22.1 The Failure of the German Republic and the Rise of Hitler

Paul von Hindenburg, President of the German Republic, 1925-1934

The Birth of the German Republic

            Throughout the war the German people were informed of nothing but smashing victories in Belgium, France, and Russia.  But the British naval blockade was most effective.  Food and fuel were severely rationed; and by 1917 the exhausted German people were tired of the war.  The various political parties in the Reichstag (parliament) demanded peace – either through victory over the Allies or through negotiations with them.

           In 1918 with the arrival of American troops in France, Germany's generals realized the war was lost.  They urged the emperor to arrange for an armistice before the Allies invaded Germany and destroyed its armies.  The Allies, however, strongly influenced by President Woodrow Wilson, refused to deal with Kaiser William II and insisted that any truce agreement had to be made with a government truly representative of the German people.  Desperate, the generals urged the Kaiser to abdicate and to establish a more "representative" government based on the Reichstag parties.  In early November 1918, William fled into exile to the Netherlands, and a new government formed by the Social Democratic Party (the largest party in the Reichstag) declared Germany to be a republic.  Two days later on November 11, 1918, an armistice was signed ending the First World War.

            The terms of the armistice were, in effect, a military surrender. Germany was required to withdraw its military forces to within its 1914 borders; accept Allied occupation of the Rhineland; surrender its submarines and warships to Allied control; and repudiate its peace treaty with Russia, among other conditions.  The Allied naval blockade of German ports would continue despite Germany's desperate need for food supplies.

            Conditions in Germany were chaotic.  There was widespread civil unrest and rioting in the major cities due to the chronic food and fuel shortages.  Inspired by Lenin's success in Russia, the German Communist Party attempted to provoke a violent revolution against the new government.  For two months Germany experienced civil war.  Led by Karl Liebnecht and Rosa Luxemburg, armed Communist “Spartacists” attempted to provoke a proletarian revolution in Berlin.  In January 1919 Lenin’s government offered Comintern assistance to the German Communists.  The new government was saved when the Social Democrats called on right-wing Freikorps.[1]  which crushed the Communist uprising.  Liebnecht and Luxemburg were arrested and murdered while in police custody.  A Communist revolution in Bavaria briefly succeeded in taking control of the government in Munich but was suppressed by Freikorps in April.

            On the background of the Communist-inspired turmoil, a democratically-elected constituent assembly met in the city of Weimar in early 1919 to draft a new constitution for the infant republic. The Weimar constitution, largely the work of moderates and liberals, created a parliamentary political system.   The Parliament was a bicameral body with an upper house (Reichsrat) representative of Germany’s 25 states and a lower house, the Reichstag, elected by direct universal suffrage including women.  Of the two bodies, the Reichstag was the major source of legislative power.  The parties would hold membership in the Reichstag through proportional representation.  The head of government was a Chancellor (Prime Minister), the leader of the party or coalition of parties with a parliamentary majority.  (As Germany then had some six major and several smaller political parties, government by coalition would be the case throughout the history of the Weimar Republic.  Between 1919 and 1933 Germany would have 13 chancellors.)  A President, directly elected through universal suffrage to a seven-year term, served as the ceremonial head of state with the power to appoint the Chancellor and dissolve the Reichstag.  A special constitutional provision gave the President the power to rule by direct authority in case of national emergency.  Friedrich Ebert, a Social Democrat, was elected President of the Republic.

          Despite the predominance of the Social Democrats in its formation, the Weimar constitution did not reflect a social or economic revolution.  The principles of private property and private enterprise remained intact. No business or industry was nationalized nor were the great landed estates of the Prussian Junker class broken up. The old imperial bureaucracy and educational systems remained in place.  The leadership of the army, now reduced in size, maintained its Prussian identity and sense of loyalty to the state (although not necessarily its government) above all.  The freedoms of speech, press, and assembly were accorded to all, including the enemies of the regime.  Communists and reactionaries, if they conducted themselves according to the law, could participate in the political process. 

