Editing Weimar Republic (section)

=== Renewed crisis and decline (1930–1933) ===

====Onset of the Great Depression====
[[File:BSPDRWeltkriseEngl.PNG|thumb|Gross national product (inflation adjusted) and price index in Germany, 1926–1936. The period between 1930 and 1932 is marked by severe deflation and recession.]]
[[File:Arbeitslosenquote 1928 bis 1935.png|thumb|Unemployment rate in Germany between 1928 and 1935. During Brüning's policy of deflation (marked in purple), the unemployment rate soared from 15.7% in 1930 to 30.8% in 1932.]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-Z0127-305, Berlin 1927, Reichstreffen RFB, Thälmann, Leow.jpg|thumb|[[Communist Party of Germany|Communist Party]] (KPD) leader [[Ernst Thälmann]] (person in foreground with raised clenched fist) and members of the ''[[Roter Frontkämpferbund]]'' (RFB) marching through {{nowrap|Berlin-Wedding}}, 1927]]
In 1929, the onset of the [[Great Depression]] produced a severe economic shock in Germany which was made worse by the [[European banking crisis of 1931]]. Germany's fragile economy had been sustained by the granting of loans through the [[Dawes Plan]] (1924) and the [[Young Plan]] (1929).<ref name="Llewellyn-2019" /> When American banks withdrew their line of credit to German companies, the rapid rise in unemployment could not be checked by conventional economic measures.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Llewellyn |first1=Jennifer |last2=Thompson |first2=Steve |date=9 October 2019 |title=The Great Depression in Germany |url=https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/great-depression/ |access-date=15 June 2023 |website=Alpha History}}</ref> Unemployment thereafter grew dramatically, to 4 million in 1930,<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://spartacus-educational.com/GERunemployment.htm |title=Unemployment in Nazi Germany |work=Spartacus Educational |access-date=1 March 2017 |language=en |archive-date=1 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170501065510/http://spartacus-educational.com/GERunemployment.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> and in the [[1930 German federal election|Reichstag election of September 1930]], the [[Nazi Party|National Socialist German Workers' Party]] (NSDAP, Nazi Party), until then a minor far-right party, increased its share of the votes to 19%, becoming Germany's second largest party, while the [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD) gained 23 seats.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reichstagswahl 1930 |trans-title=Reichstag Election 1930 |url=https://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Deutschland/RT5.html |access-date=8 July 2024 |website=gonschior.de |language=de}}</ref> The shift to the political extremes made the unstable coalition system by which every Weimar chancellor had governed increasingly unworkable. The last years of the Weimar Republic were marred by even more systemic political instability than previous years, and political violence increased. Four chancellors ([[Heinrich Brüning]], [[Franz von Papen]], [[Kurt von Schleicher]] and, from 30 January to 23 March 1933, [[Adolf Hitler]]) governed through [[Presidential cabinets of the Weimar Republic|presidential decree]] rather than parliamentary consultation.<ref name="Llewellyn-2019" /> It effectively rendered parliament powerless as a means of enforcing constitutional [[checks and balances]].

====Brüning and the first presidential cabinet (1930–1932)====
{{Further|First Brüning cabinet|Second Brüning cabinet}}
On 29 March 1930, at the instigation of General [[Kurt von Schleicher]], President [[Paul von Hindenburg]] appointed finance expert [[Heinrich Brüning]] as successor to [[Hermann Müller (politician, born 1876)|Hermann Müller]] (SPD),<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 June 2024 |title=The end of the Weimar Republic |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Weimar-Republic/The-end-of-the-Weimar-Republic#ref1257412 |access-date=8 July 2024 |website=Britannica online}}</ref> whose five-party coalition had broken down on 27 March over how to finance the increased costs of unemployment compensation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vogt |first=Martin |date=1997 |title=Müller (-Franken), Hermann |url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd118584979.html#ndbcontent |access-date=8 July 2024 |website=Neue Deutsche Biographie 18 (1997), [Online-Version] |pages=410–414}}</ref> The new government was expected to lead a political shift towards conservatism.

As Brüning had no majority support in the Reichstag, he became, through the use of [[Article 48 (Weimar Constitution)|the emergency powers granted to the Reich president by Article 48]] of the [[Weimar Constitution|constitution]], the first Weimar chancellor to operate independently of parliament.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Adam |first=Thomas |title=Germany and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2005   |isbn=978-1-851-09633-6 |location=New York |page=185}}</ref> After a bill to reform Germany's finances was opposed by the Reichstag, it was made into an emergency decree by Hindenburg. On 18 July, as a result of opposition from the SPD, [[Communist Party of Germany|KPD]], [[German National People's Party|DNVP]] and the small contingent of NSDAP members, the Reichstag again rejected the bill by a slim margin. Immediately afterward, Brüning submitted a decree from the President to dissolve the Reichstag.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morsey |first=Rudolf |date=26 October 2010 |title=Heinrich Brüning |url=https://www.lwl.org/westfaelische-geschichte/portal/Internet/finde/langDatensatz.php?urlID=1585&url_tabelle=tab_person |access-date=15 June 2023 |website=Internet-Portal Westfälische Geschichte |language=de}}</ref> The consequent [[1930 German federal election|general election on 14 September]] resulted in an enormous political shift within the Reichstag: 18.3% of the vote went to the NSDAP, five times the percentage it had won in 1928.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reichstagswahl 1930 |trans-title=Reichstag Election 1930 |url=http://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Deutschland/RT5.html |access-date=15 June 2023 |website=gonschior.de |language=de}}</ref> As a result, it was no longer possible, even with a [[grand coalition]], to form a pro-republican majority that excluded the KPD, DNVP and NSDAP. The situation led an increase in the number of public demonstrations and instances of paramilitary violence organized by the NSDAP.

