This is a group project done for Woodlands Secondary School, Singapore. This is made for research purposes and all sources belong to its rightful owners. All credits are listed. (This is a work in progress)
Exploitation* of the fears of communism Introduction In the 1928 elections, the communist party of Germany won four times the votes of the Nazi party, elections are only held when the Weimar government become increasing unstable at the right time when the Weimar government was at it's weakest and the Germans will begin to take sides of radical right(anti-socialism) or left(socialism) wing parties and this can be used to overthrow the Weimar government.
Most of the people feared that communism will take over the country and Hitler exploited the fears of communism to advance his own cause. The fears of communism are communism would take over Germany, farmers feared communism as the communist believed that state should own all lands and assets of the farms and the owners of big industries did felt threatened and Hitler exploited the fears that other industries would take over the smaller businesses and he gave farmers and businessman an uncertain promises that help will be given to them if he has the power and through the use of propaganda.
In 1933, Nazi-seized the power and established a ministry.The ministry aims were to ensure that the Nazi message was successfully communicated through art, music, theater, films, books, radio, educational materials, and the press.
*Exploitation-the action or fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work
Sources source A Hitler was also able to have built his own sizable private army called Stormtroopers due to his strong financial support and the people of Germany feel safer with the hands of Hitler as he is able to lead his army well. Support of source a shows us about his army marching as one. This suggests that the people of Germany will feel safer with Hitler than the Weimar government.
source b
Hitler was also a visionary leader and is also a good speaker and have a good influence in the people in Germany. Support from source b shows Hitler looking ahead and with concentration. this tells us that Hitler is a leader whom people can rely on.
source c
Hitler was trying to have a vision that all the people of Germany would follow him in the journey of leading them out of communism . Support from source c shows Hitler holding a nazi flag and leading the whole nation. This tells us that his leadership and communicating skills will lead him to victory
source d
Hitler was the speaker in one of the mass talks that exploited the fears of communism and wanting the people to believe in him. support from source D shows us that there was a huge crowd holding flags with pictures of Nazi symbol. this suggests that they are attending a talk where they wanted to hear the words of the great leader Hitler.
source e
Hitler wants to have everyone be part of stopping communism and to exploit the fears of communism. Support from source e shows us that the headline to from preventing people in choosing communism and the second headline it's everybody's job, and through the use of the word everybody, it makes all the reader feel personally involve and the men with parang on his hands tells us that communism usually leads to violence. this tells us that people would be avoiding communism as it promotes violence among the citizens.
source a
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/1d/2d/02/1d2d02a3bb929842b42ad91f888de804.jpg source b
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWQJu0GQgS2athSzegPkgRvzXryLWilaVU8BJnZuC8VhiEgBoMoIve_ATt0Mu7gOW5Z3m7URat_IpcE2254yB_jgEMoYltmLOqdfcAB-HWNuDJt27aTJQv_8a5APtNpbG1vjXcl-bZBIye/s640/blogger-image--1385267956.jpg source c
http://media.brainz.org/uploads/2010/12/nazi_poster.jpg
source d
https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/551195906da8116d30d49790-840-583/hilter%20soldiers.jpg
source e
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/db/cd/aa/dbcdaa317e24f8f1e12295f49112d0fb.jpg
The weaknesses of the Weimar Government are it's proportional representation , Coalition governments and Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution. The Proportional representation is a system in which a political party receives the same percentage of seats in parliament as the percentage of votes it won in the election. People voted for a party rather than specific candidates . It was democratic and fair system but resulted in a high degree of fragmentation in parliament. The Coalition government is a government in which two or more political parties cooperate to form a cabinet. A number of parties had extreme ideas and were not willing to compromise. They kept breaking up leading to frequent changes of government. It was difficult to pass laws , thus , seen as weak by the German people .
The Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution allowed the president to dissolve both houses of the parliament and rule by decree for six months in 'time of emergency'. What constituted as an emergency was not clearly defined . It was exploited by Hitler to seize power legally and to remain in power .
