Editing Nazi Germany (section)

== Background ==
{{Further|Adolf Hitler's rise to power}}
Severe setbacks to the German economy began after [[World War I]] ended, partly because of [[World War I reparations|reparations payments]] required under the 1919 [[Treaty of Versailles]]. The government printed money to make the payments and to repay the country's war debt, but the resulting hyperinflation led to inflated prices, economic chaos, and food riots.{{sfn|Evans|2003|pp=103–108}} When the government defaulted on their reparations payments in January 1923, French troops [[Occupation of the Ruhr|occupied German industrial areas]] along the [[Ruhr]] and widespread civil unrest followed.{{sfn|Evans|2003|pp=186–187}}

The [[Nazi Party|National Socialist German Workers' Party]], commonly known as the Nazi Party, was founded in 1920.{{sfn|Evans|2003|pp=170–171}} The [[National Socialist Program|Nazi party platform]] included destruction of the Weimar Republic, rejection of the Treaty of Versailles, radical [[antisemitism]], and anti-[[Bolshevism]].{{sfn|Goldhagen|1996|p=85}} They promised a strong central government, increased ''[[Lebensraum]]'' ("living space") for Germanic peoples, formation of a national community based on race, and racial cleansing via the active suppression of [[Jews]], who would be stripped of their citizenship and civil rights.{{sfn|Evans|2003|pp=179–180}} The Nazis proposed national and cultural renewal based upon the [[Völkisch movement|''Völkisch'' movement]].{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=81}} The party, especially its paramilitary organisation ''[[Sturmabteilung]]'' (SA; Storm Detachment), or Brownshirts, used physical violence to advance their political position, disrupting the meetings of rival organisations and attacking their members as well as Jewish people on the streets.{{sfn|Evans|2003|pp=180–181}} Such far-right armed groups were common in [[Bavaria]], and were tolerated by the sympathetic far-right state government of [[Gustav Ritter von Kahr]].{{sfn|Evans|2003|pp=181, 189}}

When the stock market in the United States [[Wall Street crash of 1929|crashed in 1929]], the effect in Germany was dire.{{sfn|Childers|2017|p=103}} Millions were thrown out of work and several major banks collapsed. Hitler and the Nazis prepared to take advantage of the emergency to gain support for their party. They promised to strengthen the economy and provide jobs.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|pp=136–137}} Many voters decided the Nazi Party was capable of restoring order, quelling civil unrest, and improving Germany's international reputation. After the [[German federal election, July 1932|federal election of 1932]], the party was the largest in the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]], holding 230 seats with 37.4 per cent of the popular vote.{{sfn|Goldhagen|1996|p=87}}