The Failure and Success of the Weimar Republic

One of the major struggles the German Nation had to over come in recent years was the devastation after World War I. While the country had lost many lives, had destroyed cities, and lacked supplies, they were ordered to pay reparations to the Allied Forces. The Treaty of Versailles had a lasting and devastating impact on the German economy. While the German people where frustrated with the Allied forces and their financial woes, they were able to flourish in the arts and sciences.

 

The Treaty of Versailles, viewed by the German people as the "dictate of Versailes" (204).

            After World War I, Germany was left with “three different factions vying for power” (198). Remainders of the old state, the army and bureaucracy, and moderate forces of the “Reichstag majority” where hoping to establish a new German government. The moderate forces of the “Social Democrats and the more left-wing Social Democrats (USPD)” won the power struggle (200-1). In order to draft a constitution for the new assembly, for the first time “both men and women were brought the polls” (202). The progressive move of allowing women to vote recognized that women were responsible for keeping the industrial productions, civil administration and transportation system alive during the war. Therefore, they could not deny women that equal right to vote for the new constitution.  This election resulted in the “first democratically elected national government” with a large foundation of support. I find it interesting that during a time of crisis, the forming German government saw the importance of granting women the right to vote. I think that the Weimar republic was created by a true democracy because the formation of the constitution included the votes of women.

German women voting in 1919. 

             When the Allied Forces announced their conditions, the “German reaction was almost universal opposition to the term” (203) The German people felt that the demilitarization and the reparations demanded were unjust and would leave the nation defenseless and bankrupt. The German government tried to demand lighter and fairer conditions of a peace treaty, yet they failed to change the minds of the allies who threatened to cut off the nations necessary supplies. The inability of the German government to renegotiate with the Allied forces accounted for the “dwindling respect accorded it by the population and thus also the undermining of the republic’s legitimacy” (208).

With a weak government and large sums to pay to the Allied forces, the government resorted to disastrous economic policy to pay off their debts. The government began printing money to pay off the deficit, which sent the government into a period of enormous inflation. A 2-pound loaf of bread which cost 2.80 marks in December of 1919, cost 399 billion marks in December of 1923 (212). This caused the collapse of the economy and forced the citizen to resort to a barter system of exchanging good and services. The country was also left with stagnating productivity and unemployment. Though the implementation of the 8-hour workday was a progressive social policy of the Weimar Republic, it caused a decrease in overall production of the country. The German nations inability to lower cost of wages lead to an increase in foreign competition and a “reduced companies willingness to invest” in German workers. In order to battle inflation, the government also decreased government spending which lead to greater unemployment. This failure of economic policy lead to the people seeing the government of Germany as weak and unsuccessful and left them susceptible to the revolutionary and radical ideas of Adolf Hitler.

           

Piles of bank notes waiting to be given out during the hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic.

Though the people of German dealt with a failed economy and a radically changing government, they experienced a growth in culture and scientific development. I find it extremely compelling that Erwin Schrodinger developed quantum mechanism in the Weimar Republic. Quantum mechanics in the foundation of modern physics and is one the most important and paradigm challenging theories of physics. Germany can identify itself as one of the pioneers of modern physics and a major influence in changing the way physicists gather information about electrons.    

Erwin Schrodinger (1887-1961) who developed the wave-equation which can be solved to find information about electrons in atom.

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The Arts and Language: Creating a German Identity

            The formation of the German nation from the Holy Roman Empire to the birth on the nation state in 1871 came out of many challenges. Despite issues the nation faced, the strength of the people of German lead to the ultimate unification of the nation. Through the decades of war, peace, or revolution, the people remained resilient and were able to further the culture of Germany. Great philosophers and artists at the time were able to flourish in Germany and build a sense of nationalism needed to unify the people.

           

            The most important factor that ultimately unified the hundreds of small principalities throughout the Holy Roman Empire and other parts of Europe was the German language. In the 1600s and 1700s, “‘German’ still referred only to a language, nothing more” (86). While the nation as Germany had not yet formed, the culture and identity were beginning to form through the persistence of the language. 

