Weimar Republic

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German Reich
Deutsches Reich
Das Lied der Deutschen
"Song of the Germans"
Germany in 1930
German states during the Weimar Republic period
Capital Berlin
Languages German
Religion 1925 census[1]
64.1% Protestant (Lutheran, Reformed, Prussian United)
Government 1919–30 Semi-presidential
representative federal republic
1930–33 De facto authoritarian
rule by decree
 •  1919–25 Friedrich Ebert
 •  1925–33 Paul von Hindenburg
 •  1919 (first) Philipp Scheidemann
 •  1933 (last) Adolf Hitler
Legislature Reichstag
 •  State Council Reichsrat
Historical era Interwar period
 •  Established 9 November 1918
 •  Government by decree begins 29 March 1930[2]
 •  Hitler appointed Chancellor 30 January 1933
 •  Reichstag fire 27 February 1933
 •  Enabling Act 23 March 1933
 •  1925[3] 468,787 km2 (181,000 sq mi)
 •  1925[3] est. 62,411,000 
     Density 133/km2 (345/sq mi)
Preceded by
Succeeded by
German Empire
Nazi Germany
Today part of
The coat of arms shown above is the version used after 1928, which replaced that shown in the "Flag and coat of arms" section.[4]

Weimar Republic (German: Weimarer Republik [ˈvaɪmaʁɐ ʁepuˈbliːk]) is an unofficial, historical designation for the German state between 1919 and 1933. The name derives from the city of Weimar, where its constitutional assembly first took place. The official name of the state was still Deutsches Reich; it had remained unchanged since 1871. In English the country was usually known simply as Germany. A national assembly was convened in Weimar, where a new constitution for the Deutsches Reich was written, and adopted on 11 August 1919. In its fourteen years, the Weimar Republic faced numerous problems, including hyperinflation, political extremism (with paramilitaries – both left- and right-wing); and contentious relationships with the victors of the First World War. The people of Germany blamed the Weimar Republic rather than their wartime leaders for the country's defeat and for the humiliating terms of the Treaty of Versailles. However, the Weimar Republic government successfully reformed the currency, unified tax policies, and organized the railway system. Weimar Germany eliminated most of the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles; it never completely met its disarmament requirements, and eventually paid only a small portion of the war reparations (by twice restructuring its debt through the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan).[5] Under the Locarno Treaties, Germany accepted the western borders of the republic, but continued to dispute the Eastern border.

From 1930 onwards President Hindenburg used emergency powers to back Chancellors Heinrich Brüning, Franz von Papen and General Kurt von Schleicher. The Great Depression, exacerbated by Brüning's policy of deflation, led to a surge in unemployment.[6] In 1933, Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor with the Nazi Party being part of a coalition government. The Nazis held two out of the remaining ten cabinet seats. Von Papen as Vice Chancellor was intended to be the "éminence grise" who would keep Hitler under control, using his close personal connection to Hindenburg. Within months the Reichstag Fire Decree and the Enabling Act of 1933 had brought about a state of emergency: it wiped out constitutional governance and civil liberties. Hitler's seizure of power (Machtergreifung) was permissive of government by decree without legislative participation. These events brought the republic to an end: as democracy collapsed, a single-party state founded the Nazi era.


The Weimar Republic is so called because the assembly that adopted its constitution met at Weimar, Germany from 6 February 1919 to 11 August 1919,[7] but this name only became mainstream after 1933. Between 1919 and 1933 there was no single name for the new state that gained widespread acceptance, which is precisely why the old name "Deutsches Reich" continued in existence even though hardly anyone used it during the Weimar period.[8] To the right of the spectrum the politically engaged rejected the new democratic model and cringed to see the honour of the traditional word "Reich" associated with it.[9] The Catholic Centre party, Zentrum favoured the term "Deutscher Volksstaat" ("German People's State") while on the moderate left the Chancellor's SPD preferred "Deutsche Republik" ("German Republic").[9] By 1925 "Deutsche Republik" was used by most Germans, but for the anti-democratic right the word "Republik" was, along with the relocation of the seat of power to Weimar, a painful reminder of a government structure that had been imposed by foreign statesmen, along with the expulsion of Kaiser Wilhelm in the wake of massive national humiliation.[9] The first recorded mention of the term "Republik von Weimar" ("Republic of Weimar") came during a speech delivered by Adolf Hitler at a National Socialist German Worker's Party rally in Munich on 24 February 1929; it was a few weeks later that the term "Weimar Republik" was first used (again by Hitler) in a newspaper article.[8] Only during the 1930s did the term become mainstream, both within and outside Germany.

