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Weimar Germany

The Kennesaw State University Department of Museums, Archives and Rare Books (MARB) presents exhibitions, public programs, collections, and educational services supporting KSU’s mission and encouraging dialogue about the past and its significance today. The Museum of History and Holocaust Education, as a unit of MARB, has developed a series of online modules, including this one, for university students to explore pivotal moments from the history of World War II and the Holocaust.

This online unit focuses on Weimar Germany. The Weimar Republic lasted from 1918 to 1933. This unit looks at the origins of the republic, its government, culture, economy, and eventual decline when the Nazis rose to power.

Title Image: Photograph of the Reichsrat, ca. 1919. Courtesy Library of Congress

Image: Photograph of Museum of History and Holocaust Education lobby. Courtesy Museum of History and Holocaust Education

Essential Questions

Using what you learned from this online module, respond to these five essential questions. Write your responses to both these essential questions and the questions to consider. If required, submit your answers and research activity to your teacher.

1. In what ways did the Treaty of Versailles restrict the Weimar Republic? What were these reparations?

2. How was the government of the Weimar Republic organized?

3. What was the culture of the Weimar Republic like? What cultural movements are associated with the Weimar Republic?

4. What led to the decline of Weimar Germany’s economy? Why was there hyperinflation?

5. What led to Hitler’s rise in power and the end of the Weimar Republic?

Image: Photograph of a German nightclub, ca. 1932. Courtesy German Federal Archives via Wikimedia Commons

Photograph of Kaiser Wilhelm II [between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915]. Courtesy Library of Congress

The Founding of the Weimar Republic

With the end of World War I on the horizon, Germany was devastated from Allied blockades and four years of military conflict. A little over two million German soldiers and half a million German civilians died in the Great War. After the German military mutinied against him, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on November 9, 1918. After the end of the imperial Second Reich, the government was briefly run by the Social Democratic Party and its leader Friedrich Ebert. The Weimar Republic was established after a failed January 1919 German Communist uprising. The Weimar Republic is named after the central German town wherein the republic’s first constitutional assembly met. While the first elections of this new German democracy were held in early 1919, the republic’s constitution was not ratified till August 1919. Germany’s brightest minds drafted a constitution that would appease both sides of the political divide. Marking the end of World War I, representatives from the new Weimar Republic signed the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919.

Click the links below to learn more about the Versailles Treaty which ended WWI.

Questions to Consider

1. Why do you think Germany was not invited to the January 1919 peace conference at the Palace of Versailles?

2. Do you think the reparations placed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles were fair? Why or why not?

3. Why do you think Germany was banned from joining the League of Nations?

Click the link above to hear a sample of Frederich Ebert's speech during his swearing-in as President of the Weimar Republic on August 21, 1919

Friedrich Ebert was the first president of the Weimar Republic. He belonged to the Social Democratic Party of Germany. His speech before the National Assembly concerned themes of unity and the importance of upholding a democratic institution.

Image: Portrait of Friedrich Ebert, ca. 1918. Courtesy Library of Congress

Click the link below to examine a map of Germany in 1919

How is this 1919 map of Germany different to a 2020 map of Germany?

Photograph of the Reichstag building in Berlin [ca. 1917]. Courtesy Library of Congress.

The Government of the Weimar Republic

The Weimar Republic was a federal government governed by a President, Chancellor, and a bicameral legislature. Under the Weimar Republic, men and women twenty years old and older were legally allowed to vote. The President was elected by a majority vote to serve in office for seven years. While the President headed the military and called for new parliamentary elections, the Chancellor was in charge of the government on a daily basis. The two legislative houses were the Reichstag and Reichsrat. The legislature was elected by popular vote and legislative seats were divided proportionally. As a result, numerous political parties were represented in parliament. The Chancellor usually belonged to the political party that held the majority of seats in parliament.

Click the link below to learn more about the structure of the Weimar Republic

Questions to Consider

1. What are some similarities and differences between our United States government and the government of the Weimar Republic?

