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1919 Germany adopts a constitution and becomes the Weimer Republic. 

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1919 Germany adopts a constitution and becomes the Weimer Republic. 

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After the Kaiser abdicated, different political parties met and formed the Weimer Republic. The constitution outlined how the country would function.

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To attempt to prevent an economic depression, Germany began printing their own money. In doing so, it created hyperinflation, which only made the economic depression worse. By 1923, one American dollar was the same value as 4.2 TRILLION German marks.

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Nick Goodell, Registration Student

5 minute read

In the early 1920s, Germany was in a period of hyperinflation. Bank notes, such the ones shown here from the Spurlock Museum's collection, were printed at fever pitch by the government in an effort to keep up with a currency that was spiraling down in value.

The 20,000,000, 50,000,000, 1,000,000,000, and 5,000,000,000 mark bills were some of the notes that a working-class person would have carried in order to purchase basic goods like bread, meat, and coal to heat their homes-the prices of all of which were soaring. In retrospect, the chaotic hyperinflationary period was the natural result of years of war, revolution, debt, and instability.

Germany was in crisis in the years following the end of World War I. In the November Revolution of 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II's monarchy was toppled after masses of sailors, soldiers, and workers took control of Germany's cities, furious at their material conditions and demanding an end to the war. As millions of German soldiers streamed home from the Western Front, they joined the growing pool of the nation's unemployed, some turning into armed forces for the revolutionaries of the far left, some backing the new liberal government, and some others joining the counter revolutionaries who wished to see the monarchy restored. By February of 1919, at least 1.1 million Germans were unemployed, a number that would continue to rise. The next few years saw waves of revolutionary and counter-revolutionary violence on the streets of most of the cities of Germany. The liberal coalition government desperately attempted to maintain its versions of peace, stability, and order against contrasting visions for the country offered by far-left communists and counter revolutionaries of the far right.

Coupled with these internal crises, the new republic (commonly referred to as the Weimar Republic) was saddled in May of 1919 through the Treaty of Versailles with unprecedented amounts of war debt. Reparations equivalent to half a trillion contemporary US dollars were to be repaid to the victorious Allies. The goods produced in factories, livestock, and raw resources such as coal, iron, grain, and lumber began to be expropriated from Germany as repayment. Throughout this loss of physical and financial resources, the Weimar government continuously printed banknotes with little to back them. This process began to devalue the German currency.

The German economy began to buckle under the weight of these external and internal pressures. As the first repayments were made to the Allies in the early 1920s, the value of the German mark sank drastically, and a period of hyperinflation began. In early 1922, 160 German marks was equivalent to one US dollar. By November of 1923, the currency would depreciate to 4,200,000,000,000 marks to one US dollar.

The hyperinflation made day-to-day survival arduous for ordinary Germans, most of whom were members of the working classes employed in factories. The exponential price rise made it difficult to obtain even basic goods like bread, meat, and coal to heat homes. Pay received one day was often worthless the next. There are numerous accounts of Germans rushing to the bakery or to the store during their lunch breaks, because to wait to the end of the day would see their money depreciate so much that it could not buy the goods they needed. Banknotes that were once very valuable became worth only fractions of a Pfennig (penny), to the point that some began using them as wall paper or even as toilet paper. As the communist novelist Hans Marchwitza wrote in his novel about the revolutionary violence and inflationary period, Sturm auf Essen: "A hated, cursed war was followed by a hated, cursed post-war."

The period of hyperinflation continued until 1924, when the coalition government of the conservative foreign minister Gustav Streseman introduced a new temporary currency (the Rentenmark), renegotiated debt repayments to the Allies through the Dawes Plan, and secured new American loans to finance government institutions.

The revolutionary years and the hyperinflation are today remembered as one of the most tumultuous periods in modern German history and still impact German fiscal policy. This economic instability is also remembered as being coupled with other types of turmoil: the right-wing myth that the liberal revolutionary government "stabbed in the back" the army by calling it home while it was supposedly undefeated in November of 1918; constant street violence between counter revolutionaries, communists, and government security forces; and the onset of the Great Depression in 1929. These factors delegitimized the Weimar Republic and liberal-bourgeois democracy in the eyes of some Germans. They empowered the forces of the far-right, including the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NASDP), more commonly known as the Nazi Party, which would win the 1933 elections.

