Ein bankrottes Deutschland hat die Nazis nicht geschaffen | Zwischen 2 Kriegen | 1928 Teil 1 von 1 - YouTube (1)

So, there's this idea that the reason that the Nazis came to power was because Germany

was completely broke under the war reparations of the Treaty of Vesrailles. This, my friends

is a bit of a misconception, you see starting in 1924 Germany joined the 1920s upswing in

what would become known as the Goldener Zwanziger, the Golden Twenties.

Welcome to Between-2-Wars a chronological summary of the interwar years, covering all

facets of life, the uncertainty, hedonism, and euphoria, and ultimately humanity's

descent into the darkness of the Second World War. I'm Indy Neidell.

In our 1923 episode on Hitler's failed putsch we saw how the first years of the Weimar Republic

were blighted by hyperinflation as the government desperately printed more money to pay off

massive war debts and reparations. Entire life savings were made worthless and the economy

was in chaos. However, political achievements in both the domestic and international spheres

in late 1923 and 1924 meant that Germany has entered into an era of relative political

and economic stability which, accompanied by a flourishing of mass culture, leads the

era to become known as the ‘golden twenties'. Like other industrial countries by 1928, Germany

is firmly in an economic boom. However, beneath all this there are still major weaknesses

within Weimar's political and economic systems, with increasing social conservatism running

alongside the social liberalism for which the era is known.

What were these achievements that enabled Germany's economic boom?

In the domestic sphere, a semblance of political stability had been guaranteed in the autumn

of 1923 by the passing of an enabling act in the Reichstag which granted the government,

headed by Gustav Stresemann, the power to pass laws without parliamentary approval.

Enabling acts were nothing new in German politics but this was the most extensive so far and

would set a dangerous precedent in Weimar politics. Nevertheless, the government now

held much more power than before, allowing it to beat back uprisings such as the Beer

Hall Putsch, and concentrate on economics

There was a big rollback in government spending, and by the end of 1923 civil servants were

earning 40% to 70% than they had before the war. The government also cut social services.

The measures were brutal but they allowed the German economy to stabilize, something

also helped by the Dawes Plan, which was the result of Germany requesting the Allied reparations

commission that their ability to pay should be reviewed by a team of experts, something

America had actually already proposed in 1922. Finalized in the summer of 1924, and passing

narrowly in the Reichstag, the plan did not actually reduce the overall reparations payment

but did structure a new payment schedule. It also took away the threat of sanctions

and military occupation, and payments were now to be made to a reparations agent who

would supervise and monitor Germany's financials and transmit the money to the various Allied

powers. France and Belgium also pledged to phase out their occupation of the Ruhr.

With economic and political stabilization, the conditions were set for Germany to take

part in the economic boom that was sweeping across Europe and America.

Money was flowing in America, and part of the Dawes agreement is a massive loan. This

surplus of capital and a stabilized economy meant that Germany's industrial infrastructure

could undergo modernization, with businesses following American model of assembly lines.

In fact, German entrepreneurs seem to be fascinated by American industrialists, especially Henry

Ford. One engineer who visited a Ford factory in Detroit gushed about “the work rhythm

that sweeps everything along with it, just as a band carries along the legs of the marching

troops and even the spectators.”

There was also now money to invest in housing, hospitals, or other public projects. Virtually

no new housing had been built since before the war and architects are being called upon

to design apartment blocks, and even whole new settlements, showcasing German modernity.

Municipalities across Germany are now vying for their city to be the most modern, building

parks, stadiums, road networks, transport systems, and public libraries. Berlin towers

above these, though. It is the third largest city in the world, home to business empires,

has the fastest underground railway in the world, and the highest ratio of telephones

to population,. On top public investment, the government began

spending on social services again, most significantly on the unemployment service, which providing

26 weeks of benefit entitlement to any unemployed worker who had been employed for 26 weeks

in the previous twelve months. By 1928, Germany's GDP is 25% higher than it was in 1925, with

total industrial production reaching pre-war levels in 1927 which it will then soon surpass.

The country also now has the highest paid industrial work force in Europe, and the female

workforce is growing as women increasingly moving away from the countryside to find work

in the city. The middle-class booms, with legions of office workers and factory managers.

This relative economic stability has also fostered new social and cultural habits amongst

the population.

Ordinary Germans are going on an American-style consumption binge, fueling economic growth

further. Consumer credit is now socially acceptable for all classes, and even workers seek out

modern style and flair in Germany's department stores. American products flood the market,

and epartment stores now dot the country. Why are Germans so willing to spend after

the hyperinflation of the early 20s had shown how quickly economic fortunes could change?

Historian Eric Weitz argued that it was exactly this experience which cultivated such heady

consumerism. The trials of war and hyperinflation has made Germans realize that money and even

life itself can disappear in an instant. Everything was ephemeral and it was better to enjoy life

now then worry about the unknown future. This attitude is boosted by modern advertising

which, like its American counterpart, fused sex appeal with consumer ideals. What is interesting,

though, about German advertising is how it brings together mass culture and high art.