Between 1930 and 1932, Brüning enacted a policy of austerity including drastic cuts in state expenditures, tax increases, mandated wage reductions in both the public and private sectors, and credit restrictions.<ref name=":0" /> Among other measures, he completely halted all obligatory public payments to the unemployment insurance program introduced in 1927, resulting in higher contributions from the workers and fewer benefits for the unemployed. Benefits for the sick, invalids and pensioners were also sharply reduced.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wisch |first1=Fritz-Helmut |title=Europäische Probleme und Sozialpolitik |last2=Martin |first2=Paul |last3=Martinson |first3=Marianne |last4=Schruth |first4=Peter |publisher=Frank & Timme |year=2006 |isbn=978-3-86596-031-3 |location=Berlin |page=151 |language=de |trans-title=European Problems and Social Policies}}</ref> Since the [[Young Plan]] did not allow the ''[[Reichsmark]]'' to be devalued, he triggered an [[internal devaluation]] by forcing the economy to reduce prices, rents, salaries and wages by 20%.<ref name="Büttner" />

By late 1931, Hindenburg and Schleicher had begun to contemplate dropping Brüning in favor of accommodating [[Alfred Hugenberg]] of the DNVP and Adolf Hitler. On 30 May 1932, Brüning finally lost Hindenburg's support over the question of [[Eastern Aid]] and resigned as chancellor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grevelhörster |first=Ludger |title=Kleine Geschichte der Weimarer Republik 1918–1933 |publisher=Aschendorff |year=2000 |isbn=978-3-402-05363-8 |location=Münster |page=172 |language=de |trans-title=A Brief History of the Weimar Republic 1918–1933}}</ref>

The consensus today is that Brüning's policies exacerbated the German economic crisis and the population's growing frustration with democracy, contributing considerably to the increase in support for Hitler's NSDAP.<ref name=":0" />

==== Papen cabinet ====
{{Further|Papen cabinet}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-13378, Braunschweig, Hitler bei Marsch der SA.jpg|thumb|[[Nazi Party]] (NSDAP) leader [[Adolf Hitler]] saluting members of the [[Sturmabteilung]] in [[Braunschweig|Brunswick]], Lower Saxony, 1932]]
Hindenburg then appointed [[Franz von Papen]] as the new chancellor. He was closely associated with the industrialist and land-owning classes and the military. General [[Kurt von Schleicher]] – who became Reichswehr minister – handpicked the members of the [[Papen cabinet]], which came to be known as the "Cabinet of Barons".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sturm |first=Reinhard |date=23 December 2011 |title=Zerstörung der Demokratie 1930–1932: Regierung von Papen |trans-title=Destruction of the Democracy 1930–1932: The von Papen Government |url=https://www.bpb.de/themen/nationalsozialismus-zweiter-weltkrieg/dossier-nationalsozialismus/39537/zerstoerung-der-demokratie-1930-1932/#node-content-title-13 |access-date=12 July 2023 |website=Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung |language=de}}</ref> It continued to govern by presidential decree as had the Brüning cabinets.

On 16 June, Papen lifted the ban on the Nazi ''[[Sturmabteilung]]'' (SA) and ''[[Schutzstaffel]]'' (SS)<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 January 2000 |title=Franz von Papen |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Franz-von-Papen |access-date=1 July 2023 |website=Britannica online}}</ref> that had been imposed on 13 April under the Brüning government.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hauner |first=Milan |url={{Google books|9_pZCwAAQBAJ|page=81|plainurl=yes}} |title=Hitler. A Chronology of His Life and Time |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |year=2005 |isbn=978-0230584495 |location=London |pages=81}}</ref> Using the political violence that took place during the Reichstag election campaign as a pretext, he ousted the SPD-led coalition government of [[Free State of Prussia|Prussia]] in the [[1932 Prussian coup d'état|Prussian coup d'état]] ({{Lang|de|Preußenschlag}}) of 20 July. By emergency decree, he declared himself Reich Commissioner ({{Lang|de|Reichskommissar}}) of Prussia, a step that further weakened the democracy of the Weimar Republic.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schulze |first=Hagen |title=Germany: A New History |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0674005457 |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=241–243}}</ref>