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1920s Hyperinflation in Germany and Bank Notes

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Nick Goodell, Registration Student 5 minute read In the early 1920s, Germany was in a period of hyperinflation. Bank notes, such the ones shown here from the Spurlock Museum's collection, were printed at fever pitch by the government in an effort to keep up with a currency that was spiraling down in value.

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As Anti-Semitism began to increase, a young Adolf Hitler led a group called the Nazi Party to overthrow the Weimar Republic. Their attempt to overthrow the government was unsuccessful, and led to Hitler's time in prison.

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From November 8 to November 9, 1923, Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and his followers staged the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, a failed takeover of the government in Bavaria, a state in southern Germany. Since 1921, Hitler had led the Nazi Party, a fledgling political group that promoted German pride and anti-Semitism and was unhappy with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the peace settlement that ended World War I (1914-18) and required many concessions and reparations from Germany. In the aftermath of the failed "putsch," or coup d'état, Hitler was convicted of treason and sentenced to five years in prison. He spent less than a year behind bars, during which time he dictated "Mein Kampf," his political autobiography. The putsch and Hitler's subsequent trial turned him into a national figure. After prison, he worked to rebuild the Nazi Party and gain power via legal political methods.

Before the Beer Hall Putsch

In 1923, Adolf Hitler was 34, an age when most people have finished school and settled into an occupation. He was a high-school dropout, however, and a failed artist whose military service during World War I (1914-18) had been the high point of his life. Injured by a British mustard gas attack in October 1918, Hitler was recuperating in a field hospital when the war ended in November 1918. He became convinced that his life's mission was to "save Germany," as he later put it.

Frustrated by Germany's defeat in World War I, which left the nation economically depressed and politically unstable, Hitler returned to Munich, where he had lived before the war, and found employment as a police spy. Told to infiltrate a small group called the German Workers' Party, Hitler was attracted to the group's nationalistic and anti-Semitic ideology. He joined the party in 1919 and soon became one of its early leaders. He also met Dietrich Eckart (1868-1923), co-founder of the party and a member of the Thule Society, an occultist group devoted to theories of racial purity and the origins of Germanic culture. Eckart became Hitler's mentor, introducing him to influential people and teaching him to be an effective public speaker. By 1921, Hitler was addressing crowds of several thousand people in local beer halls, which were common places for Bavarians to gather for political meetings. The German Workers' Party changed its name to the National German Socialist Workers' Party, or Nazi Party, and elected Hitler as its leader in July 1921.

In the two years that followed, the Nazi Party grew as people in southern Germany lost respect for the leadership of the Weimar Republic in Berlin. Germany's payment of reparations to the Allies, required by the Treaty of Versailles, the 1919 peace settlement that ended World War I, had triggered runaway inflation that wiped out people's savings. Additionally, starting in January 1923, French and Belgian forces occupied the Ruhr, the center of German heavy industry, an act that contributed to a sense of national humiliation.

The Putsch

By November 1923, Hitler and his associates had concocted a plot to seize power of the Bavarian state government (and thereby launch a larger revolution against the Weimar Republic) by kidnapping Gustav von Kahr (1862-1934), the state commissioner of Bavaria, and two other conservative politicians. Hitler's plan involved using Erich Ludendorff (1865-1937), the right-wing World War I general, as a figurehead to lead a march on Berlin to overthrow the Weimar Republic. Hitler's proposed putsch was inspired by the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), whose march on Rome in October 1922 had been successful in ousting the liberal Italian government.

Hitler had initially approached von Kahr to lead the march on Berlin, but when von Kahr began to back away from the plan, Hitler moved ahead without him. Hearing that von Kahr was scheduled to address a large crowd in the Bürgerbräukeller, one of the biggest beer halls in Munich, on November 8, 1923, Hitler took hundreds of his followers and surrounded the hall that evening. The Nazi Party leader and about 20 of his associates burst into the hall, and Hitler fired a shot into the ceiling and declared a "national revolution." Von Kahr and two colleagues were herded into a back room while one of Hitler's associates telephoned Ludendorff. When the general arrived at the hall, he convinced the three Bavarian leaders to give in to Hitler's demands for the march on Berlin.