2. Do you agree with the Reichstag’s proportional representation? Why or why not?

3. What do you think about Article 48? Should the Chancellor have this power? Why or why not?

Top Image: Photograph of Marta Scheiner in Munich, ca. 1920s. Courtesy Erica Blatt Harkins via Wikimedia Commons. Bottom Image: Bauhaus school, ca. 2018. Courtesy Aufbacksalami via Wikimedia Commons

The Culture of the Weimar Republic

Though Germany continued to struggle financially, the Weimar Republic had its own ‘Roaring Twenties’ known as the ‘Golden Years’. The ‘Golden Years’ gave birth to the German Expressionist film movement and Bauhaus architectural movement. During this time, cities such as Berlin flourished culturally. Along with this cultural liberation, German women appreciated the voting rights that the Weimar Republic gave to them. The latest fashions and dance crazes from the United States saturated the nightlife of Germany’s urban cities. Though Germany had become modernist and liberal in many ways, the German film and radio industry allowed the spread of nationalist propaganda.

Click the link below to learn more about the Bauhaus movement

Questions to Consider

1) What do the values of the Bahaus movement tell you about German culture during the Weimar Republic?

2) Where do you see elements of the Bauhaus today?

Image: Photograph of two German citizens with bundles of Marks, ca. January 1924. Courtesy German Federal Archives via Wikimedia Commons

The Economy of the Weimar Republic

The Versailles Treaty of 1919 saddled the new Weimar Republic with immense debt to the Allied Powers. In addition to reparations payments, Germany had to repay its war debt and attempt to resurrect its economy. Resurrection was difficult in light of the fact that mineral-rich and fertile land, once part of Germany, now belonged to the Allied Powers. Hyperinflation resulted after the Weimar government printed so much currency to pay off its debts that the value of the German Mark plummeted. The unemployment rate rose, while production sank. Despite the Weimar Republic’s attempts to successfully pay off its war debt and improve the economy, the Great Depression put even more pressure on Germany. For instance, the former Allied Powers, now suffering economically, pressed the Weimar Republic to satisfy its debt.

Photograph of a 500 Million German Mark [1923]. Courtesy Niki K via Wikimedia Commons.

Click the link below to learn more about Hyperinflation in Venezuela

Questions to Consider

1. What are some similarities and differences between the economy in 1920s Germany and present-day Venezuela?

Image: 1933 Nazi rally. Courtesy German Federal Archives via Wikimedia Commons

The End of the Weimar Republic

A combination of a global depression, the rise of political extremism, and general dissatisfaction led to the end of the Weimar Republic in 1933. Germany, still in debt to the Allied Powers, struggled to both repay its war debts and fund necessary government welfare programs. As public discontent grew, so did nationalist and extremist political parties. Using proportional representation to his advantage, Adolf Hitler recruited nationalist groups into his Nazi Party in order to gain a majority number of seats in the Reichstag. As a result of his popularity with discontented German conservatives, Hitler replaced Schleicher and became Chancellor in 1933. After the Reichstag building burned down on February 27, 1933, Hitler and the Nazi party convinced President Paul von Hinderburg that emergency legislation was needed to stop the supposed Communists that set the fire. The Reichstag Fire Decree and the Enabling Act abolished constitutional rights and allowed Hitler to enact legislation without the approval of Germany’s parliament. Democracy in Germany ended once Hitler utilized the emergency clauses of Article 48 in 1933 in order to take absolute control over the country.

Click the link below to learn more about the end of the Weimar Republic

Questions to Consider

1. Were Germans right in feeling unsatisfied with the way things were? What were their primary frustrations?

2. Why did proportional representation fail?

Image: 1933 Nazi rally. Courtesy German Federal Archives via Wikimedia Commons

Research Activity

Think about the different modules we have learned about in regard to the Weimar Republic. Draft an infographic pertaining either to the Weimar Republic’s establishment, government, culture, economy, or fall. How can you synthesize what you learned in words and pictures?

Infographic: a collection of imagery, charts, and minimal text that gives an easy-to-understand overview of a topic

(Definition courtesy of Venngage)

Click the link below to below to learn more about infographics

Design your infographic on paper or through Canva

Thank you for participating in our online unit, "Weimar Germany." If you would like to learn more about the many resources the Department of Museums, Archives, and Rare Books at Kennesaw State University offers, please follow the link below:

This digital lesson was curated and designed by Celia Clark from Florida State University in collaboration with staff from the Museum of History and Holocaust Education at Kennesaw State University.