Can America learn from the Weimar Republic? Having grown up in post-World War II Germany, I always wondered how an evil man like Adolf Hitler was able to destroy a democracy in such short order. The constitutional federal republic preceding Hitler was called the Weimar Republic and existed for only fourteen years (1918 to 1933). What persuaded Germany’s political leaders and the general population to believe and follow Hitler, a man who tried to satisfy only his own twisted needs rather than those of the nation he pledged to represent? Something like this couldn’t happen in America, could it? Or could it? Let’s examine the main reasons that caused the Weimar Republic to fail.
The Big Lie that brought down the Weimar Republic
At least three factors helped Hitler seize power toward the end of the Weimar Republic. It started with a “Big Lie.” The lie was that the German Army had not been defeated on the battlefield at the end of World War I. Instead, Jews, Marxists, Democrats, and Internationalists had betrayed the country by subverting the war effort, driving out Kaiser Wilhelm II, and signing the punitive Treaty of Versailles. Germany’s conservative right promoted this lie relentlessly. Hitler had calculated correctly that the masses would be more likely to go along with a big lie rather than a small one.
Conspiracy Theories helped to bring down the Weimar Republic
Hitler endlessly reiterated the Big Lie without offering proof. The message was designed to appeal to the emotions rather than the intellect. It was used as justification for violence, and in 1923, Hitler instigated the Munich Beer Hall Putsch. He hoped to take over the government with this insurrection. However, the coup failed. Hitler was arrested and put on trial for treason. While in prison, he continued to spread the Big Lie by insisting that the founders of Weimar Republic, not he, were the real traitors.
How did the conservative party and judiciary react?
Germany’s conservative right came to believe that they could not win an election without Hitler’s Nazi base. They needed him to stay politically relevant. Therefore, instead of getting rid of this dangerous man permanently, he was sentenced to only nine months in prison. Hitler used that time to strengthen his base even further. In the end, the conservative right appointed Hitler as chancellor, in the mistaken belief that they would be able to control him.
The Great Depression made Hitler even more relevant
Meanwhile, hyperinflation, high unemployment, social and political turmoil, and punitive reparations led to public discontent during the Great Depression and created a path for Hitler and his Nazi party. Within a mere five months, Germany had lost its democracy and become a one-party dictatorship and a police state.
During the hyperinflation in Germany in 1923, during the end of the Weimar Republic, people used the back of 1 Million banknotes as notepaper. A new pad would have cost 3 billion Marks. Photo courtesy of Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-00193/ CC-BY-SA 3.0, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license. www.walled-in-berlin.com
Are there parallels between the Weimar Republic and the Trump Administration?
I think so. (1) Disseminating and repeating a big lie over and over again smacks of Trump’s stolen election rhetoric. (2) Just as Hitler instigated the Munich Beer Hall Putsch, Trump was behind the January 6 insurrection. (3) Neither coup resulted in swift punitive action. (4) In both cases did the conservative right align itself with a dangerous individual so that the party could remain in power. (5) Meanwhile, the public was deeply divided and willing to look the other way.
Hitler successfully used the electoral process of democracy to destroy democracy itself. Could similar actions bring down American democracy? Can America learn from the Weimar Republic? I hope it does.
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic or current events, people, places or food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
