Background to Nazism II: Politics Quiz

Answer: The German High Command

By September, 1918 Ludendorff knew that Germany could not win the war. The decision to ask for an armistice was taken on the advice of Ludendorff and Hindenburg at an emergency meeting of the High Command in Spa (in Belgium) on 29 September 1918. On 1 October 1918 Ludendorff told some other senior officers that the formal request for an armistice would have to be made by the civilian administration and that the latter would have to sign it.

He was very keen that the army's prestige should remain intact.

The German Army then set up a situation where the armistice and the subsequent peace treaty wouldn't be signed by them.

Answer: 1930

In the general election of September 1930 the Nazis won 107 out of 577 seats, which made them a force to be reckoned with. This lends support the view that Great Depression was a key factor in the rise of the Nazis. In the 1928 general election they had won only 12 seats, and many commentators had dismissed them as a laughing-stock headed by a grotesque little man.

Answer: All of these

When the first troops returned to Berlin, Friedrich Ebert (of all people) told them that they had 'not been beaten in the field'. In the English-speaking countries, it became conventional wisdom to blame the Treaty of Versailles for the Nazis' rise to power, but it's very hard to imagine any realistic peace treaty that would have satisfied people who were convinced they hadn't been defeated at all.

Answer: Munich

This is often attributed to the socialist and Soviet republics proclaimed there in 1918-1919. The last was suppressed amid much bloodshed by extreme right-wing paramilitaries in May 1919. In the revolutions of November 1918 onwards, Jews had played a much more prominent role in Bavaria than elsewhere in Germany. In particular, Eugen Leviné, a Russian revolutionary, was demonized. Many of the small right-wing political groups in Bavaria became obsessively anti-Jewish. More generally, antisemitism was prevalent on and around 'the banks of Danube'.

The NSDAP, based on an earlier, very small party, was founded in Munich. The Party kept its headquarters there, and when various German cities were given fancy names in the Third Reich, Munich became was given the title of 'Hauptstadt der Bewegung' ('Capital of the Movement').

Answer: True

The German Nationalists (DNVP - Deutschnationale Volkspartei) refused to participate in parliamentary politics, except very briefly. Their knee-jerk defence of landed interests put them increasingly out-of-touch with their traditional supporters. For example, in 1928 they vehemently opposed legislation to end the right of Pomeranian landowners to whip their agricultural labourers - and were surprised when the latter switched allegiance to the Nazis.

By the late 1920s the DNVP had become a very amateurish party that had lost its way, and much of its support.

Answer: False

On the contrary, prices fell during the Great Depression, as one would expect. The notion that Hitler came to power amid roaring inflation is a singularly persistent urban legend. There had been hyperinflation in the early 1920s, but the currency had been successfully stabilized in late 1923. (If you find this hard to believe, take a look online at German stamps and banknotes issued in 1922-23 and in 1931-33). The most obvious big divide in the early 1930s was between the unemployed and those with jobs. In 1932 unemployment hit 30%.

That said, the legacy of the inflation of the early 1920s undermined confidence in the new republic and made it politically very difficult for any German government to devalue the currency in the Great Depression.

Answer: Mainly by presidential decree

The Weimar Constitution had been drawn up very soon after the Spartacist uprisings of January and March 1919 and had extensive provision for states of emergency and rule by decree. For many of the more important and unpopular measures, Brüning had to ask President Hindenburg to issue decrees. So, in many respects, Germany ceased to function as a democracy nearly three years before the Nazis came to power.

Answer: The Nazi and Communist members combined had an overall majority

In the preceding two years or so, there had been a sharp polarization in German politics, and street fighting between the Nazis, Communists and others became a regular feature of life in Berlin and some other big cities. Worse still, the larger political parties had by then acquired uniformed paramilitary wings.

In November 1932 the Nazis secured about 34% of the seats (down from 37% in July). However, the Communists' share of votes and seats rose to a record 17%. This produced a severe crisis in the machinery of government: in order to get legislation through the Reichstag, any administration would require the votes (or at least abstentions) of either the Nazis or the Communists. Prompted by the German Nationalists (DNVP), Hindenburg appointed a man with wild gestures and a toothbrush moustache as Chancellor, despite the fact that the latter had no previous experience of government, even at parish council level.

Answer: He acquired German citizenship

From 1931 onwards some of the smaller German states had Nazi-led coalition governments. The state of Brunswick granted Hitler its own citizenship, thus making him automtically a German citizen under German nationality law of the time.

Answer: None of these

What's in a name, especially if it helps you win votes? Hitler and the Nazi leadership weren't socialist. Even their populist wing couldn't think of much beyond nationalizing a few department stores and Jewish-owned development sites.