        There was not universal acceptance of the new constitution.  On paper Germany was a model of republican democracy.  As a practical form of government, however, the German people had no previous experience with democracy.  While acceptable to the Social Democrats and moderate and liberal parties, the constitution had its opponents.  Conservative and reactionary parties representing monarchist, nationalist, militarist, and industrialist interests actively, albeit largely legally, expressed their opposition.  On the far left the Communists likewise pledged themselves to the demise of the republic.  Consequently, the success of the “Weimar Republic” would be dependent upon a combination of significant factors.  It would need a people willing to try a form of government with which they had no practical experience.  It would need a prosperous economy – national consensus is much more likely when people are working, fed, and comfortable.  And, it would need talented and able politicians who could win and maintain public confidence.  Unfortunately, such a combination of factors was not to be its fate.   Meeting in Paris, the Allies, who forced its creation, sealed its doom by imposing upon it the hated Treaty of Versailles.

The Treaty of Versailles

             The Germans, in spite of the devastating effects of the war on their domestic life, never regarded themselves as having been defeated.  In later years those politicians who made armistice would be vilified by extremists as the “November Criminals” who had surrendered Germany to its enemies.   German armies had soundly battered the Russians causing them to withdraw from the war.  In the west not one Allied soldier had ever set foot on German soil, and now the Allies forced the treaty on Germany threatening to resume the war if the German government refused to sign.

             The Allies had met in Paris from January to June to draw up the peace treaty.  In spite of Wilson's efforts to treat Germany fairly through a peace based on the Fourteen Points, the British and French positions won out causing the treaty to be extremely harsh.

            According to the treaty, Germany had to give up most of her Polish, French, and Danish territories as well as give up all of her overseas colonies.  Her navy and much of her merchant fleet were to be turned over to the Allies.  Her territory along the Rhine River (the Rhineland) was to be demilitarized and occupied by Allied troops.  She had to promise to pay heavy reparations, especially to France, Belgium, and Britain.  Her armed forces were to be greatly reduced.  And, perhaps worst of all, the treaty contained a clause, which stated that Germany alone was responsible for the war.  This "guilt clause" so infuriated Germany that the chancellor resigned rather than be responsible for accepting such a humiliating document.  As the republican government had no other choice, the new chancellor instructed the German delegates in Paris to accept the treaty.  The treaty was signed at Versailles on June 28, 1919.   To Germans, Versailles was a hated “Diktat,” intended to humiliate Germany and mortgage its economic future to the British and French, and their new democratic government, by accepting it, had betrayed them.

            Angered by the military provisions of the treaty and seeing the new republic as the political embodiment of treason, disgruntled army officers attempted a Putsch (coup d’état) in Berlin in March, 1920.  The new government fled the capital, and the officers proclaimed their political puppet Dr. Wolfgang Kapp as Chancellor.  The Kapp Putsch failed when German workers staged a general strike that virtually shut down the economy.  Kapp fled the country and was later arrested on his return.  The officers who staged the Putsch either fled or were arrested.  Most were later pardoned and released.

            German industries (which before the war were second only to those of Britain), exhausted by the war and burdened by the reparations, had become paralyzed.  Germany could hardly provide for her own recovery let alone pay the reparations.  The result was economic disaster.

            Disillusioned that the West (with which Germany had ended the war under the assumption of a peace based on the Fourteen Points) had betrayed Germany, Germany turned eastward to another state likewise disillusioned and angry – the Soviet Union.  Putting ideology aside, the two met in 1922 in Italy and negotiated the Treaty of Rapallo.  Both states agreed to normalize relations and renew trade between them.  The Soviets, seeking economic recovery under the New Economic Policy, needed German manufactures.  Soviet orders would help stimulate German industrial recovery and bring in needed capital.  Secret provisions of the treaty allowed German military officers to train and advise Soviet military and air forces.  German armament industries could use Soviet facilities for weapons development. Germany could, consequently, partially circumvent the military provisions of Versailles.

            The new relationship between Germany and the Soviet Union alarmed France, which began to insist on more rigid enforcement of the Versailles treaty.  France’s opportunity came the next year.

The Crisis of Inflation

            In 1923 French and Belgian troops occupied the industrial Ruhr Valley as Germany had not fully paid her first reparations installment.  German workers adopted a policy of passive resistance and refused to operate their factories and mines in protest against the foreign occupation.  Thousands of Germans went on strike and industry closed down.  In desperation, the foreign occupiers tried to force German compliance and even attempted to operate some industries themselves.  The German economy collapsed into paralysis.