Hitler made the mistake of leaving the beer hall later that night to deal with crises elsewhere in the city. His followers were supposed to take over government buildings throughout Munich but their attempts were largely foiled by the city's military troops. Meanwhile, Ludendorff had allowed von Kahr and the other two leaders to leave the beer hall after Hitler's departure. By the next morning, the putsch had fizzled.

Ludendorff attempted to salvage the situation by calling on Hitler's followers for a spontaneous march on the city center. He led about 2,500-3,000 supporters in the direction of the Bavarian Defense Ministry. On their way, the marchers were blocked by a group of state police officers. The two groups exchanged fire, and four police officers were killed along with 16 Nazis. Hitler suffered a dislocated shoulder when he fell to the ground. He crawled along the pavement and was taken away in a waiting car, leaving his comrades behind. Ludendorff walked straight ahead into the ranks of the police, who refused to fire on him.

Hitler's Trial and Imprisonment

Hitler fled to the nearby house of a friend, Ernst Hanfstaengl (1887-1975), where he was reportedly talked out of committing suicide. He hid in Hanfstaengl's attic for two days but was arrested on November 11, 1923. Accused of high treason, Hitler was tried on February 26, 1924, and sentenced to five years in the Landsberg prison. Hitler's popularity increased during his trial, as his defense speeches were printed in the newspapers. He served less than a year of his sentence, obtaining a pardon and early release on December 20, 1924.

Landsberg was a relatively comfortable prison, intended for inmates who were considered misguided rather than dangerous. Hitler was allowed to receive visitors as well as fan mail from admirers. Assisted by his deputy Rudolf Hess (1894-1987), Hitler produced the first volume of his political autobiography, "Mein Kampf" ("My Struggle"), in Landsberg. The book, first published in 1925, was dedicated to his early mentor Dietrich Eckart.

Aftermath

The Beer Hall Putsch had several significant consequences. First, it led to a split between Hitler and Ludendorff; the general considered Hitler a coward for sneaking away after the police had begun to fire. Second, Hitler decided that armed revolution was not the way to obtain power in Weimar Germany. After the failure of the putsch, he and the Nazi Party worked to manipulate the political system rather than plan another violent seizure of power.

Third, the putsch brought the Nazi Party to national attention in Germany. The deaths of the 16 party members were also a propaganda victory for the Nazis. The men became martyrs, remembered in the foreword to "Mein Kampf" and entombed in two "temples of honor" in downtown Munich. Hitler held an elaborate march every year on the anniversary of the putsch, retracing the route from the Bürgerbräukeller to the spot where the shots had been fired in 1923. A flag that had been stained with blood from the putsch became a symbol of Nazi ideology. Hitler used this so-called "Blutfahne," or blood flag, to consecrate all new Nazi banners and flags.

In 1933, a decade after the Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler became chancellor of Germany. He went on to lead his country into World War II (1939-45) and mastermind the Holocaust, the systematic, state-sponsored murder of some 6 million European Jews, along with an estimated 4 million to 6 million non-Jews.

On November 8, 1939, Georg Elser (1903-45), a Nazi opponent, planted a bomb at the Bürgerbräukeller, where Adolf Hitler was delivering a speech commemorating the Beer Hall Putsch. However, Hitler left the beer hall shortly before the bomb detonated, killing seven people and injuring dozens more.

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From November 8 to November 9, 1923, Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and his followers staged the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, a failed takeover of the government in Bavaria, a state in southern Germany.

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Created by the U.S. this plan allows for Germany's loan payments to be decreased. The U.S. begins to lend money to Germany so they can pay England and France.

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With the Nazi Party gaining notoriety, Hitler's Nuremberg rallies became the party's core. The rallies would begin with speeches about the economy and rebuilding a stronger Germany, but would end with passionate hate towards the Jewish population, as Hitler would continuously blame and demonize Jews because of Germany surrendering at the end of World War I.