The “educated German elite experienced a sense of national identify” while a standard language of Germany was developed from “the myriad regional dialects and local idioms” (89). From the forming of a standard and national language of German helped to create a sense of identify for the German-speaking people. The German elite had a large influence over the development of the language and enhancing it through the arts. Due to the outpour of books, journals, news, and paper from the educated elite, “the German nation was born in the minds of the intelligentsia” (91). Philosophers were important to the formation of the national identity at the time and places with Weimar were important for nurturing the forming culture of Germany.

Through out the conflicts with France and other powerful nations across Europe, the educated German elite of the time was responsible for creating the national identity of Germany. During the beginning of the nineteenth century, the philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte gave his “Addresses to the German Nation” in which he asserted that “nature of the German people was genuine and unspoiled, and that that by fighting for their own identity and freedom from French military and cultural domination, Germans were serving the cause of progress” (104-105). The philosophers, like Goethe, at the time played a pivotal in gaining the momentum to fight for the freedom of German.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe born in 1749 was a Germa writer and philosopher whose worked helped to create a national identity for Germany. 

The strength of the French nation inhibited the formation of the German nation for decades. However, when Napoleon suffered heavy losses against Russia, this prompted a wave of optimism for the German people. Through a “flood of nationalistic, anti-French propaganda and verse” (106), the identity of the German nation was continuing to form. By uniting against the French forces, the German writers of the time were able to unite the fragmented German principalities through their work. It was through the power of art that created nationalism for the forming German nation.

 

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was the powerful ruler of France who  controlled many german-speaking regions of Europe.

After the strengthening of the German identity, the German-speaking people began asking for rights during the Congress of Vienna in 1815. “Citizens began loudly demanding fulfillment of the promises for greater liberty, anchored in the new constitutions, that their government made” (110). Now the people were strong enough to demand for their rights and wanted a German nation were their rights were protected and ensured. The small liberal delegates of German states were able to “speak and publish freely without the fear of punishment” (118). Therefore, it was extremely difficult to silence the requests of the people or prevent the further development of the German nationalism. During this time the arts continued to flourish with the works of composers like Ludwig van Beethoven or architects like Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Overall, the eventual formation of the German nation in 1871 was party due to the sense of nationalism that was created in the German-speaking people by the philosophers and artists of the time.

The Congress of Vienna in 1815 were the German people demanded greater liberties and rights.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was a famous composer from Germany  during the nation;'s formative years.

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The History of Berlin

          After watching the BBC documentary film about the history of Berlin, I have found that the history of Berlin is not just of conflict, but one that shows the persistence of the human spirit and what can be accomplished within a community. Some of the topics that I found most interesting about Berlin were the establishment of the Weimar after World War I, the Berlin Airlift in 1948 and 1949, and the deconstruction of the Schloss to make way for the Palace of the Republic in East Berlin. All of these topics show the controversy and conflicts that surrounded East and West Berlin throughout the 20^th Century.

            I find the history of the Weimar Republic interesting because during a time of political and economic turmoil, the arts and the social atmosphere of the republic were able to progress and flourish. The artist George Grosz was one of the many artists during the time that used their work to depict the life of the poor and show the rise of Nazism. These artists were apart of the German Expression movement and influenced many aspects of the arts including paintings, cinema, and theater. Another major social movement was the beginning of gay and transgender rights campaigns. In 1919, Magnus Hirshfeld founded the Institute for Sexual Research in Berlin. This institute promoted the understanding and tolerance of gay rights and transsexual individuals. I think this is important because it shows how progressive the city of Berlin had been in terms of social movements. This institution may have been shut down when the Nazi’s came to power in 1933, but it shows that Berlin was also a center of progressive through out the twentieth century.

The bust of Magnus Hirshfeld who founded the Institute for Sexual Research in the Weimar Republic in 1919.   

            Another example of the persistence of the people of Berlin during a difficult time is the German Blockade during 1948 and 1949. At this time, the Soviet Union blocked the railway and roadway routes for the Allied forces to supply the people of West Berlin with their necessary resources. In response to this blockade, the Berlin Airlift was started in June of 1948. I find it outstanding that an airlift of such a large magnitude was successfully organized. Planes was taking off and landing several times an hour in order to supply the over 4,000 tons of daily fuel and food needed to keep people of West Berlin alive. The fact that the Berlin Airlift lasted 462 days shows that the West was willing to do whatever it takes to work against the opposition of the Soviet Union.