            In order to support the unemployed, the German government began to print more paper money.  The currency inflation that resulted got out of control.  Paper money soon became worthless.  For example, four German marks in 1913 equaled one American dollar.  In 1923 four trillion marks equaled one dollar!  Those who depended on fixed salaries and savings accounts saw their wealth become worthless. Banks and individual creditors found themselves ruined as debtors repaid debts with worthless currency.  The middle class, pauperized and demoralized, lost faith in both the republic and in society itself.   The German Communist Party made a strong revival as thousands of unemployed workers rallied to their red banners.  Many members of the disillusioned middle class, fearing communism, threw their support to more conservative nationalist political parties among which was a small new extremist group centered in Munich - the Nazis.

Hitler and the Nazi Party

          In the chaos that characterized Germany in the months following the armistice, a frustrated, Austrian-born ex-soldier named Adolf Hitler joined a tiny extremist political party that was to become the Nazi Party. Within a few months he would be its leader and would redefine its philosophy and purpose in such a way that it would impact the world ever since.  

         Hitler was born in 1889 in Braunau am Inn, Austria, the son of an Austrian customs collector.   He and a younger sister were the only surviving children of Alois and Klara Hitler, although he did have a half-brother from his father’s previous marriage.  While ignored and abused by his father, young Hitler was doted on by his mother.  His father died when Hitler was thirteen and his mother died four years later. As a child he had few friends and those that he did have he jealously prohibited from having friends other than himself.  Brought up as a Catholic, he attended choir school and even aspired to be an abbot.  In elementary school he was an average student, but was not engaged in his studies. He never completed secondary school.  While he enjoyed the company of women, Hitler would not marry until April 1945, two days before his suicide.  (His bride was Eva Braun, previously his mistress for some twelve years.)    

Adolf Hitler 1930               

           At age seventeen Hitler went to Vienna hoping to become an artist.  He twice sought admission to the Vienna Academy of the Arts but his portfolios were rejected as mediocre. Not finding success he worked at various odd jobs, including doing illustrations for postcards. Vienna was a cosmopolitan city in which many Jews had risen to respected positions in business, the arts, and the professions.  Intensely proud of his German heritage, Hitler, frustrated and angry, came to regard the Jews as the cause of his failures.  His ardent anti-Semitism would become part of the Nazi Party philosophy.  In 1912 Hitler moved to Munich where he worked as a carpenter and house painter.  When the war broke out in 1914, he enthusiastically joined the German army in which he served with distinction and was twice awarded the Iron Cross for bravery under fire.  Peace found him restless.  He returned to Munich and worked as an army agent.  In 1919 he joined the German Workers Party, a small band of anti-republican discontents whom he was sent to infiltrate. Within a year he was their leader.  Renaming themselves the National Socialist German Workers Party, Hitler’s Nazis (from the German pronunciation of the word National) aspired to remake Germany. Hitler was a gifted, hypnotic orator; in the confused political and economic situation of the postwar period, his emotional speeches attracted many enthusiastic listeners

            Hitler surrounded himself with a tight-knit coterie of confederates, who would become the Nazi elite.  Like Hitler, all of them were misfits, displaced and disillusioned by Germany’s postwar conditions. Chief among them were Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess, Ernst Roehm, and Joseph Goebbels.  The rotund and extravagant Goering, a former flying ace and war hero, eventually became the party’s second-in-command.  Hess was Hitler’s personal secretary and, as such, closest to him.  Hess was believed to be Hitler’s successor.  Ernst Roehm, a former army officer, led the Nazi brown-shirted paramilitary SA (Sturmabteilung - “Stormtroopers”) forces.  Short, crippled but brilliant, Goebbels, perhaps the most intellectual of the Nazi leadership, would serve as the Nazi Party’s chief propagandist.  The chicken-farming Heinrich Himmler would eventually become head of the feared black-shirted SS (Schutzstaffel).  The SS would later become the instrument of Nazi terror and administer the concentration and death camps.   Once the Nazis were in power, Himmler would head the Gestapo, the secret police.  Julius Streicher and Alfred Rosenberg contributed their virulent anti-Semitism to the Nazi cause as editors of party publications. (See the end of this reading for the fate of these Nazi leaders.)

