Germany 1918-1945

Ebert steps down as Chancellor and becomes President instead. Scheidemann becomes Chancellor.

In Weimar, a small town, Ebert was elected the first President of Germany

2 German politicians travelled to France and signed the Treaty of Versailles in The Hall of Mirrors.

German Worker’s Party (DAP) changes its named to National Socialist German Worker’s Party For short they are called Nazis.

Wolfgang Kapp leads the Freikorps in an attempted putsch in Berlin. The army refused Ebert’s command to put down the putsch. A general strike forces Kapp to admit defeat after 4 days and runs away to Sweden.

1 loaf of bread = 201000000000 Marks
1 egg = 370000000000 marks

Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Hindenburg.

The Nazis organised a massive torchlight parade to celebrate the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.

Marinus van der Lubbe and four other communists was discovered at the scene and charged and arrested for arson and attempting to overthrow the Government.

Van der Lubbe confessed.

Van der Lubbe had organised communist meetings before the incident in the past.

The Enabling Act was placed before theReichstag on the 23rd March 1933. This meant that the powers of legislation were taken away from the Reichstag and given to Hitler's Cabinet for 4 years.

On July 14th 1933, Hitler made a law that the Nazi Party was the only political party allowed in Germany, consequently destroying all other competition.

In 1936, the work shy; tramps; beggars; alcoholics; prostitutes; homosexuals & Juvenile delinquents were being sent to concentration camps.

A special Youth Concentration Camp was set up

A round up netted 11,000 beggars, tramps and Gypsies were all sent to Concentration Camps

The amount of exports and imports drastically decreased but the balance of trade increased by a mere 1.6%

DURING THE WAR:

2,697,473 tons of bombs were dropped by the RAF and USAAF on Germany

Approximately 50% of bombs fell on residential areas and 12% on factories and war industries

7.500,000 Germans were made homeless.

2,500,000 children were evacuated.

3,640,000 German civilians died as a result of the war.

People often scavenged from dead horses etc.

The situation had improved from 1928 in 1939 for most areas. For example, the Government income raised by 6 billion Reich Marks; the amount of money spent on construction increased by 4 billion RM; unemployment decreased & industrial production levels also increased.
However, the total debt for Germany hugely increased from 13 billion RM in 1928 had increased to 40 billion RM in 1938. This was largely down to the amount of money needed for Rearmament (17 billion RM was spent on rearmament in just 1 year!)

The Nazis secretly began to exterminate the mentally ill in an Euthanasia programme. Six thousand handicapped babies, children and teenagers were murdered by starvation or lethal injections. The mentally ill were seen as a burden.
On August 18, 1939, the Reich Ministry of the Interior circulated a decree compelling all physicians, nurses, and midwives to report newborn infants and children under the age of three who showed signs of severe mental or physical disability. At first only infants and toddlers were incorporated in the effort, but eventually juveniles up to 17 years of age were also killed. Conservative estimates suggest that at least 5,000 physically and mentally disabled children were murdered through starvation or lethal overdose of medication.
Ashes from cremated victims were taken from a common pile and placed in urns without regard for accurate labeling. One urn was sent to each victim's family, along with a death certificate listing a fictive cause and date of death. The sudden death of thousands of institutionalized people, whose death certificates listed strangely similar causes and places of death, raised suspicions. Eventually, the Euthanasia Program became an open secret.
Public protests in 1941 made Hitler end the programme. atleast 72,000 people had been killed

Rationing started in September 1939.
Recycling was encouraged.

After raids, special rations of coffee, cigarettes and meat were issued

Rations were much worse in Germany than Britain.
Extra rations were given to expecting or nursing mothers; sick people; vegetarians; donors of blood and breast milk & workers in heavy industries such as mining.

Adults received no milk ration.

Shoes and coats were almost impossible to get because of a complicated point system.

Hot water was only permitted 2 days a week

Toilet paper was not available

Tobacco was difficult to get. People would do swaps like an egg for a cigarette.

Surprisingly, 40% of people improved from rationing because it gave them a more varied diet.

Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939.

Germans gave 1.5 million fur garments and 67 million woolen garments to help clothe the German Army in Russia.

Extra food rations given out on Christmas

Clothes rationing was suspended so Exchange centers were opened

Every part of German Society contributed tot the war effort in 1943. People had to help Germany by producing arms, growing food, caring for the sick and injured, fighting etc.
Production of anything that didn't help the war stopped. That meant another 8 million workers who could make products for the war and another 300,000 workers could join the army.

Professional Sport ended and non-essential businesses were closed.