Flag and coat of arms

The official coat of arms of Germany (Reichswappen) from 1919 to 1928.



— — President Ebert; Minister of the Interior, Koch, Announcement concerning the federal coat of arms and the imperial eagle of November 11, 1919, Bekanntmachung betreffend das Reichswappen und den Reichsadler (Announcement concerning the imperial coat of arms and the imperial eagle).


The achievements and signs of this movement were mostly done away with after its downfall and the political reaction. Only the tiny German Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont upheld the tradition and continued to use the German colours called Schwarz-Rot-Gold in German (English: Black-Red-Gold).

These signs had remained symbols of the Paulskirche movement. Weimar wanted to express its origins in that political movement between 1849 and 1858; while anti-republicans opposed this flag. The first German Confederal Navy (Reichsflotte) (1848–1852) had proudly deployed a naval ensign based on Schwarz-Rot-Gold, the Weimar republic navy, or Reichsmarine (1918–1933) insisted on using the pre-1918 colours of the previous Kaiserliche Marine (1871–1918), which were Black-White-Red, as did the German merchant marine.


In 1928, however, the Reichswappen (Reich coat of arms) designed by Tobias Schwab (1887–1967) in 1926 [or 1924[11]] replaced it as the official emblem for the German Olympic team.[12][13][14] The Reichswehr adopted the new Reichswappen in 1927.[14] Doepler's design then became the Reichsschild (Reich's escutcheon) with restricted use such as pennant for government vehicles. In 1949 the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) adopted all three signs of Weimar Republic, Reichswappen, Reichsschild and Reichsflagge as Bundeswappen, Bundesschild and Bundesflagge.[14]

Armed forces

Jack of the Kaiserliche Marine (1903–1919).
Jack of the Reichsmarine (1918–1935).

After the dissolution of the Imperial army, the Reichswehr, in 1918, Germany's military forces consisted of irregular paramilitaries, namely the various right-wing Freikorps groups composed of veterans from the war. The Freikorps units were formally disbanded in 1920 (although continued to exist in underground groups), and on 1 January 1921, a new Reichswehr (figuratively; Defence of the realm) was created.


Although technically in service of the republic, the army was predominantly officered by conservative reactionaries who were sympathetic to right-wing organisations. Hans von Seeckt, the head of the Reichswehr, declared that the army was not loyal to the democratic republic, and would only defend it if it were in their interests. During the Kapp Putsch for example, the army refused to fire upon the rebels. However, as right wing as the army was, it hesitated to assist the Nazis, whom they mostly viewed as thugs.[citation needed] The SA was the Reichswehr's main opponent throughout its existence, as they saw them as a threat to their existence,[dubious ] and the army fired at them during the Beerhall Putsch. Upon the establishment[dubious ] of the SS, the Reichswehr took a softer look upon the Nazis since the SS seemed more respectable, and openly favoured order over anarchy. In 1935, two years after Hitler came to power, the Reichswehr was renamed the Wehrmacht.


November Revolution (1918–1919)

The rebellion, November 1918.





Philipp Scheidemann addresses a crowd from a window of the Reich Chancellery, 9 November 1918.


A number of other reforms were carried out in Germany during the revolutionary period. It was made harder for estates to sack workers and prevent them from leaving when they wanted to; under the Provisional Act for Agricultural Labour of 23 November 1918 the normal period of notice for management, and for most resident labourers, was set at six weeks. In addition, a supplementary directive of December 1918 specified that female (and child) workers were entitled to a fifteen-minute break if they worked between four and six hours, thirty minutes for workdays lasting six to eight hours, and one hour for longer days.[16] A decree on 23 December 1918 established committees (composed of workers’ representatives "in their relation to the employer") to safeguard the rights of workers. The right to bargain collectively was also established, while it was made obligatory "to elect workers’ committees on estates and establish conciliation committees." A decree on 3 February 1919 removed the right of employers to acquire exemption for domestic servants and agricultural workers.[17]

