The Troubled Infancy of the Weimar Republic

1. Explain why several segments of German society never accepted the legitimacy of the Weimar system.

Several segments of German society never accepted the legitimacy of the Weimer system because the founders of the Weimer Republic didn't even recieve the majority from the founders (the democrats) who originally formed the system. The democratic founders of the Weimer Republic were never able to recieve more than fifty percent of the votes again. Since there wasn't really any majority and the Weimer system was struggling to be democratic and stay alive the German society never reallly believed in the Weimer system. Some of the political parties were the German Communist Party (KPD), the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the German Democratic Party (DPP), the Catholic Center, and German National People's Party (DNVP). The democratic parties were DPP, SPD, and the Catholic Center, while the others were either more left or right parties. A major attack on the Weimer Republic was by the German military led by many of Germany's generals, such as Field Marshal Erich von Ludendorff, believed that Germans were bertrayed by the Weimer system and it's government becauase they had signed the Treaty of Versailles, which gave Germany many losses, like reparations and land loss to the allies. Overall, people never accepted the legitimacy of the Weimer system because they signed the Versallies treaty and they just didn't believe in the system at all.

2. How did Hitler use anti-Semitism to further his political aspirations?

Hitler used anti-Semitism to further his political aspirations by putting his views and aspirations in a book called Mein Kampf, where he wrote about how Jews were poisoning Germany's culture and blood of the German people. He wrote about how he thought the German race was the perfect race, the race that was meant to rule the world. He constantly downplayed the Jewish people as poisoning Germany, and it didn't help that the rumor of Jewish people was floating around that they were planning to take over the world, which many people did not want, especially Hitler.

3. How was the French occupation of the Ruhr tied to Germany's hyperinflation?

The French occupation of the Ruhr tied to Germany's hyperinflation by Germany greatly supporting the strikers with money. The workers of the Ruhr went on strike because they did not by no means want to collaborate or work with the French. Germany supported the strikers because they didn't want to support or be okay with France interferring. Therefore, they printed lots of paper money to support the workers, which in the end helped to cause and increase Germany's hyperinflation.

4. Describe "Weimar culture" and explain why many Germans rejected its values.

The "Weimer culture" consisted of jazz, painting, architecture, music, graphic arts, film, and literature; which was said to be influenced by the United States, so Germany was westernizing. Not all of the "culture" aspects were from the west, however, other people believed that the new freedoms for women were a challenge to their traditional, family-centered values, and the new realism in literature offended thos who favored writers that glorified the German past. The Germans, most of them, appreciated and greatly liked literature that glorified Germany, mostly when Germany's military was glorified. The new literature, the westernized literature, did not glorify Germany and this they hated. For example, "All Quiet on the Western Fron" did not glorify Germany, it talked about the horrors of trench warfare in World War I. It was more negative, when Germany wanted a description of World War I as more positive.

5. How did the conflict between the Catholic Center Party and the SPD contribute to the political crisis of the Weimar Republic?

The Catholic Center Party became stronger when previous kaiser, Otto von Bismarck, tried to separate church and state, however, this strengthened the Catholic Center Party. They tried to be more with the state and put religious influences into their decisions and policies. The Catholic Center Party at the time of the Weimer Republic, tried to find coalition partners, mostly from small right-wing parties who wanted the destroy the Weimer system, which made the political crisis of the Weimer Republic. Also, the SPD was strengthened when Otto von Bismarck had suspicion of the labor movement, which made the SPD members who were workers be even more committed. During the Weimer Republic the SPD became the majority, but the Catholic Center Party and SPD were greatly divided because of specific issues where they beleived different things. This made a political criss for the Weimer Republic because now there was no balance, the SPD was the majority and the Catholic Center was off getting more supporters from the right-wing parties.

6. How did the economic depression that began in 1929 create an opportunity for extremist political parties in Weimar Germany?

The economic depression that began in 1929 created and opportunity for extremist political parties in Weimer Germany by allowing different parties to make and offer different ways to solve the problem. For example the SPD and KPD fought against cuts in social programs, but the conservative parties opposed higher taxes. Then in March 1930 the "grand coalition" collapsed and for the next three years there was no leadership, which was an opening for parties to try to get control. There was a poll taken to form a new government, and all the political parties recieved gains as the economic depression worsened, gains as in an increase in popularity. This way the parties were able to protest and try to increase their popularity to the peopel so they could get power. There were demonstrations made and even acts of violence by the Storm Troopers who were apart of NSDAP. Since there was no leadership for three years it opened up a huge opportunity for the parties to try to get power.