The Berlin Airlift started in June of 1948 and ended May of 1949. In the image, the German people of West Berlin are watching one of the many planes that came to deliver supplies. 

            I also find it interesting that building have large significance to the history of Berlin and that a building can serve as a powerful political statement. The Stadtschloss City Palace was built in the 15^th and was the residence for kings of Prussia and German Emperors. After World War II, the palace suffered significant damages. Since the palace was located in East Berlin, and was therefore controlled by the Soviets, the palace was viewed as a symbol of Prussian imperialism. The building was torn down in 1950. On the same plot of land, the Palace of the People was built in 1970 in East Berlin. This building housed the German parliament was open to the public often for cultural events. The construction of the Palace of the Republic on the same site of the Schloss symbolized the old imperial nation being replaced by the young social state. The building shared the same fate as its predecessor; the palace was torn down in 2003 after the reunification of Germany. In 2013, the reconstruction of the Schloss began, this building would help to serve as a symbol to the reunification of Germany. I find it interesting that the destruction and reconstructions of building serve as symbols to the power that is currently in control of Germany.

The Stadtschloss City Palace built in the 15th and torn down after World War II by the socialists in power in East Berlin.

The Palace of the Republic, built in East Berlin in 1976 as the seat of the German parliament. 

The Influence of Martin Luther

           The video Martin Luther: Reluctant Revolutionary, chronicled the conflict between Luther and the Catholic church, the impact Martin Luther’s work had on the birth of the Reformation, and the growing desire for religious freedom of peasants across Europe.

            Martin Luther, a German monk, left his mark on history by challenging the ideas of the powerful Catholic Church. Luther waged his battle against the Catholic Church using the power of the pen. Luther argued against the need for the clergy to be the middleman between a person and their relationship with God. He sparked the change in Germany for the rejection of the need for the rituals within the Catholic faith and shed light on the expensive needs of the Papacy and their wasteful spending of money.

Martin Luther’s On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, published in 1520. In this, Luther rejects the Catholic Church’s seven sacraments by asserting they are not in the Bible.

One of Martin Luther’s most radical and revolutionary pieces of work were the Ninety-Five Theses he posted on the All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Saxony. This document was revolutionary not only for it’s ideas but for how quickly the ideas spread through out Germany and the Holy Roman Empire. One of the points I found the most intriguing was that Martin Luther was able to take advantage of the new technology of the printing press in order to quickly spread his idea. He was able to share his ideas with the people of the empire faster than the Catholic Church was able to condemn them.  Luther was the one of the first people to show how the printing press was an effective way to spread ideas not only to the people in power but to the common people. Martin Luther was able to effectively start a grass roots campaign for religious freedom among the peasants of the Holy Roman Empire.

The doors of the All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg were Martin Luther posted The Ninety-Five These, sparking the Protestant Reformation in 1517.

Martin Luther was also an influential figure because he was unwilling to recant his ideas about the Catholic Church and held true to his words. In his works, Luther used crude language, witty writing, and the vernacular in order to relate his ideas to the common people of the empire. I find it interesting that Martin Luther saw it more effective to target his writing to the common people rather than the princes or those in power. It was by connecting to the common people that Luther was able to withstand the counter attacks of the Catholic Church. This represented a shift in Germany from seeing the Catholic Church as a powerful force to accepting the ideas of the Reformation.

This is one of the many images that Martin Luther included in this writing in which the Pope is depicted as the antichrist. He also depicted the pope as the devil or as a pig. 

The ideas of his work were so insurgent and inspiring that peasants took Luther’s ideas for religious freedom and applied them to freedom from local lords and the search for social freedom. I find it interesting that Luther’s ideas went further than he anticipated or wanted. His ideas were so inspiring that they caused an uproar for political freedom. Martin Luther himself was so inspiring because he showed that one man can stand up to the powerful authority of the time and incite change. This shows how impactful and powerful the written word can be and how differing interpretation of words can lead to more conflict and unforeseen consequences. His works ended up not only prompting the religious freedom of people of German but for the social freedom as well.

Overall, Martin Luther is an important figure for German history because his instigated religious and social changes, and stood up against one of the most powerful forces of the time, the Catholic Church, and came out victorious.

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