With the Verordnung of 3 February 1919, the Ebert government reintroduced the original structure of the health insurance boards according to an 1883 law, with one-third employers and two-thirds members (i.e. workers).[18] From 28 June 1919 health insurance committees became elected by workers themselves.[19] The Provisional Order of January 1919 concerning agricultural labour conditions fixed 2,900 hours as a maximum per year, distributed as eight, ten, and eleven hours per day in four-monthly periods.[20] A code of January 1919 bestowed upon land-labourers the same legal rights that industrial workers enjoyed, while a bill ratified that same year obliged the States to set up agricultural settlement associations which, as noted by Volker Berghahn, "were endowed with the priority right of purchase of farms beyond a specified size."[21] In addition, undemocratic public institutions were abolished, involving, as noted by one writer, the disappearance "of the Prussian Upper House, the former Prussian Lower House that had been elected in accordance with the three-class suffrage, and the municipal councils that were also elected on the class vote."[22]


A rift developed between the MSPD and USPD after Ebert called upon the OHL (supreme army command) for troops to put down a mutiny by a leftist military unit on 23/24 December 1918, in which members of the Volksmarinedivision had captured the city's garrison commander Otto Wels and occupied the Reichskanzlei where the "Council of the People's Deputies" was situated. The ensuing street fighting left several dead and injured on both sides. The USPD leaders were outraged by what they believed was treachery by the MSPD, which, in their view, had joined with the anti-communist military to suppress the revolution. Thus, the USPD left the "Council of the People's Deputies" after only seven weeks. On 30 December, the split deepened when the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) was formed out of a number of radical left-wing groups, including the left wing of the USPD and the "Spartacist League" group.




Official postcard of the National Assembly.




Years of crisis (1919–1923)

Burden from the First World War

Treaty of Versailles
Germany after Versailles
  Administered by the League of Nations
  Weimar Germany





Allied Rhineland occupation









One-million mark notes used as notepaper, October 1923.


The value of the Papiermark had declined from 4.2 Marks per U.S. dollar in 1914 to one million per dollar by August 1923. This led to further criticism of the Republic. On 15 November 1923, a new currency, the Rentenmark, was introduced at the rate of one trillion (1,000,000,000,000) Papiermark for one Rentenmark, an action known as redenomination. At that time, one U.S. dollar was equal to 4.2 Rentenmark. Reparation payments were resumed, and the Ruhr was returned to Germany under the Locarno Treaties, which defined the borders between Germany, France, and Belgium.[citation needed]

Political turmoil

50-million mark banknote issued in 1923, worth approximately one US dollar when issued. Nine years earlier, 50 million marks would have been worth approximately 12 million US dollars. Within a few weeks, inflation made the banknote practically worthless.




On 13 March 1920, 12,000 Freikorps soldiers occupied Berlin and installed Wolfgang Kapp (a right-wing journalist) as chancellor (Kapp Putsch). The national government fled to Stuttgart and called for a general strike against the putsch. The strike meant that no "official" pronouncements could be published, and with the civil service out on strike, the Kapp government collapsed after only four days on 17 March.


A disabled war veteran begging, Berlin, 1923.




Golden Era (1924–1929)




Wilhelm Marx's Christmas broadcast, December 1923. Marx was the longest serving chancellor of the republic.

To help Germany meet reparation obligations, the Dawes Plan (1924) was created. This was an agreement between American banks and the German government in which the American banks lent money to German banks with German assets as collateral to help it pay reparations. The German railways, the National Bank and many industries were therefore mortgaged as securities for the stable currency and the loans.[27] Shortly after the Locarno Treaties were signed. The British, French, and Germans agreed that the borders between their countries would not be changed by force, thus the new borders acted by the Treaty of Versailles were being reinforced by the signing countries, but weakened the 1919 treaty regarding the eastern borders.[27] Germany also agreed to sign arbitration conventions with France and Belgium and arbitration treaties with Poland and Czechoslovakia, undertaking to refer any future disputes to an arbitration tribunal or to the Permanent Court of International Justice. Other foreign achievements were the evacuation of the Ruhr in 1925 and the 1926 Treaty of Berlin, which reinforced the Treaty of Rapallo in 1922 and improved relations between the Soviet Union and Germany. In 1926, Germany was admitted to the League of Nations as a permanent member, improving her international standing and conceding her the ability to vote League of Nations legislation. However, this progress was funded by overseas loans, increasing the nation's debts, while overall trade increased and unemployment fell. Stresemann's reforms did not relieve the underlying weaknesses of Weimar but gave the appearance of a stable democracy. The major weakness in constitutional terms was the inherent instability of the coalitions. The growing dependence on American finance was to prove dangerous, and Germany was one of the worst hit nations in the Wall Street Crash of 1929.