            In 1923 Hitler and his followers, blaming the economic conditions on the treaty, the republic, the Communists, and the Jews, attempted to seize power in Munich.  The Nazis hoped the German people would support them and overthrow the republic.  To give their plot credibility Hitler secured the support of former General Erich Ludendorff, a highly respected hero from the war and a favorite among German conservatives.  (Ludendorff had been among those officers who supported the 1920 Kapp Putsch.) In November at a Munich beer hall Hitler proclaimed the Nationalist Socialist revolution and called for Germans across the country to rise in opposition to the republic.  The SA forces took to the streets to battle the police and troops sent to quell the uprising.  Isolated in Munich, this attempted coup, known as the "Beer Hall Putsch," failed.  Hitler, attempting to escape, was captured, arrested, and charged with treason.  As the trial that followed attracted national media attention, Hitler welcomed the opportunity to present himself as a patriot acting only in the interests of Germany.  It worked.  He was sentenced to five years instead of the mandatory minimum of ten.  Incarcerated at the Landsberg fortress, he was allowed a comfortable room rather than a cell and had unlimited access to visitors.  He served only one year before being released.  Ludendorff, incidentally, was acquitted.

            While in Landsberg, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”), an account of his life, his thought, and his plans for Germany’s future.  Published in 1925, Mein Kampf soon became the "bible" of the Nazi Party.  To read Mein Kampf is a challenge. One must force one’s way through some 700 pages of hate-filled rhetoric and seemingly distorted logic.  He virulently condemned all his – and therefore Germany’s – perceived enemies: Jews, Communists, and the foreign powers who imposed the Treaty.  He outlined his views of future German redemption promising expansion into Eastern Europe and the subjugation of “inferior” races.  History shows that all that he did once in power was presented in Mein Kampf.   At the time of its publication very few Germans read it.  Even fewer took it seriously.

Recovery and Prosperity

            In 1924 Germany’s economic crisis was ended through intervention by the United States.  During the war the US had loaned great sums of money to its allies and American creditors wanted to be repaid.  The British and French insisted, rightly, that they could not repay their loans without payment of the German reparations.  A plan proposed by the American financier Charles Dawes proved acceptable.   Under the Dawes Plan the French evacuated the Ruhr, Germany’s currency was stabilized, the reparations sum was considerably reduced, and Germany would be extended foreign credit.  The impact was profound.  Able to secure foreign (mostly American) credit, German industries revived with full employment. 

            By 1925 Germany was alive with optimistic prosperity.  The crisis had passed, and the popularity of the Communists and Nazis dropped dramatically.  Hitler and his Nazis were regarded as nothing more  than a bunch of amusing lunatics.  Realizing that force was not the key to success, both the Nazis and Communists decided to undermine the republic by working within it.  From 1925 on, Nazi and Communist candidates campaigned for seats in the Reichstag and other elected bodies within the German political system.

            Fascist in ideology, the Nazi Party’s program promised Germany’s redemption from the shame of defeat, the treason of the “November criminals,” and the paralysis of parliamentary government dominated by Jews, democrats, Communists, and other enemies.  The Nazis continued to present themselves as the force leading a new German Revolution.  Originally based in Munich, Hitler sought to build the Nazis into a national movement. Party groups were founded in the other German states.  The party organization was centrally controlled from its headquarters through a system of district officers called “gauleiters.”  The party had its own newspaper, the Voelkischer Beobachter (“People’s Observer”), through which to promote its position and attack its enemies.  It had its own visual symbols.  Hitler designed the party emblem and flag highlighted by the swastika.  To give the impression of irresistible force and to add muscle to its words, the party had its own “military” force – the SA storm troopers.  Recruited from the ranks of discontent former soldiers and Freikorps, Hitler’s “Brownshirts” paraded in their uniformed ranks and often attacked the political rallies of other parties, particularly the communists.  By 1932 the SA numbered some 400,000 men. (In manpower the SA in 1932 was four times larger than the German army.)  By 1934 it would have two million storm troopers.  The party leaders and all other officials wore uniforms.  A youth division – the Hitler Jungend (Hitler Youth) - was created to attract youngsters, both male and female.  Party “groupings” were established to appeal to professionals as well as artists and intellectuals.  Funding came from membership dues, public donations, and gifts from those sympathetic to the cause, even if not party members.  Annual rallies of the party faithful met in Nuremberg in staged ceremonial pageantry.  Hitler set out to make the Nazi Party a state within a state.  In the 1930s Nazi Party organizations were established in Austria and within the German populations of Poland and Czechoslovakia. 