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Nürnberg Rally: Nürnberg Rally, any of the massive Nazi Party rallies held in 1923, 1927, and 1929 and annually from 1933 through 1938 in Nürnberg (Nuremberg) in Bavaria. The rallies were primarily propaganda events, carefully staged to reinforce party enthusiasm and to showcase the power of National Socialism to

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With the stock market crash in 1929, the world was launched in to a great depression. Germany suffered more than any other country because the United States recalled all of the loans they had with Germany, meaning that Germany had to pay back everything they owed the United States in full. Unemployment skyrocketed, poverty spread, and Germans became desperate.

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1933 Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany 

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1933 Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany 

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Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi party is appointed Chancellor of Germany by then president  Paul von Hindenburg. The Nazi party had gained party popularity and in order to prevent upset, the president appointed Hitler as Chancellor.

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As Hitler gained ultimate control of Germany, he grew concerned about giving up his power. He decided to use the SS (the branch of law enforcement created under his control) to arrest and kill dozens of his political opposites. The overnight massacre was known as the Night of the Long Knives, a phrase from a common Nazi Propaganda song.

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By 1934, Adolf Hitler appeared to have complete control over Germany but, like most dictators, he constantly feared that he might be ousted by others who wanted his power. To protect himself from a possible coup, Hitler used the tactic of "divide and rule" and encouraged other leaders, including Hermann Goering, Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, and Ernst Röhm, to compete with each other for senior positions.

One of the consequences of this policy was that these men developed a dislike for each other. Röhm was particularly hated because as leader of the Sturm Abteilung (SA) he had tremendous power and had the potential to remove any one of his competitors. Goering and Himmler asked Reinhard Heydrich to assemble a dossier on Röhm. Heydrich, who also feared him, manufactured evidence that suggested that Röhm had been paid 12 million marks by the French to overthrow Hitler.

Hitler liked Ernst Röhm and initially refused to believe the dossier provided by Heydrich. Röhm had been one of his first supporters and, without his ability to obtain army funds in the early days of the movement, it is unlikely that the Nazis would have ever become established. The SA under Roehm's leadership had also played a vital role in destroying the opposition during the elections of 1932 and 1933.

However, Hitler had his own reasons for wanting Röhm removed. Powerful supporters of Hitler had been complaining about Röhm for some time while his generals were afraid that the SA, a force of over 3 million men, could absorb the much smaller German Army into its ranks thus making Röhm would become their overall leader.

Industrialists such as Albert Voegler, Gustav Krupp, Alfried Krupp, Fritz Thyssen, and Emile Kirdorf, who had provided the funds for the Nazi victory, were unhappy with Roehm's socialistic views on the economy and his claims that the real revolution had still to take place. Many people in the party also disapproved of the fact that Röhm and many other leaders of the SA were homosexuals.

Adolf Hitler was also aware that Röhm and the SA had the power to remove him. Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler played on this fear by constantly feeding him with new information on Roehm's proposed coup. Their masterstroke was to claim that Gregor Strasser, whom Hitler hated, was part of the planned conspiracy against him. With this news Hitler ordered all the SA leaders to attend a meeting in the Hanselbauer Hotel in Wiesse.

Meanwhile Goering and Himmler were drawing up a list of people outside the SA that they wanted killed. The list included Strasser, Kurt von Schleicher, Hitler's predecessor as chancellor, and Gustav von Kahr, who crushed the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923.

On June 29, 1934, Hitler, accompanied by the Schutzstaffel (SS), arrived at Wiesse, where he personally arrested Ernst Röhm. During the next 24 hours, 200 other senior SA officers were arrested on the way to Wiesse. Many were shot as soon as they were captured, but Hitler decided to pardon Röhm because of his past services to the movement. However, after much pressure from Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler, Hitler agreed that Röhm should die. At first Hitler insisted that Röhm should be allowed to commit suicide but, when he refused, Röhm was shot by two SS men.

Röhm was replaced by Victor Lutze as head of the SA. Lutze was a weak man and the SA gradually lost its power in Hitler's Germany. The Schutzstaffel (SS) under the leadership of Himmler grew rapidly during the next few years, replacing the SA as the dominant force in Germany.