The 1920s saw a remarkable cultural renaissance in Germany. During the worst phase of hyperinflation in 1923, the clubs and bars were full of speculators who spent their daily profits so they would not lose the value the following day. Berlin intellectuals responded by condemning the excesses of capitalism, and demanding revolutionary changes on the cultural scenery. Influenced by the brief cultural explosion in the Soviet Union, German literature, cinema, theatre and musical works entered a phase of great creativity. Innovative street theatre brought plays to the public, and the cabaret scene and jazz band became very popular. According to the cliché, modern young women were Americanised, wearing makeup, short hair, smoking and breaking with traditional mores. The euphoria surrounding Josephine Baker in the metropolis of Berlin for instance, where she was declared an "erotic goddess" and in many ways admired and respected, kindled further "ultramodern" sensations in the minds of the German public.[28] Art and a new type of architecture taught at "Bauhaus" schools reflected the new ideas of the time, with artists such as George Grosz being fined for defaming the military and for blasphemy.



In 1929, three years after receiving the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize, Stresemann died of a heart attack at age 51. When stocks on the New York Stock Exchange crashed in October, the inevitable knock-on effects on the German economy brought the "Golden Twenties" to an abrupt end.

Social policy under Weimar

A wide range of progressive social reforms were carried out during and after the revolutionary period. In 1919, legislation provided for a maximum working 48-hour workweek, restrictions on night work, a half-holiday on Saturday, and a break of thirty-six hours of continuous rest during the week.[30] That same year, health insurance was extended to wives and daughters without own income, people only partially capable of gainful employment, people employed in private cooperatives, and people employed in public cooperatives.[31] A series of progressive tax reforms were introduced under the auspices of Matthias Erzberger, including increases in taxes on capital[32] and an increase in the highest income tax rate from 4% to 60%.[33] Under a governmental decree of 3 February 1919, the German government met the demand of the veterans' associations that all aid for the disabled and their dependents be taken over by the central government[34] (thus assuming responsibility for this assistance) and extended into peacetime the nationwide network of state and district welfare bureaus that had been set up during the war to coordinate social services for war widows and orphans.[35]

The Imperial Youth Welfare Act of 1922 obliged all municipalities and states to set up youth offices in charge of child protection, and also codified a right to education for all children,[36] while laws were passed to regulate rents and increase protection for tenants in 1922 and 1923.[37] Health insurance coverage was extended to other categories of the population during the existence of the Weimar Republic, including seamen, people employed in the educational and social welfare sectors, and all primary dependents.[31] Various improvements were also made in unemployment benefits, although in June 1920 the maximum amount of unemployment benefit that a family of four could receive in Berlin, 90 marks, was well below the minimum cost of subsistence of 304 marks.[38]


Decline (1930–1933)

The German army feeds the poor, Berlin, 1931.
Gross national product (inflation adjusted) and price index in Deutsches Reich 1926–1936. The period between 1930 and 1932 is marked by a severe deflation and recession.
Unemployment rate in Deutsches Reich 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.
Federal election results 1919 - 1933. The Communist Party (KPD) (red) and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) (brown) were radical enemies of the Weimar Republic. The surge in unemployment during the Great Depression led to a radicalization of many voters, the Nazi Party rose from 2,6% of the total votes in 1928 to 43,9% in 1933. The DNVP (orange) lost its conservative wing and subsequently joined the radical opposition in 1929.[41]

Onset of the Great Depression

In 1929, the onset of the depression in the United States of America produced a severe shockwave in Germany. The economy was supported by the granting of loans through the Dawes Plan (1924) and the Young Plan (1929). When American banks withdrew their loans to German companies, the onset of severe unemployment could not be stopped by conventional economic measures. Unemployment grew rapidly, at 4 million in 1930,[42] and in September 1930 a political earthquake shook the republic to its foundations. The Nazi Party (NSDAP) entered the Reichstag with 19% of the popular vote and made the fragile coalition system by which every chancellor had governed unworkable. The last years of the Weimar Republic were stamped by even more political instability than in the previous years. The administrations of Chancellors Brüning, Papen, Schleicher and, from 30 January to 23 March 1933, Hitler governed through presidential decree rather than through parliamentary consultation.

