History of the Holocaust Declaring Germany a Republic Weimar Republic Who found the Nazi party appealing and why Nazis won 38 of popular vote Declaring Germany a Republic Weimar Republic 1919 1920 After they lost the war they were a democracy with free elections and new constitution Faced challenges 1 Economic problems Million Mark Banknot inflation Didn t have time to print new money they would stamp old money and change the value This had a mental and cultural effect on people The value of money is tied to people s sense of the order of things You have a sense of things worth People on fixed income were greatly affected 2 Threat of communist revolution 1918 1919 There was an uprising in Berlin In 1919 there were street battles in Germany Even if there hasn t been a revolution there could have been or might be one 3 Peace treaty signed after WWI treated Germany unfairly Territorially took away part s of Germany Germany was forced to pay reparations to France Movement Volk o Based around Volk People o Stronger during and after WWI o Point of view to seize German people Besieged on all sides by enemies particular enemy were Jews Key ideas 1 Hatred of parliamentary democracy Believed German nation was humiliated and only way to repair is to overthrow democracy 2 Use violence for political ends 3 Jews are an internal energy Germany couldn t understand how German army fought well and when the war ended they were still occupying France so how did they lose Stab in the back by the Jews Widespread belief that Germany was a martyr Victimized by Jews 1 Good speakers Nazi s have good political public speaking skills 2 Clear Message Nazi s have a clear anti Semitic program Meinkampf 3 Nazi party success in persuading people that they are a party of action Nazi part is ready to act ready for battle o Nazi party was good at being Vague about they were going to do 1933 Nazi party comes to power o Nazi party emerged in 1920s as a major spokesperson for far wing point of views o 1929 global depression 1932 unemployment was at 30 in Germany this drove people to vote for extreme political solutions perception that things were spiraling out of control They believed they could put together a proliferation parties to help them get their foot in the door They wouldn t give them to much power cause they wanted to keep Hitler under control o 1933 Hitler becomes Chancellor in short period of time Nazi party begins to transform German Society o Exploited the Reichstag a German parliament building was burnt down in 1933 shortly after Nazi party came to powder Hitler says it s an act of terrorism and in order to deal with this he needs extraordinary legal powers o March 1933 enabling act gave Hitler right to pass laws without going through the legal process H was given this right to help restore order and protect Germany o Nazi party begins to destroy civil society in Germany o Law suspends constitution and Nazi begins to eliminate other political parties Some parties disband themselves By the end of 1934 Germany is a one party state o The Nazis shut down the opposition press there were only Nazi party newspapers and a catholic newspaper o Begin to ban civic associations or clubs o Nazis have their own labor group civic group and women s group o Purges judiciary and police of anti Nazi people o German society was COORDINATED o Set up system preventative detention system of concentration camps First one created n 1933 Political opponents imprisoned to clean up streets and restore order o Campaign to restore order was popular Jewish Question o Need to solve the Jewish question o Influence of many Germans thought Jews had in German society o 1 of the population 500 000 people o Because of the history over the course of the 19th century there is a distinctive look o Because of the economic opportunities Jews and Germany went into some about the social demographics occupations and not others o In economic life Jews make up more than 1 Particularly in retail financial institutions Newspapers tend to be owned by Jewish families o Professions such as medical and law tended to have more than 1 being Jewish o In Germany in the 1920s 1930s there was a debate as to whether or not Jews were overrepresented and if they were what should be done o Some saw this as a cultural problem some as an economic question o Nazis come to power and want to solve the Jewish question Nazi s solve the Jewish Questions o Some of the first attempts to stir up hatred towards Jews failed o Many skeptical of nation wide initiatives o The SA Nazis ready for battle o Boycott of Jewish shops April 1 1933 to break jewish economic power maybe good German shops can replace them o On April 1st this was not a successful action Some Germans shopped at Jewish stores o Between dignity and despair at this early stage many Germans wanted to express Jewish solidarity and they would shop in Jewish stores these actions were and embarrassment for Joseph Gebbles he then called it a success and called it off o Anti Semitic values need to be developed and inserted and this takes time o What is unsuccessful encouraged Violence Boycott in 1933 o Successful Legalized discrimination based on the passing laws One of the most important examples of this is Law for the Restoration of the civil Service Meaning Civil service is bad and need to be restored why is it bad Because there are too many Jews o This law is kicking people out of jobs and giving them to other people Including doctors teachers lawyers all jobs that are working for the state in some way o This Law does not effect you if you have a private practice o This Law makes these jobs illegal for Jews to hold o A lot of people were unemployed or underemployed due to depression seems legal because there is a law becomes a hiring service o How do they keep people out o This begins to put a lot of economic Pressure on German Jewish Families they begin to lose their livelihoods 1 1933 1034 o A lot of experimentation going on o Begin to see legalized exclusion 2 Both Top down and Bottom up o These laws were passed in Berlin o Laws say legalized discrimination is okay once government sends signal local level officials mayors Nazi party leaders principles of school etc are beginning to take initiatives on their own passing something for the town assuming what they are doing is okay o Dignity and Despair hard to see if there is a clear trend or pattern o By 1935 local officials beginning to organize localized