A History of Germany 1918 - 2020. Mary Fulbrook
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Название: A History of Germany 1918 - 2020

Автор: Mary Fulbrook

Издательство: John Wiley & Sons Limited

Жанр: Историческая литература

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isbn: 9781119574248

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СКАЧАТЬ the outcome of the September 1930 elections the SPD chose to ‘tolerate’ the Brüning government rather than trying to topple it and risk new elections that might provide further support for the extreme Right. In the meantime, Brüning’s policies only served to heighten the misery of millions in the economic depression. Unemployment rose steadily, from 1.3 million in September 1929 to over 3 million by September 1930 to over 6 million by the beginning of 1933. This last figure represented one in three of the working population; with official underestimation of the true figures, and with widespread short-time working, perhaps one in two families in Germany were severely affected by the Depression. Brüning’s priority nevertheless remained that of showing that Germany was unable to pay reparations, whatever the cost in human misery, misery that could have been alleviated by public expenditure programmes and less deflationary policies. In summer 1931 the economic situation was further exacerbated by a financial crisis. A failed attempt at a German–Austrian customs union led to a withdrawal of French credits from Austria, precipitating a collapse of the main Austrian bank, a rush of bankruptcies in Austria and Germany and a banking crisis, which necessitated a ‘bank holiday’ of three weeks’ duration in July 1931.

      Map 3.1 The electoral performance of the NSDAP, 1924–1932.

      Hitler’s Path to Power

      From April 1932 to January 1933 the final debacle of the Weimar Republic unfolded through a series of intrigues and machinations, as alternative strategies were pursued, and found unworkable, in relation to the economic, political and governmental crisis. Distanced from Brüning by his management of the presidential elections, Hindenburg was prepared to countenance the removal of this increasingly unpopular Chancellor. First the army minister Wilhelm Groener was forced to resign on 12 May, over the issue of his ban on the SA and SS in April; then, at the end of May, when Brüning gave Hindenburg an emergency decree to sign, proposing drastic measures to deal with indebted East Elbian estates, the President refused to sign and instead accepted Brüning’s resignation. Brüning’s proposal to dispossess East Elbian estates overburdened with debts was the occasion, rather than the cause, of his downfall; behind it lay wider plots for alternative political scenarios.

      On 2 June the Catholic Franz von Papen became Chancellor – losing the support of his own Centre Party in the process. Papen failed in the period of his chancellorship to gain parliamentary support: his cabinet excluded Social Democrats and trade unionists and never succeeded in securing a substantial conservative nationalist base. On 4 June the Reichstag was dissolved and new elections called for 31 July. The ban on the SA and SS was lifted on 18 June, and despite the fact that the paramilitary organizations of the KPD were still outlawed, there was near civil war on the streets as Nazis and Communists engaged in violent battles. The alleged failure of the Prussian state police to control political violence – which had in effect been legalized by the Reich government, with its unleashing of the SA – provided the justification for a coup against the Prussian state government on 20 July. The SPD leadership of Prussia (at that time heading a caretaker coalition) was ousted and replaced by a Reich Commissar – a useful precedent for Hitler’s takeover of Land governments the following year. The SPD’s lack of resistance to this coup has often been criticized, but Social Democrats still believed in the rule of law and were unwilling to meet force with force; they also, by this time, were suffering from a certain weariness and resignation, a lack of a broader vision in the face of changing events.