Brüning's policy of deflation (1930–1932)



Between 1930 and 1932, Brüning tried to reform the Weimar Republic without a parliamentary majority, governing, when necessary, through the President's emergency decrees. In line with the contemporary economic theory (subsequently termed "leave-it-alone liquidationism"), he enacted a draconian policy of deflation and drastically cutting state expenditure.[2] Among other measures, he completely halted all public grants to the obligatory unemployment insurance introduced in 1927, resulting in workers making higher contributions and fewer benefits for the unemployed. Benefits for the sick, invalid and pensioners were also reduced sharply.[43] Additional difficulties were caused by the different deflationary policies pursued by Brüning and the Reichsbank, Germany's central bank.[44] In mid-1931, the United Kingdom abandoned the gold standard and about 30 countries (the sterling bloc) devalued their currencies,[45] making their goods around 20% cheaper than those produced by Germany. As the Young Plan did not allow a devaluation of the Reichsmark, Brüning triggered a deflationary internal devaluation by forcing the economy to reduce prices, rents, salaries and wages by 20%.[6] Debate continues as to whether this policy was without alternative: some argue that the Allies would not in any circumstances have allowed a devaluation of the Reichsmark, while others point to the Hoover Moratorium as a sign that the Allies understood that the situation had changed fundamentally and further German reparation payments were impossible. Brüning expected that the policy of deflation would temporarily worsen the economic situation before it began to improve, quickly increasing the German economy's competitiveness and then restoring its creditworthiness. His long-term view was that deflation would, in any case, be the best way to help the economy. His primary goal was to remove Germany's reparation payments by convincing the Allies that they could no longer be paid.[46] Anton Erkelenz, chairman of the German Democratic Party and a contemporary critic of Brüning, famously said that the policy of deflation is:




The Papen deal


Papen was closely associated with the industrialist and land-owning classes and pursued an extreme Conservative policy along Hindenburg's lines. He appointed as Reichswehr Minister Kurt von Schleicher, and all the members of the new cabinet were of the same political opinion as Hindenburg. This government was expected to assure itself of the co-operation of Hitler. Since the Republicans were not yet ready to take action, the Communists did not want to support the republic, and the Conservatives had shot their political bolt, Hitler and Hugenberg were certain to achieve power.[citation needed]

Elections of July 1932



Schleicher cabinet


Poster for the nationalist "Black–White–Red" coalition of Alfred Hugenberg (DNVP leader), Franz von Papen and Franz Seldte.






End Of The Weimar Republic

Hitler's chancellorship (1933)






Hitler cabinet meeting in mid-March




Enabling Act negotiations



Passage of the Enabling Act







The process of bringing all major organisations into line with Nazi principles and into the service of the state was called Gleichschaltung. Gleichschaltung is usually translated as "coordination", but sometimes as "forcible coordination".[58] It is a compound word, consisting of gleich, meaning alike, and schaltung, which means switching. The NSDAP meant to imply a particular mechanical meaning of the word: a certain means of wiring an electrical generator and electric motors, so that when the generator is made to turn at a given speed or turned to a certain angle, each motor connected to it will also turn at that speed, or to the same angle—in other words, synchronisation.[citation needed] The NSDAP was thought of as the generator, and other civil groups as motors wired to it.[citation needed]


However, opposition was frequently not addressed by legislation at all. The process of Gleichschaltung was often voluntary, or in any event not mandated by a formal decree. Most other parties had dissolved before being officially banned: the Nazi Party's coalition partner, the DNVP, was dissolved on 27 June, one day after Hugenberg's resignation from the cabinet. The Staatspartei (formerly the DDP) dissolved itself on 28 June, and the DVP on 29 June. On 4–5 July, the Catholic parties (the BVP and the Centre) were also wound up. By the time the formal decree banned the creation of new parties, there were none left except the Nazis.[59][60]

... many organisations showed themselves only too willing to anticipate the [Gleichschaltung] process and to "coordinate" themselves in accordance with the expectations of the new era. By the autumn, the Nazi dictatorship ... had been enormously strengthened. What is striking is not how much, but how little, Hitler needed to do to bring this about ... Hitler took remarkably few initiatives.[61]