The other weaknesses are because of it's weak support and the opposition from the Right and the Left. The Weimar Government also lacked strong support from the people , politicians and soldiers . The civil service , judiciary , military and even big business were mostly under the influence of advisors who had worked for the Kaiser and wished for his return . It was therefore difficult for the Weimar Government to gain their support and loyalty. Without their support , they remained weak and struggled to hold onto power and authority . Both right- and left-wing extremists tried to seize power by violent means . For the Left-wing opposition , they wanted more equality in society which were influenced by the Russian Bolsheviks. They were opposed to democracy and Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht led the communist Spartacist rebellion in berlin . President Ebert made an agreement with the army and the freikorps to put down the rebellion . For the Right -wing opposition , they felt that Germany should not be solely responsible for the World War 1 and disagreed with them. They wanted Germany's army and industry to be strong again , territorial expansion and a dictorial style of government . There were many extreme nationalists and called those who ratified the treaty the 'November Criminals'. They had also blamed politicians for not having the courage to continue the war .
Video: https://youtu.be/eIcbkPTKhmo
Source A
Inference :
I can infer that the man dressed in the army suit and helmet is doomed as in the picture there is a man dressed in the army uniform and helmet while lying down with his rifles in his hands , behind him is a woman with a chef hat and on the hat is Germany's sign . The woman seems to be holding a very sharp knife placing the tip of the sharp knife onto the army mans back as when the army man is lying down , he leaves his back at a risk of being attacked by the woman but he does not notice as he is busy looking out for the enemy infront of him . This shows that some of the germany people had betrayed their army by stabbing them in the back secretly . Hence i can infer that the german army is doomed as they did not realize that they had been stabbed in the back . Source A Citation: http://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Stab-in-the-back_postcard.jpeghttps://youtu.be/eIcbkPTKhmo
Source B
Inference :
I can Infer that germany wants hitler to suffer as in this picture there is a big woman with the words Germany written on her chest and holding onto a gigantic dumbell which says "Nice safe conservative checks" that is secured onto a guys ankle , on the guy's tie is the word hitler and the guy seems to be holding onto a sword with the words "Nazi Theories" onto them and on his other hand is the Nazi's flag . This means that germany wants to slow down Hitler from imposing his Nazi theories by placing a "Nice safe conservative checks " on him to make it hard for hitler to do so as he would be slowed down by those checks germany had placed on him . Hence , i can infer that Germany does not want hitler to succed .
Source B Citation: https://www.google.com.sg/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freerepublic.com%2Ffocus%2Ff-chat%2F3097326%2Fposts&usg=AFQjCNE0Ac2lxAULO1JEQ5RBI3xfcwJY6w
Source C
Inference :
I can infer that the bank notes are not useful as this picture shows a woman lighting a bunch of bank notes. This means that they regarded the bank notes as worthless and rather than keeping them for any further use, they disposed them making it worthless. Also in the picture it shows a stack of bank notes that they would probably dispose along with the other bank notes the woman is holding. Among the bunch of bank notes, there are even small boxes of cash that are not even open yet, this meant that even though they had produced lots of new bank notes, they decided to throw it away . Hence i can infer that they did not find the bank notes they themselves created of any use as the value of money at that time had become worthless already .