            Conditions in Germany, however, were not to Hitler’s advantage.  By the end of 1925 Germany was once again a trusted member of the European community of nations.   In December of that year she had negotiated and signed the Locarno Pact.  Meeting in Locarno, Switzerland, leaders from France, Britain, Germany, Belgium, and Italy negotiated a series of security agreements consistent with the League of Nations concept of collective security.   Germany reaffirmed its acceptance of the Treaty of Versailles, acknowledging as permanent its boundaries and the demilitarization of the Rhineland.  All agreed to submit any disputes between them to international arbitration for resolution.  France joined in mutual assistance treaties with Poland and Czechoslovakia.   Britain promised intervention should Germany violate its borders with Belgium and France – and to intervene if France should attack Germany.  A “Spirit of Locarno” was said to dominate Europe as postwar tensions eased and general prosperity revived.   The architect of Germany’s return to European affairs was Gustav Stresemann.  Serving as Foreign Minister from 1924 to 1929, Stresemann actively courted Britain and France always seeking to create conditions whereby the Versailles treaty might be revised in Germany’s favor.  While the British proved receptive to Germany’s new and cooperative role in foreign affairs, France insisted that the treaty was inviolate.

            In 1926 Germany was granted admission to the League of Nations.  In 1928 she joined 64 other nations in the optimistic Briand-Kellogg Pact (the Pact of Paris).  Drawn up by French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand and US Secretary of State William Kellogg, this treaty pledged its signatories to renounce aggressive war as an instrument of national policy.  

            By 1929 the amount of Germany's world trade was double that of 1913.  The economic success of the republic, however, did not mean that all Germans strongly supported it.  The army officers and wealthy industrialists yearned for revenge.  The average citizen still held bitter thoughts at the mention of Versailles.  In 1925 the German people had overwhelmingly elected the elderly general Paul von Hindenburg as President.  During the war Hindenburg's victories in Russia had made him a folk hero to the German people.  The past was by no means forgotten.

Depression and the Collapse of the Republic

             In 1929 Germany's economy again collapsed.  The Great Depression that struck the industrial nations cut Germany off from her world market.  Industries shut down forcing unemployment.  By 1933 six million workers – one-third of the labor force – had lost their jobs.  Banks were forced to close. The middle class again lost confidence in the economic system.  Again the republic was helpless.

            Both the Communists and the Nazis saw the Depression as their golden opportunity.  The workers turned to the Communists causing their Reichstag membership to grow considerably.  Hitler, through clever propaganda, blamed the Treaty of Versailles for Germany's situation.  The republic, he claimed, produced nothing but class struggle, division, and weakness.  He promised to end the Depression, reverse the treaty, and restore Germany's lost honor and greatness.  He urged the German people to join together to throw off all foreign, Communist, and Jewish influences by electing the Nazi Party to power in the Reichstag. (See "The Nazi Promise" below.)

            The uncertainty of the German economy undermined stable government and chancellors were unable to hold effective majorities.  A Chancellor, in order to exercise effective government, needed a parliamentary majority.  With no one party able to win a majority, governments were based on coalitions of parties.  Such coalitions were fragile as the participating parties often had incompatible political agendas.  To relieve political stagnation, the President would impose emergency powers and appoint a chancellor.  Between 1930 and the end of 1932 Germany had four chancellors.  On this background, the Nazis had made impressive gains in their parliamentary representation. In 1928 they held only 12 of the 431 seats in the Reichstag.  In 1930 they won 107 seats.  In July 1932 they held 230 seats.  Goering became the presiding officer of the Reichstag.   In spite of their political gains, no Chancellor sought to form a coalition with the Nazis.

             By November 1932 the Nazi Party held the largest block of votes in the Reichstag but did not command a majority over the six other major parties.  The Communists were running a close second.  Actually, the Nazis had lost seats in the November elections (down from 230 to 196) while the Communists had gained (up to 100 from 89) in the 560-seat Reichstag.  Regardless of the numbers, the German people had rejected moderation.  The extremist parties of the left (Communist) and right (Nazi) held the majority of seats in the German parliament. 

            In the spring of 1932 Hitler had campaigned for the presidency but was narrowly defeated by the aging and senile Hindenburg who was supported by the wealthy industrialists.  In December the industrialists and other leading conservatives, afraid of continued Communist gains at the polls, sought to include Hitler in a new coalition government.  Hindenburg, who despised Hitler, was persuaded to appoint him as chancellor in a cabinet made up largely of men from the Nationalist Party.  The conservatives believed they could “control” him.  

           On January 30, 1933 President Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as the new German Chancellor.  Hitler's appointment still did not give the Nazis control of the Reichstag.  In order to consolidate his power, Hitler called for new elections to the Reichstag to be held in March.