Clean lines of modernist design in the style of Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) are

used to sell consumer products. Advertising lights up the streets of German cities, while

artists find their work published both by marketing firms and intellectual journals.

New forms of mass-culture are also emerging as an increasingly urban population enjoys

the thrills of modern life. Cinema is extremely popular, with 353 million cinema tickets sold

in 1928. Germany's own film industry actually has struggled since 1923, but foreign movies

are hugely popular, with films such as Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush and Fred Niblo's

Ben-Hur becoming nationwide favorites. Alongside the cinema, radio is a phenomenon. Public

broadcasting began in 1923 and is hailed as a triumph of German modernity. The number

of listeners has shot up from barely 10,000 in April 1924, to 780,000 a year later, and

by 1928 it is on its way to 3.7 million. The listening public is the second largest in

Europe, and they enjoy everything from music to plays. Boxing becomes the spectator sport

of choice for many Germans, fusing athleticism and show business. Fights are sellout shows

all over Germany and it is something enjoyed by all social classes. In fact, in 1928, a

leading Berlin theatre postponed the premiere of a play because it was the same night as

a championship fight

It would appear then that Germans are really enjoying life. But beneath all this spending,

social change, and leisure, the German economy is still suffering from major economic weaknesses.

Historian Theo Balderston has gone so far to say that ‘gold-plated' is a more suitable

term for this era, with the surface level wealth masking deep problems. For one, the

economy has not been progressing as healthily as it might seem. Despite the clear modernization,

it is also stagnating with no real technological innovations being introduced to boost it.

German industrialists may be obsessed with American techniques but seem unable to actually

inject any dynamism into their own economy.

Alongside this stagnation, Germany is getting itself into a dangerous situation with American

credit. The country is essentially relying on American loans not only to fuel its economy

but also to pay its reparations to other European countries, who themselves rely on these reparations

to pay their war debts back to America. This means that a cycle of international loans

has emerged which relies too heavily on a successful American economy and the willingness

of creditors to hand out cheap loans. If America crashes then so does Germany - hard.

Alongside these deeper structural issues, there are also immediate problems which make

clear all is not well in these ‘golden years'. Unemployment has risen significantly as a

result of the overenthusiastic introduction of assembly lines and housing is also still

in short supply, despite the efforts made by local governments. Those who live outside

the big cities have barely seen a boom at all. German farmers had actually benefitted

slightly from hyperinflation, being able to pay off their debts and estate mortgages,

but the stabilization hit them hard, and they are now saddled with tax burdens which are

3.7 times higher than before the war, with little government expenditure being pumped

back into their sector. What is more, worldwide economic conditions are not favorable. The

war led to a global over-expansion of agricultural capacity, meaning prices have fallen dramatically,

and German farmers have to compete with the agrarian powerhouses of countries like America.

Between 1918 and 1928, the national average of real incomes has risen by 45%, but for

farmers, real income has only risen by 4.5%. There is also an agricultural labor shortage

as people, especially young women, have moved to the big cities to find better work.

The Mittelstand class of shopkeepers and artisans face similar problems as they pay high taxes

and deal with the complicated bureaucracy of the Weimar system. They find their prices

undercut by the much larger department stores. These ‘golden years' rest not only on

shaky economic foundations, but also only really benefit urban communities and big business,

while the rural areas suffer.

And these economic problems do little to help the Republic with its legitimacy crisis.

Germany's far-right are keen to exploit the grievances of the non-urban communities

and drive home the degeneracy of Weimar. Julius Streicher, a top Nazi party official and publisher

of Der Sturmer, declared in 1927 that “the peasantry is without a fatherland, German

land is sold and mortgaged to the international Jewish controlling power; today the peasant

no longer possesses his own corn, for he must pay four-fifths of his income in taxes, and

woe betide him who does not pay, for then the bailiff comes”. Demonstrations are arranged

by organizations like the Rural League, the Farmers' Association, League of Smallholdings,

Artisans' League, Settlers' Association, and the Shopkeepers' Guild, with Nazi and other

far-right speakers denouncing the Weimar democracy that has caused Germany's farmers and Mittelstand

to become slaves to the stock market. The fact that many department stores are Jewish-owned

has also led to increasing anti-Semitism amongst artisans and shopkeepers. And the middle-class

in general are distrustful of the political system, having been the hardest hit by hyperinflation.

Workers, too, are resentful after increased job insecurity and the loss of hard-won rights

such as the eight-hour day, which the government cut in a bid to appease businesses during

stabilization.

Even without these specific grievances, there is the significant challenge of encouraging

a general faith in Weimar. Real democracy is still new to Germany and the population

has had little political education and practice. This isn't helped by the nature of the newspaper

industry. Pro-Republican newspapers either try to pursue a neutral editorial position

or are drowned out by the shrill calls for the death of the Republic from either the

far-left or far-left. Of course, none of this is helped by the fact that the country had

6 different cabinets between December 1923 and June 1928, supposedly showing that parliamentary

democracy is weak and unstable. Finally, the fact that Paul von Hindenburg, hardly a man