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Totalitarian

To what extent had Hitler solved the problems of the Weimar Govt by 1939?
• To a great extent Hitler seemed to have solved the problems by 1939
• Weimar years, characterised by Humiliation, (Versailles), Inflation (1923), Humiliation of French occupation of the Ruhr (1923), Grim Years of the depression, mass unemployment, Hardest hit nation in the world, 30% unemployment- check, military limits imposed by Versailles had been another humiliation
• Territorial losses, rubbed salt into G wounds.
By 1939
• Virtual full employment
• Nazi’s had speeded economic recovery by public works e.g. Autobahn,
• Army exceeded Versailles limits, reaching 1 million men by 1939
• Air force and Tanks being constructed – restores national pride
• Hated frontier losses were being undone
• 1935 Saar recovered, 1936 Rhineland remilitarised – hysterical with joy, 1938 Anshluss, 1938 Sudentland
• G felt the Weimar years characterised by political turmoil, H created totalitarian state suppressing dissent. Most Germans were happy that they had economic prosperity and worried less about lack of political freedom. A referendum showed 90% approved what H was doing 1934
However
• Not all the problems of the Weimar years eliminated
• 1938 H finance minister, G in danger of another hyperinflation, H sacked his minister and decided to go to war as a way of dealing with the looming crises H had spent too much in armaments and consumer goods, however by 1939 most G would have argued that the evils of political chaos and economic distress had been well and truly banished, the German public were not aware of the looming economic problems by 1939 – superficially solved the crises
Joachim Fest, German historian, argues that had H died in 1939 or 1940 he would be counted as a great German leader along with Bismarck, the creator of the German state (1871)
Nazis also emphasized family values, caring for children, and public morality. In Berlin in the 1920’s these values had been threatened...