Also, by that time the Weimar Republic lacked basic living commodities and that all semblance of order had broken down. Haffner reports that on some days there was no electricity and others the trams would not work, however nobody knew if it was the work of the Spartacists or the Government. People also went as far to say that ‘The End of the World’ was coming or that ‘The Day of Reckoning’ was near. Society had devolved to such a level that even common sense had vanished, and Ebert and Scheidemann were bitterly abused in the streets by their own people, the people the Government were trying to rule. In the days that followed, demonstrations and acts of rebellion were not uncommon, and in fact, they were a daily sight. Only chaos seemed to rule. This crisis eventually did turnaround, with the murders of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht while they were trying to escape, by the Reich. This ended the Spartacist uprising and left many Communists dead.
1923 was one such year when the world seemed to have turned upside down; as it was in this year that the value of the Dollar fluctuated, and the value of the Mark decreased drastically and hyperinflation appeared. In mid-August 1923, the Government fell amid fierce fighting in the streets all over Germany as 100 million marks now equalled a Dollar. Many people blamed the Government for the loss of their life savings. It was during this time more rebellions and marches took place, and as the German Reich collapsed, many rumours appeared. Some said that the Rhineland had seceded, others that the French had marched in. In fact, they were not far off. A Rhenish Republic existed for a few days and in Saxony, there was a Communist Government for some weeks which the flailing Government tried to dispatch an army to remove it. Also, many extremist right and left political groups appeared, holding rifle training sessions in the woods around Berlin. Many so-called saviours sprang up, claiming that they had directly received a message from God to save the world. People were also going missing in their dozens, only for their skeletons to be dug up in some woods a few years later. However, incredibly, the Dollar stopped climbing and the Rentenmark was introduced, nobody now spoke about the weaknesses of Weimar or try to stage a coup, in fact, a broken society became remade and all the negative feeling of the months before evaporated. Weimar had survived, but worse still was yet to come.
Haffner also mentions that the reason Hitler came to power was predominantly because of the Great Depression from 1929-1933. Haffner says that it was during this time, on the 14th September 1930, that the Nazis became the second biggest political party in Parliament. However, Hitler seemed to be a bit of an embarrassment at the time because of his failed Munich Putsch, so the logical reason why he gained many votes was because of the era in which these elections took place and so the people were forced to vote for extreme parties, such as the NSDAP. Hitler also acquired a vast army of voters and followers in the ignorant and the dispossessed. This is because Hitler had something to promise everyone; the two most genuine being to revive the great war-game of 1914-1918 and a repetition of the anarchical looting that happened during the hyperinflation in 1923.
Haffner says later on that the Nazi Party was the only party which the majority of people could support. He described the weaknesses of every other party, saying that the Stahlhelm only really vaguely talked about ‘front-line experiences’ and ‘German soil’. These were not as vulgar as the Nazi’s but seemed to share some of their stupidity and general hatred of the current working order. There were also the Social Democrats who had been beaten before the election had been started, as they had been vilified, discredited and blamed for all the failings of Weimar for so long now. The SPD were no longer a political party that were capable of holding office in those times, let alone that nobody trusted them. There were also the Communists in which whatever they did, they always seemed to be beaten and the leaders shot ‘while attempting to escape’. That almost seemed to be like a law of nature so often it was true.
As I said before, Haffner has shown us through his book that German politics is never simple. This could be because that after the Great War of 1914-1918, the German youth during the early days of the Weimar Republic was ruined. They always seemed to be hungry for action and for a dictatorship. This is what eventually led to people like Hitler trying to gain power, legally or otherwise.