Willing Gleichschaltung was termed Selbstgleichschaltung or "self-coordination". There was a rush to join the NSDAP, overrunning the party's ability to process applications: on 1 May, the party announced that it was suspending the admission of new members. The party's membership had increased to 2.5 million, from about 900,000 at the end of January. Many prominent intellectuals allied themselves with the new government: the country's most famous philosopher, Martin Heidegger and its most prominent constitutional scholar, Carl Schmitt, spoke in favour of it, and Heidegger became the sponsor of a manifesto of German professors pledging allegiance to "Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist State". Lists were prepared of writers whose works were unacceptable in the "New Order", including Freud, Einstein and Brecht. On the evening of 10 May, under the leadership of the German Students' Association and without substantial protest by the university faculties,[citation needed] some 20,000 volumes were burned at Berlin's Opernplatz.[62]

The Reichswehr had, however, remained mostly untouched by Gleichschaltung. It was not until Hindenburg's death in August 1934 that all military personnel swore an oath of loyalty directly to Hitler, instead of to the constitution. Thereafter, the military came under gradually increasing pressure to align itself with NSDAP ideology, but it never entirely capitulated. Likewise, the holdings of industrialists and aristocratic "Junker" landowners remained for the most part untouched, whilst the administrative and judicial machinery was only very slightly tampered with.[49] The Nazi efforts to "co-ordinate" the Christian churches (both Roman Catholic and Protestant) were mostly unsuccessful, and were largely abandoned. However, the churches as a whole did not present any serious opposition to Hitler.


The constitution of 1919 was never formally repealed, but the Enabling Act meant that it was a dead letter. The Enabling Act itself was breached by Hitler on three occasions in 1934: Article 2 of the act stated that


The powers of the Länder (states) were transferred to the central government, rendering the Reichsrat obsolete. A month later, the Reichsrat itself was dissolved. President von Hindenburg died in August, and Hitler appropriated the president's powers for himself. The Enabling Act did not specify any recourse that could be taken if the chancellor violated Article 2, and no judicial challenge ensued.

Following the death of Hindenburg in 1934, the constitution was largely forgotten, with some minor exceptions. In The Political Testament of Adolf Hitler, written shortly before his suicide, he appointed Admiral Karl Doenitz to succeed him but as President rather than Fuehrer, thereby re-establishing a constitutional office dormant since Hindenburg's death eleven years earlier. On 30 April 1945, Doenitz formed what became known as the Flensburg government, which de facto controlled only a tiny area of Germany near the Danish border and the town of Flensburg. It was dissolved by the Allies on 23 May.

On 5 June, the Allied Berlin Declaration stated in its preamble that the Allies assumed

supreme authority with respect to Germany, including all the powers possessed by the German Government... and any state, municipal, or local government or authority.

It also declared that there was

no central Government or authority in Germany capable of accepting responsibility for the maintenance of order, the administration of the country and compliance with the requirements of the victorious Powers.

Article 13 of the declaration read:

[T]he four Allied Governments will take such steps, including the complete disarmament and demilitarisation of Germany, as they deem requisite for future peace and security. The Allied Representatives will impose on Germany additional political, administrative, economic, financial, military and other requirements arising from the complete defeat of Germany.... All German authorities and the German people shall carry out unconditionally the requirements of the Allied Representatives, and shall fully comply with all such proclamations, orders, ordinances and instructions.

These provisions, not legally challenged by either of the subsequent German governments, meant that neither any NSDAP decree nor the 1919 constitution held any legal force over the Allies' administration of Germany.

The 1949 Constitution of East Germany (officially, the German Democratic Republic) contained many passages that were originally part of the 1919 constitution.[63] It was intended to be the constitution of a united Germany and was thus a compromise between liberal-democratic and Leninist ideologies. It was replaced by a new, explicitly Leninist constitution in 1968, which was substantially amended in 1974. In 1990, the GDR was dissolved and incorporated into West Germany.

The Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany of West Germany (officially, the Federal Republic of Germany), enacted in 1949, stated:



Reasons for failure

The reasons for the Weimar Republic's collapse are the subject of continuing debate. It may have been doomed from the beginning since even moderates disliked it and extremists on both the left and right loathed it, a situation often referred to as a "democracy without democrats".[65] Germany had limited democratic traditions, and Weimar democracy was widely seen as chaotic. Since Weimar politicians had been blamed for the Dolchstoßlegende ("Stab-in-the-back myth"), a widely believed theory that Germany's surrender in World War I had been the unnecessary act of traitors, the popular legitimacy of the government was on shaky ground. As normal parliamentary lawmaking broke down and was replaced around 1930 by a series of emergency decrees, the decreasing popular legitimacy of the government further drove voters to extremist parties.


Economic problems




Most historians[who?] agree that many industrial leaders identified the Weimar Republic with labour unions and the Social Democrats, who had established the Versailles concessions. Although some saw Hitler as a means to abolish the latter, the Republic was already unstable before any industry leaders were supporting Hitler. Even those who supported Hitler's appointment often did not support all of Nazism and considered Hitler a temporary solution in their efforts to abolish the Republic.[citation needed] Industry support alone cannot explain Hitler's enthusiastic support by large segments of the population, including many workers who had turned away from the left.


Institutional problems


  • The Reichstag could remove the Reichskanzler from office even if it was unable to agree on a successor. The use of such a motion of no confidence meant that since 1932, that a government could not be held in office when the parliament came together. As a result, the 1949 Grundgesetz stipulates that a chancellor may not be removed by Parliament unless a successor is elected at the same time, known as a "constructive vote of no confidence".

Role of individuals


Paul von Hindenburg became Reichspräsident in 1925. As he was an old style monarchist conservative, he had little love lost for the Republic, but for the most part, he formally acted within the bounds of the constitution; however, he ultimately - on the advice of his son and others close to him - appointed Hitler chancellor thereby effectively ending the Republic.

Constituent states


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State Capital
Free States (Freistaaten)
Flagge Herzogtum Anhalt.svg Anhalt Dessau
Flagge Großherzogtum Baden (1891–1918).svg Baden Karlsruhe
Flagge Herzogtum Braunschweig.svg Brunswick (Braunschweig) Braunschweig
Flagge Großherzogtum Hessen ohne Wappen.svg Hesse (Hessen) Darmstadt
Flagge Fürstentum Lippe.svg Lippe Detmold
Flagge Großherzogtümer Mecklenburg.svg Mecklenburg-Schwerin Schwerin
Flagge Großherzogtümer Mecklenburg.svg Mecklenburg-Strelitz Neustrelitz
Civil flag of Oldenburg.svg Oldenburg Oldenburg
Flagge Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha (1911-1920).svg Saxe-Coburg (Sachsen-Coburg) – to Bavaria in 1920 Coburg
Flag of Saxony.svg Saxony (Sachsen) Dresden
Flagge Fürstentum Schaumburg-Lippe.svg Schaumburg-Lippe Bückeburg
Flag of Thuringia.svg Thuringia (Thüringen) – from 1920 Weimar
Flagge Königreich Württemberg.svg Württemberg Stuttgart
Free and Hanseatic Cities (Freie und Hansestädte)
Flag of Bremen.svg Bremen
Flag of Hamburg.svg Hamburg
Flag of the Free City of Lübeck.svg Lübeck
States merged to form Thuringia in 1920
Flagge Fürstentum Reuß ältere Linie.svg Reuss Gera
Flagge Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha (1911-1920).svg Saxe-Gotha (Sachsen-Gotha) Gotha
Flagge Fürstentümer Schwarzburg.svg Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Rudolstadt
Flagge Fürstentümer Schwarzburg.svg Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Sondershausen

These states were gradually de facto abolished under the Nazi regime via the Gleichschaltung process, as the states were largely re-organised into Gaue. However, the city-state of Lübeck was formally incorporated into Prussia in 1937 following the Greater Hamburg Act, apparently motivated by Hitler's personal dislike for the city. Most of the remaining states were formally dissolved by the Allies at the end of World War II and ultimately reorganised into the modern states of Germany.

