Chapter 29 Between Two Fires. After WWI Innovations After WWI (sciences, arts, pop. culture)
Germany’s State of Affairs After WWI and Pre-WWII...• WWI ended June 28, 1919 • Germany after...
Transcript of Germany’s State of Affairs After WWI and Pre-WWII...• WWI ended June 28, 1919 • Germany after...
Germany’s State of Affairs After WWI and
Pre-WWII
Why was Hitler so effective?
How did he “get away with murder”? Why didn’t anyone stop him? Why was he so well-liked? Why did he target Jews?
• WWI ended June 28, 1919 • Germany after the first world war was completely devastated by the effects
of the Treaty of Versailles, which was the official end of World War I.
• Also the Treaty required them to pay reparations to all the countries damaged by the war such as France, Belgium, and other European countries
• Spending over 33 billion dollars severely hurt their economy by forcing the German government to print more money which ended up making their dollar practically worthless.
• German army size was to be limited • This left thousands of young officers unemployed
• Unemployment rose significantly throughout the country
Germany’s Economy After WWI
• Germany lost all of their gained territory prior to and during the war amounting in 1,000,000 square miles.
Destroyed German Opera House
Streets of Berlin
German Children playing with worthless stacks of money
• HYPERINFLATION: Food was scarce and expensive. (A loaf of bread cost 42₵ in 1918 but rose to over $2,000 in 1923.) Germany currency became valueless.
• Under-Nourished German Children An Early Twenties Magazine Advertisement
• This sad advertisement ran on the pages of THE NATION for a number of years following the end of the W.W. I. Posted by a German charity, the ad pictures a starving German child from one of the more impoverished regions of Saxony or Thuringia. All told, the photo and the accompanying text clearly illustrate the economic hardships of post-World War I Germany.
⟰⟰Starving homeless German woman post WWI
⇚ Soup Line in Germany 1915
Bread Line in
Germany 1916 ⇛
The German Great Economic Depression
• Middle-class turned into Poverty.
• Poverty turned into Misery.
• Just like in the U.S. many Germans had to live in Shantytowns
• Unemployment rose – From 1.8 million in 1929
– To 6 million in 1933
• The German People were disgusted with their government and revolted
• They needed a strong, charismatic leader who could change their country’s State of Affairs
• They needed someone to blame for their problems
• They needed...
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• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C9iUaP51CI
Why did Hitler persecute the Jews?
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Anti-Semistism goes back to the Middle Ages (500AD - 1500AD). For centuries, Christians in Europe had regarded the Jews as the Christ -killers. !"Over the course of time, Christians began to accept … that the Jewish people as a whole were responsible for killing Jesus. According to this interpretation, both the Jews present at Jesus Christ's death and the Jewish people collectively and for all time, have committed the sin of deicide, or “god-killing.” For 1900 years of Christian-Jewish history, the charge of deicide has led to hatred, violence against and murder of Jews in Europe and America."
Timeline of Persecution• 33 AD: Christianity Begins (Judaism 2500 BC) • 1096 : 1st Crusades (Germany) • 1147: 2nd Crusades (France) • 1290: English Jews banished At one time or another Jews had been driven out of almost every
European country. In 1275, they were made to wear a yellow badge. In 1287, 269 Jews were hanged in the Tower of London.
• 1350’s: Jews blamed for Black Death • 1421: Austrian Jews expelled (many fled to Poland) • 1552: Jews in India persecuted • 1920’s: After the First World War hundreds of Jews were blamed for the
defeat in the War. Prejudice against the Jews grew during the economic depression which followed. Many Germans were poor and unemployed and wanted someone to blame. They turned on the Jews, many of whom were rich and successful in business. Why did Jews have money? They couldn’t buy land. So many Jews would lend money which also fostered hate towards them. !12
Reasons Hitler was so “successful”
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Germany’s economy post WWI/Treaty of Versailles
He was a very charismatic & passionate speaker
anti-Semitism was prevalent for centuries
Germany was disgusted with their government & revolted
Unemployment was rampant; Hitler promised jobs