It could also be argued that the Beerhall Putsch was a last minute plan since the hall was “thrown into the wildest commotion!” and “two shots had to be fired into the ceiling “ to calm people down. We can also see that the Bavarian government had little or no respect for Hitler since he had to “elbow his way through the crowd ”and he had to “jump up on a table and fire two shots into the air ”just to make people listen to him.
QUESTION TWO a)
Source A ( written ) and source B (painting ) give very different impressions due to the fact that in source B there is only one steel helmeted man present , Hitler’s revolver is missing from the picture as well . The painting also shows the Bavarians mesmorised by Hitler ‘s words.. It seems as if the Bavarian government are listening out of interest rather than through fear. Source B is also a reconstruction which was painted 14 years later (when Hitler had great power) by an official Nazi Party artist. It is likely that the artist may not have even been at the Bugerbraukeller. This is obvious propaganda .The main difference is that source A is writing about the events in “commotion” and source B is portraying the same events as calm.
QUESTION TWO b)
The differences between the two sources are that source A is a statement that is accurate, but can be considered biased since it was written by a Nazi Party member. Source B is a biased and obvious propaganda. The painting depicts Hitler as a respected leader, even when unknown.
QUESTION THREE
It could be argued that source D is more useful than source C in helping to understand the events in Munich on 8th November 1923 because Source D explains why the Bugerbraukeller ( Beerhall Putsch ) happened.
Hitler’s speech ( source D) says how “The government of the November criminals (Politicians who signed the Treaty of Versailles) and the Reich President are declared removed ” Hitler also says “ The National Revolution has begun” The rest of his speech says how Hitler and the Nazis shall form a “provisional government “ with the Bavarian government because the Party did well in Bavaria.
He also states how troops “ are marching on Munich under the swastika “ (Nazi symbol) This means that Hitler and the Nazi Party believed that the Weimar Republic (government in power) were not dealing with the problems facing Germany at this time, such as depression, mass unemployment, and hyper inflation. America had given Germany two loans (Dawes and Young plan) to help their economy, but later when the Wall Street crash happened America demanded the money back from Germany. Which Germany could not afford to repay.
This speech was probably propaganda and may have been released to the public purely to state Hitler’s future aims for Germany and his “vow”.
Even though everybody was taken in by Hitler’s powerful speeches some Nazis still managed to steal “148 sets of cutlery” This may also be propaganda (source C) that was released by Nazi enemies such as the Communist to damage the image of the Nazis.
QUESTION FOUR
Sources F G and H (all written) agree and disagree about the events in Munich on 8th and 9th November 1923. All sources agree that Hitler fell to the floor and fled the Putsch but the reasons why are very different. Source F was published in 1934 by the Nazi Party from “A biography of Hitler” This says how the large mob marching on Munich followed Hitler’s orders whilst they were heading towards the armed police. After dislocating his arm Hitler saves a “ dying boy” and takes the boy to the “safety” of his car. This is bias propaganda, showing Hitler in a positive light. Source G was written by a member of the German S.D.P. It was published outside of Germany in 1936. This source states even though “Hitler was 2000 men strong ” that Hitler “jumped to the floor at the first shot and ran to his car with just a sprained arm”. This may also be propaganda. Hitler is seen as a coward and would back off at the First sign of trouble. However source H written by a British historian seems the least bias and impartial. This source states that: “to what extent Hitler behaved in a cowardly manner is much disputed ” It is likely that this source is the most reliable. We know this by careful use of vocabulary.
QUESTION FIVE
From sources I (photo) and J (written) we can see that the image given of Hitler and the Nazi Party is that of a “German” hero. We can see this in source I where Hitler has just arrived for his trial. It shows Hitler with General Ludendolf (a world war one national hero). The photo shows Hitler and Ludendolf together as if they were friends. This is untrue. Ludendolf only supported Hitler because he hated the Communists more than the Nazis. There are no handcuffs on Hitler and he looks confident as if he knows exactly what will happen. This trial is an excellent publicity stunt, and a good public relations exercise. Source I is propaganda. Source J is a statement taken from Hitler’s trial. It is an official court record of the Putsch. Hitler states how this legal “court of law” is not his “judge” but “the eternal pages of German history will judge him” This speech is very patriotic. He is seen as a nationalist.
QUESTION SIX
“The events in Munich on the 8-9 th November 1923 greatly increased the influence of Hitler and the Nazi Party”
It could be argued that the statement above is correct because the Putsch brought Hitler into the political eye of Germany, as a man fighting for a new and great Germany. When Hitler was rising to power the Weimar government mainly consisted of men that were connected to the army, such as General Ludendoff (The General of the first world war and a national hero). These people looked down on Hitler because they saw him as a ‘nobody’ from the lower classes. . This is shown at the Beerhall Putsch (Burgerbraukeller ) since Hitler had to “elbow his way through the crowd” and jump onto a table and “fire two shots into the ceiling” to gain the attention of the Bavarian government. After the Beerhall Putsch many Germans saw Hitler was trying to do something about the state of Germany and the ineffectiveness of the Weimar government. Whilst Hitler was serving “ nine months” of his seven year prison sentence for his Putsch in Landscape prison, he wrote a book called “Mein Kampf” which means “ My Struggle”. After the Putsch many people saw Hitler as a leader that Germany needed . This is evident in source E. He had a reason for everything that went wrong and a plan to fix it. This is evident in source D and J .Hitler also spoke how God had chosen him to lead Germany. This helped him achieve votes. However the Putsch may have harmed the Nazis for a short time because people may have seen the Nazis as thugs .One believes it helped the Nazis because they would get a lot of publicity in the papers Hitler’s time in prison also gave him the time to reorganize his campaign ideas as in source K “pursue another ……..”.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Germany a study in depth”. S.H.P.
By Larcey and Shephard.
Teachers Resource notes.