            A week before the elections the Reichstag building burned to the ground.  It is now known that the Nazis set the fire, but they cleverly blamed the Communists, claiming that the Communists were resorting to a violent revolution as the means to power.  Hitler called on patriotic Germans to show support for law and order by voting for Nazi candidates.  The accusations served the Nazi interest but still did not result in a Nazi majority, although the Nazis did win 288 seats (44 % of the total vote).  In coalition with the Nationalists, who had won 52 seats, Hitler was able to secure control of the Reichstag.  His Nationalist allies were now under his thumb.  With the Nazis now dominant in the legislature, the republic was dead.

            Through a series of laws (known collectively as the Gleischaltung – “Coordination” - policy) the new Reichstag voted to give Hitler full dictatorial power.  All political opposition, especially the Communist Party, was outlawed, and the Nazis became the only legal party in Germany.  When Hindenburg died in 1934, Hitler took the title Fuehrer (“Leader”).

            Hitler promised to end the Depression and he did.  German industries were revived making armaments and munitions.  Unemployment was ended through vast public works (construction of new buildings, roads, conservation) projects.  All aspects of public life were Nazi regimented and controlled. Through the use of spellbinding propaganda, military pageantry, and mass demonstrations, the Nazis won the admiring support of the German people.  The horror of the Jewish persecutions and concentration camps would come later.

            The German attempt at democracy from 1918 to 1933 never had a chance.  The "Weimar Republic" failed because the German people never fully trusted it.  Never before having had a democratic government, they were inexperienced with the practice of democracy.  The humiliation of the Versailles Treaty and the economic catastrophes of 1923 and 1929 were blamed on the republic.  The desire for revenge and the democratic process were unable to be compromised.

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The Nazi Promise

Beginning in the late 1920s the Nazis sought to enhance their political influence through legitimate means by presenting Nazi candidates for election to the Reichstag, the national legislature. Their strategy was to win enough seats to secure a majority and win control of the government. So unstable was the German government, that parliamentary elections were held frequently. Between 1928 and 1932, Nazi representation in the Reichstag increased from 12 seats to 230, being by then the largest party in the Reichstag. 

What was it about the Nazis that appealed to such a sizable portion of the German electorate? Basically it was their message. In short, their public message was this. 

Put us in power and we will…

             … restore German national honor and pride.

             … end the Depression by restoring full employment.

             … save Germany from Communism.

             … bring order and discipline to a Germany that is chaotic and aimless.

             … avenge the hated Versailles Treaty (the Versailles Diktat) by ending the reparations payments, rebuilding the military, reoccupying the Rhineland; reuniting all Germans (including those in Austria, Sudetenland, Posen, the Polish Corridor, Memel) in a new Reich.

            … reassert German sovereignty and power.

(And,  there was an unspoken agenda as well, although clearly implied in Mein Kampf. 

Put us in power and we will save Germany from its internal enemies – all those who corrode its vitality and seek its destruction: Jews, Socialists, Communists, parliamentarians.

Put us in power and we will seek Lebensraum (living space) through German expansion to the east by conquering Poland and Russia and enslaving their populations and exploiting their resources to the benefit of the German Reich.) 

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              Of the Nazi leaders considered earlier, all but Roehm and Goebbels would be accused by the victorious Allies of crimes against humanity at Nuremberg in 1945 – 1946.  Roehm had been executed in Hitler’s purge of the SA in 1934.  Goebbels committed suicide at the end of the war.  The Nuremberg Tribunal found the others guilty and condemned all but Hess to death. Goering committed suicide before the executions could be carried out. The others were hanged. Hess was sentenced to life imprisonment and died in 1987 in Berlin’s Spandau Prison.  Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945. His body was burned to prevent its capture by advancing Soviet armies.

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                 Illustrations in this section are from Wikipedia sources.

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Sources for The Failure of the German Republic and The Rise of Hitler

Bullock, Alan. Hitler: A Study in Tyranny. New York: Bantam, 1961.

Goldston, Robert. The Life and Death of Nazi Germany.  Greenwich, CN: Fawcett, 1967.

Halperin, S. William. Germany Tried Democracy. New York: Norton, 1965.

Pauley, Bruce. Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini: Totalitarianism in the Twentieth Century. Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, 2003.

Shirer, William L. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.  New York: Simon and Schuster, 1960.

[1] Freikorps - “Free Corps” were private armies made up of demobilized soldiers loyal only to their generals.