITLER IN WWI▪ WWI was a “godsend” for Hitler

▪ Promoted to Corporal in 1914

▪ Won several awards as a soldier

▪ Witnessed anti-war sentiments shared by some Jews, even though non-Jews shared these sentiments, Hitler’s anti-Semitism deepened.

▪ German loss of WWI scarred Hitler, believed Jews “stabbed Germany in the back”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRPEsRp3utc&t=24s

6 min

How did the Nazi Party, a smalland unpopular political group in1920, become the most powerfulpolitical party in Germany by1933?

ORIGINS OF THE NAZI PARTY

▪Following WWI, Adolf Hitler joined the small German Worker’sParty (DAP) & quickly became its leader

▪Working class & nationalist Party

▪Capitalized on the fear and anger felt by Germans & enteredpolitics

▪By February 1920, DAP becomes the National Socialist GermanWorkers’ Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

NAZI PARTY PLATFORM

▪Platform reflects cornerstone of Nazi ideology:

▪Belief in race science

▪Superiority of Aryan Race (German Blood)

▪Only those with German blood should be considered citizens &have rights

▪Those with German blood are guaranteed jobs, food, land

BEER HALL PUTSCH

▪Fueled by post-war unrest and Hitler’s charismaticleadership, thousands joined the Nazis in the early 1920s

▪Hitler attempted to stage a coup to overthrow thegovernment

▪Attempt failed, resulted in several deaths, and Hitler and hisfollowers were arrested

▪Hitler DID NOT diminish in popularity…

(Attempt to Overthrow Gov’t)

BEER HALL PUTSCH

▪At the trial, Hitler was allowed to share his message

▪Showed contempt for the Weimar Republic, which he referredto as a “Jew Government”

▪Hitler & co. found guilty BUT…

▪Judge was a nationalist sympathizer & only sentenced themto 5 years in prison.

▪Hitler served only 9 months.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJVQZWLqSPE

10 mins

MEIN KAMPF & HITLER’S IDEAS

▪“My Struggle” – autobiography Hitler wrote in prison

▪Published in 1925

▪Enforced his idea of the superior Aryan race & conflictbetween races

▪Wanted to claim Eastern Europe as part of the GermanEmpire for Lebensraum (“living space”)

▪This would also signify the defeat of Communism & theJews

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TQ9NOwINBY

1 min

POLITICAL CLIMATE IN GERMANY▪When Hitler left prison, fewer Germans were interested inthe Nazi Party because the economy improved

▪Great German depression began in 1929

▪Communist Party in German believed that Communismwas the solution to the economic crisis

▪Nazi’s blamed Communists, Jews, liberals for the crisis

▪Used slogans such as “Work, Freedom, Bread!”

▪Offered an attractive alternative to the German people

POLITICAL CLIMATE IN GERMANY▪When Hitler left prison, fewer Germans were interested inthe Nazi Party because the economy improved

▪Great German depression began in 1929

▪Communist Party in German believed that Communismwas the solution to the economic crisis

▪Nazi’s blamed Communists, Jews, liberals for the crisis

▪Used slogans such as “Work, Freedom, Bread!”

▪Offered an attractive alternative to the German people