The purge of the SA was kept secret until it was announced by Adolf Hitler on July 13. It was during this speech that Hitler gave the purge its name: Night of the Long Knives (a phrase from a popular Nazi song). Hitler claimed that 61 had been executed while 13 had been shot resisting arrest and three had committed suicide. Others have argued that as many as 400 people were killed during the purge. In his speech, Hitler explained why he had not relied on the courts to deal with the conspirators: "In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German people, and thereby I become the supreme judge of the German people. I gave the order to shoot the ringleaders in this treason."

The Night of the Long Knives was a turning point in the history of Hitler's Germany. Hitler had made it clear that he was the supreme ruler of Germany who had the right to be judge and jury, and had the power to decide whether people lived or died.

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By 1934, Adolf Hitler appeared to have complete control over Germany but, like most dictators, he constantly feared that he might be ousted by others who wanted his power. To protect himself from a possible coup, Hitler used the tactic of "divide and rule" and encouraged other leaders, including Hermann Goering, Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, and Ernst Röhm, to compete with each other for senior positions.

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To promote the rise of Nazi Germany, Berlin hosted the Summer Olympics as an introduction to the world of Hitler's new Germany. While the Olympics were under way, African American sprinter and pioneer Jesse Owens won the 100 Meter dash, which prompted Hitler's refusal to shake his hand.

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Jesse Owens

The Berlin Games are best remembered for Adolf Hitler's failed attempt to use them to prove his theories of Aryan racial superiority. As it turned out, the most popular hero of the Games was the African-American sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and long jump.

Television Coverage

The 1936 Games were the first to be broadcast on television. Twenty-five television viewing rooms were set up in the Greater Berlin area, allowing the locals to follow the Games free of charge.

Young Olympians

Thirteen-year-old Marjorie Gestring of the U.S. won the gold medal in springboard diving. She remains the youngest female gold medallist in the history of the Summer Olympic Games. Twelve-year-old Inge Sorensen of Denmark earned a bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke, making her the youngest medallist ever in an individual event.

Debuts and Firsts

Basketball, canoeing and field handball all made their first appearances.

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Berlin 1936 Summer Olympics - Athletes, Medals & Results

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Relive the moments that went down in history at the 1936 summer Olympics in Berlin. Access official videos, results, galleries, sport and athletes.

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On September 1, 1939, the German Army officially invades their Polish neighbors to essentially kick off the Second World War. Since several countries, including Great Britain and France, were hesitant to start another war, Germany basically had full power to take quick control of much of Central and Eastern Europe.

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On September 1, 1939, German forces under the control of Adolf Hitler bombard Poland on land and from the air. World War II had begun.

Why did Germany invade Poland?

Germany invaded Poland to regain lost territory and ultimately rule their neighbor to the east. The German invasion of Poland was a primer on how Hitler intended to wage war-what would become the " blitzkrieg " strategy.

Germany's blitzkrieg approach was characterized by extensive bombing early on to destroy the enemy's air capacity, railroads, communication lines and munitions dumps, followed by a massive land invasion with overwhelming numbers of troops, tanks and artillery. After the German forces had plowed their way through, devastating a swath of territory, infantry moved in, picking off any remaining resistance.

Once Hitler had a base of operations within the target country, he immediately began setting up "security" forces to annihilate all enemies of his Nazi ideology, whether racial, religious or political. Concentration camps for slave laborers and the extermination of civilians went hand-in-hand with German rule of a conquered nation. For example, within one day of the German invasion of Poland, Hitler was already setting up SS "Death's Head" regiments to terrorize the populace.

Polish resistance falters

The Polish army made several severe strategic miscalculations early on. Although 1 million strong, the Polish forces were severely under-equipped and attempted to take the Germans head-on, rather than falling back to more natural defensive positions.

The outmoded thinking of the Polish commanders coupled with the antiquated state of its military were simply no match for the overwhelming and modern-mechanized German forces. And, of course, any hope the Poles might have had of a Soviet counter-response was dashed with the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Nonaggression Pact.

Great Britain would respond with bombing raids over Germany three days later.

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On September 1, 1939, German forces under the control of Adolf Hitler bombard Poland on land and from the air. World War II had begun. Germany invaded Poland to regain lost territory and ultimately rule their neighbor to the east.