Source C Citation: https://www.google.com.sg/search?q=weaknesses+of+the+weimar+republic&biw=1366&bih=633&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwiQ2POVhLbNAhXKtI8KHVHUBKAQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=71cIXKjok9bdNM%3A
Source D
Inference :
I can infer that the use of money had become worthless. This picture shows children playing with stacks of bank notes by stacking the bank notes to make a structure like a pyramid and there is a baby and a dog sitting on the floor also playing with a few stacks of bank notes on the floor. This shows that they had produced too much bank notes and even could play with the bank notes even though money is very valuable but to them at that time , they did not care about the money as they had too much money . Since they had no use of the large amount of excess money , instead of throwing it , they let their children have it instead of buying toys or some necessities with the bank notes . Hence , this picture shows that they feel that money is not useful for them . Source D Citation: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcveZSY6-kAcuv9XdlkzqE8gobm8vzR-T-iH3F809eTnQ_kahsTXWkk2_cQF5CJ7b_FkzJaRo81w_Cid0z32I2Jveb5Wd2stB8DPT4RiSDwvLhrttcqwga5P4o-QjgC37koG1hnTmj2Mw/s1600-h/hyperinflation.jpg
Source E
Inference :
I can infer that the German army got fooled , this picture shows men wearing army uniforms and helmets while lying down to hold their rifles to get ready to attack their enemy . However there seem to be some people standing behind them dressed in suits some sitting down and one of the men dressed in suits is gripping onto a very sharp knife as he looks down staring at the army men , by looking at the positioning of his knife and the direction his eyes are darting towards to the army men , it means that he plans to stab the German army men while the army men are facing their backs to him , and if one where to have his back open to the men in suits , the army men would be busy finding their target and get distracted . Thus making their backs available to any attacks . In the picture it shows a quote saying "Deutsche , denkt daran! " which translates into english saying "German , Remember! " . This means that they want the germans to remember that german had not been beaten in the battlefield but by the mutinies in the navy and by the outbreak of revolution in Berlin .Hence i can infer that the germans where fooled .
Source E Citation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stab-in-the-back_cartoon_1924.jpg
The Weimar's republic was created after the loss of Germany in WW1. A republic is a country without a hereditary ruler, for example, a king or emperor. The new democratic government of German was declared in February 1919 in a small town in Berlin which was the Capital of Germany. WW1 ended on the 11th November 1918 and the old German Government led by the kaiser (German Emperor) was forced out of Germany. The Weimer Republic were not very popular because the leaders of Weimar's Republic signed the armistice (a cease-fire agreement) and caused the German people to feel betrayed. Many believed that their government was weak.They signed the treaty of Versailles that made Germany give up 13% of its land and important areas, reducing their army to 100,000 men and that no aircraft were allowed with an addition of their navy to be reduced too. Furthermore, the treaty made Germans pay war reparation to France for 6.6 million. This causes the Germans to not only face bankruptcy but to go through hyperinflation.
From the internet
Economic weaknesses
Because of the inflationary means by which the imperial government had influenced the war, the german mark in 1919 was worthless than 20% of its prewar value. Nominal values were hopelessly not enough.Moreover, the economic impact of the treaty of Versailles was crushing. Germany lost 13% of her territory , 10% of her population, 15% of arable land, 75% of iron and 68% of zinc ore, 26% of her coal resources, the entire alsatian potash and textile industries, and the communications system built around Alsace-Lorraine and upper silesia. Huge amounts of ships and shipping facilities and of railway rolling stock were delivered to the allies.
All this was more important than the reparations payments imposed by the treaty, although the letter attracted greater attention. The amount of reparations fixed in 1921 was estimated by J.M. Keynes to exceed by three times Germany's ability to pay.
Another reason for the importance given to reparations is their alleged contribution to the runaway inflation of the early 1920s . In fact, however, inflation, far from being the consequences of reparations, came before them. Successive governments then seized on it as a means of evading reparations payments, as wells as for internal social purposes. No german government before 1923 made any attempt to stabilize the currency because german industrialist worked out a system of "inflation profiteering". They would obtain short-term loans from the central bank for improvement an expansion of their plant, and then repay the loans with inflated currency.
Similarly, the large agriculture paid off their mortgages with virtually worthless currency. By contrast, everybody with a fixed income- broadly speaking, the middle class, was a victim of the inflation. Even union wages always lagged behind prices. The dislocation caused by inflation brought unemployment, despite the apparent industrial boom. The inflation was obviously deeply divisive in its social effects and contributed to the lack of confidence in the fledgling republic among large groups of the population.