==== Election of July 1932 ====
[[File:Weimarer Republik.png|thumb|Chart of federal election results 1919–1933, with right-wing parties at the top and left-wing at the bottom, showing the collapse of the centrist and right of centre parties as the [[Nazi Party]] (brown) increased in strength. (Note: <nowiki/>'''Sonstige''<nowiki/>' means 'Others'.)|left|310x310px]]
Per a prior agreement with Hindenburg and Hitler, Papen dissolved the Reichstag on 4 June 1932 and called for a new election in the hope that the Nazi Party would win the most seats and allow him to set up an authoritarian government.<ref>{{cite book |last=Turner |first=Henry Ashby |url=https://archive.org/details/hitlersthirtyday00turn |title=Hitler's Thirty Days to Power: January 1933 |publisher=Addison-Wesley |year=1996 |isbn=9780201407143 |location=Reading, Massachusetts |pages=8 |author-link=Henry Ashby Turner |url-access=registration}}</ref> The [[German federal election, July 1932|general election on 31 July 1932]] yielded major gains for the [[Communist Party of Germany|Communist Party]] and the Nazis, who won 37.3% of the vote, their [[Nazi Party#Ascension and consolidation|high-water mark in a free election]]. The Nazi party supplanted the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrats]] as the largest party in the Reichstag, although it did not gain a majority.

The immediate question was what part the Nazi Party would play in the government of the country. Hitler refused a ministry under Papen and demanded the chancellorship for himself but was rejected by Hindenburg on 13 August 1932. Since there was still no majority in the Reichstag for any government, the Reichstag was again dissolved, and an election was scheduled in the hope that a stable majority would result.<ref name="Llewellyn-2019" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Dorpalen |first=Andreas |title=Hindenburg and the Weimar Republic |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1964 |isbn=978-0-691-05126-0 |location=Princeton, NJ |page=362}}</ref>

==== Schleicher cabinet ====
{{Further|Kurt von Schleicher#Chancellorship}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B0527-0001-020, Kurt von Schleicher (cropped)(2).jpg|thumb|253x253px|[[Kurt von Schleicher]], the last chancellor of the Weimar Republic before Hitler]]
In the [[German federal election, November 1932|6 November 1932 election]], the Nazis received two million fewer votes than in the previous election.<ref name="Evans-2004">{{cite book |last=Evans |first=Richard J. |author-link=Richard J. Evans |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781594200045/page/446 |title=The Coming of the Third Reich |publisher=The Penguin Press |year=2004 |isbn=1-59420-004-1 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781594200045/page/446 446]}}</ref> Kurt von Schleicher, a retired army general who for many years had worked politically behind the scenes to further the interests of Germany's military,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pyta |first=Wolfram |date=2007 |title=Schleicher, Kurt von |url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd118608037.html#ndbcontent |access-date=10 July 2024 |website=Neue Deutsche Biographie 23 |pages=50–52 [Online-Version]}}</ref> maneuvered Papen out of office and was appointed chancellor by Hindenburg on 3 December.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Neumann |first=Klaus |date=1991 |title=Franz von Papen |url=https://www.lwl.org/westfaelische-geschichte/portal/Internet/input_felder/seite1_westf_bild.php?urlID=336 |access-date=17 July 2023 |website=Internet-Portal Westfälische Geschichte |language=de}}</ref> He tried to cause a split within the Nazi Party that would force Hitler to support his government but failed in the attempt.{{Sfn|Turner|1996|p=28}}

One of the main initiatives of Schleicher's government was a public works program intended to counter the effects of the [[Great Depression]]. The various projects, which are often wrongly attributed to Hitler, created 2 million jobs for unemployed Germans by July 1933.{{Sfn|Turner|1996|p=133}} In foreign policy, Schleicher's main interest was in winning {{Lang|de|Gleichberechtigung}} ("equality of status") for Germany at the [[World Disarmament Conference]] by doing away with Part V of the [[Treaty of Versailles]], which had disarmed Germany.{{Sfn|Turner|1996|p=103}}

Schleicher's relations with his cabinet were poor because of his secretiveness and open contempt for his ministers.{{Sfn|Turner|1996|p=94}} Papen had become Schleicher's bitter enemy when he was forced out of office but retained Hindenburg's confidence. He advised him to sack Schleicher and appoint Hitler chancellor in a coalition with the [[German National People's Party]] (DNVP) which, together with Papen, would work to rein in Hitler. On 28 January 1933, Schleicher told his cabinet that he needed a decree from the President to dissolve the Reichstag in order to keep his government from being defeated in a no-confidence vote, but Hindenburg refused the request.{{Sfn|Turner|1996|pp=131–132}}

Knowing that his government was about to fall and fearing that Papen would get the chancellorship, Schleicher began to favor Hitler.{{Sfn|Turner|1996|p=148}} Hitler was initially willing to support Schleicher as his minister of Defense but was convinced by an associate of Schleicher that he was about to launch a putsch to keep Hitler out of power. Amid rumors that Schleicher was moving troops into Berlin to depose Hindenburg, Papen convinced him to appoint Hitler chancellor. The President dismissed Schleicher and appointed Hitler on 30 January 1933.{{Sfn|Turner|1996|pp=148–150}}