See also


  1. Volume 6. Weimar Germany, 1918/19–1933 Population by Religious Denomination (1910-1939) Sozialgeschichtliches Arbeitsbuch, Volume III, Materialien zur Statistik des Deutschen Reiches 1914-1945, edited by Dietmar Petzina, Werner Abelshauser, and Anselm Faust. Munich: Verlag C.H. Beck, 1978, p. 31. Translation: Fred Reuss.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Thomas Adam, Germany and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History, 2005, ISBN 1-85109-633-7, p. 185
  3. "Das Deutsche Reich im Überblick". Wahlen in der Weimarer Republik. Retrieved 26 April 2007.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  4. Cf. Der Große Brockhaus: Handbuch des Wissens in zwanzig Bänden: 21 vols., completely revis. ed., Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 151928–1935, vol. 4 (1929): "Vierter Band Chi–Dob", article: 'Deutsches Reich', pp. 611–704, here pp. 648 and 651. No ISBN.
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Further reading

  • Allen, William Sheridan (1984). The Nazi seizure of Power: the experience of a single German town, 1922–1945. New York, Toronto: F. Watts. ISBN 0-531-09935-0.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Berghahn, V. R. (1982). Modern Germany. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-34748-3.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Bingham, John (2014). Weimar Cities: The Challenge of Urban Modernity in Germany, 1919-1933. London.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Bookbinder, Paul (1996). Weimar Germany: the Republic of the Reasonable. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-4286-0.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Broszat, Martin (1987). Hitler and the Collapse of Weimar Germany. Leamington Spa, New York: Berg and St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-85496-509-2.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Childers, Thomas (1983). The Nazi Voter: The Social Foundations of Fascism in Germany, 1919–1933. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-1570-5.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Craig, Gordon A. (1980). Germany 1866–1945 (Oxford History of Modern Europe). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-502724-8.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Dorpalen, Andreas (1964). Hindenburg and the Weimar Republic. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Eschenburg, Theodor (1972). Hajo Holborn (ed.). The Role of the Personality in the Crisis of the Weimar Republic: Hindenburg, Brüning, Groener, Schleicher. New York: Pantheon Books. pp. 3–50, Republic to Reich The Making Of The Nazi Revolution.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Feuchtwanger, Edgar (1993). From Weimar to Hitler: Germany, 1918–1933. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-27466-0.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Gay, Peter (1968). Weimar Culture: The Outsider as Insider. New York: Harper & Row.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Gordon, Mel (2000). Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin. New York: Feral House.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Hamilton, Richard F. (1982). Who Voted for Hitler?. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-09395-4.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Harman, Chris (1982). The Lost Revolution: Germany 1918–1923. Bookmarks. ISBN 090622408X.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • James, Harold (1986). The German Slump: Politics and Economics, 1924–1936. Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-821972-5.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Kaes, Anton; Jay, Martin; Dimendberg, Edward, eds. (1994). The Weimar Republic Sourcebook. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-06774-6.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Kershaw, Ian (1990). Weimar. Why did German Democracy Fail?. London: Weidenfield & Nicholson. ISBN 0-312-04470-4.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Kershaw, Ian (1998). Hitler 1889–1936: Hubris. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 0-393-04671-0.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Kolb, Eberhard (1988). The Weimar Republic. P.S. Falla (translator). London: Unwin Hyman.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Lee, Stephen J. (1998). The Weimar Republic. Routledge. pp. 144pp.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • McElligott, Anthony, ed. (2009). Weimar Germany. Oxford University Press.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Mommsen, Hans (1991). From Weimar to Auschwitz. Philip O'Connor (translator). Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-03198-3.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Nicholls, Anthony James (2000). Weimar And The Rise Of Hitler. New York: St. Martin's Press,. ISBN 0-312-23350-7.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Peukert, Detlev (1992). The Weimar Republic: the Crisis of Classical Modernity. New York: Hill and Wang. ISBN 0-8090-9674-9.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Rosenberg, Arthur. A History Of The German Republic (1936) 370pp online
  • Smith, Helmut Walser, ed. (2011). "18-25". The Oxford Handbook of Modern German History. pp. 862 pp.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Turner, Henry Ashby (1996). Hitler's Thirty Days To Power: January 1933. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-201-40714-0.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Turner, Henry Ashby (1985). German Big Business and the Rise of Hitler. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-503492-9.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Weitz, Eric D. (2007). Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-01695-5.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Wheeler-Bennett, John (2005). The Nemesis of Power: German Army in Politics, 1918–1945. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Publishing Company. ISBN 1-4039-1812-0.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  • Widdig, Bernd (2001). Culture and Inflation in Weimar Germany. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-22290-8.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>


  • Fritzsche, Peter. "Did Weimar Fail?" Journal of Modem History 68 (1996): 629–656. in JSTOR

External links
