And it Continues

Part 2.

As mentioned, Germany was in dire straits after world war 1.

Many German citizens were totally dismayed at the treaty signed at Versailles. Being strong people, they refused to blame the loss on the military, blaming it on the old government. A government of the wealthy, the tycoons and business owners. (Jews?) 

This led to the creation of numerous political groups. Both on the left and the right. Social Democrats, Catholic Democrats, German workers party, Communist party and so on. 

These groups consisted of every day common working German citizens and some former enlisted men who were angry at the government for giving up on their basic values.

One young ex-military man, a man born in Austria on the border of Germany. This young veteran had always thought the area of Austria where German was spoken should be part of Germany. He also thought any lands adjacent to Germany where Germans lived should be annexed to Germany. He did not like the Czechs, Poles, Hungarians, Ruthenians, Serbs and Croats that lived in the Hapsburg empire. He especially disliked the Jews, everywhere the Jews.

As a young teen he had buried himself in reading anti-Semitic literature and soon became a fanatical German nationalist.      

After the war he gained employment as a sort of spy with the army. His job was to attend meetings put on by the various groups forming to gain control of the government. He would report back as to their possibilities for success. The military would handle the situation as required. 

In September 1919 this young man was asked to attend a meeting of the German Workers Party, a small new group who met in the backroom of a tavern. He attended the meeting and thought the group was nothing to bother with. He was about to leave when a professor stood up and suggested an action. The young man was upset so much that he stood and gave an impassioned speech condemning the idea. The professor left the meeting in shame and the rest looked at this newcomer with awe.

The beginning of the rise has taken place!

Watch this spot for more. 😀

PS if you are new here, you may want to browse some of the past blogs. Some of them are good, some not so much. 😂

Germany between the wars

A brief, Cliff notes type of history dealing with Germany between WW1 and WW2

Part 1.

These were tumultuous times for sure. 

Financially, the mark went into freefall after 1920. A major cause of this was the war had been fought on credit, war bonds, treasury loans and printing more money. No taxes were instituted to pay for the war. In 1921 the mark had already fallen to 75 to the dollar the next year it was 400. By 1923 it was at 7000. Germany asked the allies to put a moratorium on reparation payments. They refused and Germany defaulted, resulting in French occupation of Germany’s industrial center. This only exacerbated the downfall of the mark. In November of 1923 it took four billion marks to buy a US dollar. At this point the mark was almost useless. Workers demanded to be paid at the end of the day because tomorrow it wouldn’t be worth as much. They were bringing their days pay home in wheelbarrows.  

This inflationary period could have been controlled by merely balancing the budget, not an easy task but a possible task. Raising taxes could have achieved this, but the government did not dare to tax adequately. Instead of drastically raising taxes on those who could pay the government actually lowered them in 1921.

This drop of value for the mark worked out well for the tycoons, the Army and the state. The masses however, watched their lifetime savings become worthless. This of course, brought much unrest and anger from the masses.

If any part of this reminds you of things that are going on in America today, GOOD that was my intention.

Part 2 will share some of the actions brought on by this unrest and anger. Stay tuned..

• this post is primarily paraphrased from “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by William L. Shirer