I can infer from the source that Germans was facing poverty that was caused by the world war one . This is because the source shows that there is a big family living in the same shelter in a very tiny small space, squeezing with other family members. This shows that the germans were greatly suffered by the war and by signing off the treaty of Versailles due to the Weimar republic , they were to pay war reparations that made the families poorer because their homes were badly affected by the war too. This also shows that germans were greatly in suffer from economic loss as to the living condition of the germans were very poor. From my contextual knowledge, the Weimar republic was the reasons to the poverty of the germans because the Weimar signed the treaty without the concern of the germans.This caused the germans to lose basic trust towards their own republic.Therefore, the german being economically weaker and not trusting their own republic would be an advantage for the rise of Hitler because the Weimar weaknesses cause social effects and contributed to the lack of confidence in the fledgling republic among large groups of the population. Moreover, I can infer from the source that the economic weaknesses of the Weimar republic are that they had signed a treaty that removes most of its land causing the picture shown above to have limited land and this also made the germans too have no land to live in and had to share with their family members. This shows that the economic weaknesses of the Weimar's republic are caused mostly by them signing the treaty that they could not even afford a proper living condition.
Furthermore, I can infer that the germans were facing economic weaknesses such that many families do not have unemployment. As shown in the picture, there is a whole family doing nothing at home and their expression were unhappy either. This shows that the germans were not only suffering from bankruptcy but it also suffers from many unemployment which can cause the productivity level in german to be low and face more of poverty.
Inference : I can infer from the source that the germans suffer great loss from the war due to the weimar signing the treaty that made germans pay war reparations for the damage german had caused. This was impossible because the war reparation was three times the ability of germans ability to pay. As shown in the above picture shows a horse with the name german on it to representing german, and what pulling its back is the indemnity which means the compension for the damages or loss. The weight pulling the horse is too heavy as it lifted the horse above the ground. This shows that the compesion for the war damages is more than what german has the ability to pay. This means that the germans had nothing left and meant no value because all were used to pay war reparation. This causes the weimar's republic to face huge economic waste as all money were used to pay war reparation. Furthermore, Germans were asked to take total blame and give up its resources. This made the germans super weak and vulnerable , facing poverty and had nothing left. It also made the germans need someone help to pull them back up its currency value whih at that moment was super worthless.
Furthermore, as shown in the source shows a quote of ''perhaps it would gee-up better if we let it touch the ground". This shows that the economic of the germans were worsen due to the weimar rupublic signing the treaty. It also shows that germans would not have suffer such weaknesses if the treaty was fair and not that harsh towards the germans.
I can infer from the source that the german were really poor due to its worthless currency and value of money. As shown from the piture above shows a man paying a women for her services for sewing. The amount of notes laying up on the table is alot. This means that it takes up many notes to actually pay something cheap and that shows that a value for a note in german are quite low. From my contextual knowledge, the republic Weimar printed many notes and causes an inflation in german that caused the notes to value nothing.The purpose why the weimar government print more money was to pay the dept that the country has but the reason is that printing more money does not increase economic output in any way- it merely causes more inflation. Furthermore, this causes the price of goods to increase dramatically causing the germans to face more poverty. Hence, the source above shows that during the period of time, inflation was one of the economic problems that was caused by the weimar reublic causing the money to value nothing.
Inference: I can infer that the germans werefacing huge economic problems. From the source above, shows a banker arranging the notes. As seen from the source too shows that the amount of notes in the room is more than average which this shows what the weimar republic did after the war to pay off the depts.Little did they know, printing too much notes causes inflation, causing a piece of note to worth nothing. This means that the germans were having hard time to pay transactions because the value in a note is worthless. Furthermore, it cause the goods to cost much expensive and this often leads to people facing more poverty and decrease the economic status of the country.
