Group 1

The Citizen and the State of Modern Germany Imperial Germany to Unification Presented by:

Beth Lampp Power Point by:

Michael Podgers Research by:

Jamie Lockwood-Rachel Davis-Zachary Petersen-Andre Tan

Imperial Germany, 1871-1918 •

Proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, January 18th, 1871 • This was the first approximation to a state in the history of Germany • Composed mostly of Germanspeaking people

•The nation state’s constitution consisted of a contract between the princes of previously established German states •It did not establish any kind of list for human rights, yet the system was quite democratic •The Bundesrat was a committee of the partially sovereign states’ governments (This was not an elected body) •Many policies were left to the discretion of the individual states Imperial Berlin and the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles

Imperial Germany, 1871-1918 •

Prussia dominated the federation • Prussia held three-fifths of the empire’s population • Prussia’s budget exceeded that of the Imperial budget. • The Prussian king was the Deutscher Kaiser • Prime minister was almost consistently the chancellor

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First chancellor was Otto von Bismarck (1871-1890) The armies of the various states were under the command of the Kaiser • This meant that Prussia had a military monopoly within the federation

Flag of Imperial Germany, Otto von Bismarck

Imperial Germany, 1871-1918 •

In the effort to maintain privileges of the existing states, the powers of the Reichstag diminished. •

Federalism did not work well with the supremacy of the parliament. • •

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While the chancellor could be required to explain his motives to the Reichstag, he could not be overthrown in any way. The federal structure of the Empire operated at the expense of the one democratic feature of its constitution (the Reichstag).

Rights of the individual were still protected • • •

Judges and bureaucrats had privileges and the right to discretion While censorship of the press was in existence, laws were quite liberal This principle was still imperfect • •

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While an 1869 law declared religious equality, people were still discriminated against in their search for employment. Women had no say in politics and their property rights were limited (their educational opportunities did improve and in 1914, they were moving towards careers.) Anti-socialist law (1878-1890). Police had unlimited powers of search and socialist meetings were banned. The Kulturkampf occurred. This was a series of laws that imposed compulsory civil marriage, dissolved all religious orders, and reduced the right of churches to self-govern

Imperial Germany, 1871-1918 •

1912—elections to the Reichstag became major political events •

1871—barely half of the electorate voted.

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1912—84.5% voted.

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Political parties became nation-wide organizations and were professionally staffed • Social Democrats developed in 1890, they had a third of the votes and became the largest party.

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This made the Reichstag harder to control • A contrast between a left-leaning public and the conservatism the North German states brought the nation state to the brink of a crisis • World war worsened these conflicts

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The end of the Imperial constitution came in September of 1918 as Germany faced military collapse.

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The constitution was amended to subject the military to the decision of the chancellor. •

Germany became a parliamentary monarchy.

Revolution and the Weimar Republic, 1918-1933 •1919 - 1923 were identified as the ‘years of crisis’ •1923 - 1929: Goldene Zwanziger (Golden Twenties) •1930 - 1933: Decline •Revolution: alienated those who felt the changes went too far, and freeing ‘those for whom they do not go far enough’ •How, What and Why of the revolution? •Fall of monarchy in November 1918 •Germans were ashamed of loss in WW I, devastated by the Treaty of Versailles & its reparation payments •Reformists take over, ruling SPD accused of betraying the ideals of workers’ movement by preventing a communist revolution •With abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II, SPD leader Friedrich Ebert served as first President of Germany/ Provisional government established •Weimar Coalition: SPD, Deutsche Demokratische Partei, and Catholic Zentrum Partei •One of three options for democracy: •Parliamentary (chosen) •Fearof provisional government not able to maintain public order against the threat from the revolutionary Left •Revolutionary (‘all power to the councils’) Hall of Mirrors, Versailles and Weimar, Germany

Revolution and the Weimar Republic, 1918-1933 •This parliamentary republic established in 1919 is known as the Weimar Republic •Political violence between left-wing and right-wing groups •Hyperinflation occurred in the 1920s •The Weimarer Verfassung comprises: •Section 1: Germany as republic, region encompassing Länder, establishment of generallyrecognized principles of international law •Section 2 describes the national parliament (Reichstag) in Berlin, representatives elected by German people Reichstag could be dissolved by Reich president •Section 3: Reich president represents entire German nation •Section 4: Reichsrat (State Council) being means by which Länder could participate in the making of legislation at national level. •Section 7 establishes the justice system, and judicial independence

•Weimar Republic is a decentralized unitary state not a federation •Zweiter Hauptteil comprises: •Section 1: The Individual - individual rights of Germans, every German was equal before the law

•Flaws of the Weimar Constitution: •Allocation of presidential powers: allowance of president to dismiss chancellor even when the chancellor retained the confidence of the Reichstag and similarly the appointment of a non-supported one •Article 48: Notverordnung (emergency decree)provision gave the president broad powers to suspend civil liberties (Adolf Hitler took advantage of this)

Revolution and the Weimar Republic, 1918-1933 •

Decline of Weimar Republic • Latent weakness brought about by the 1929 Depression • Weimar Coalition failed to gain majorities at any of the Reichstag elections from 1920 onwards • Paul von Hindenburg was questionably ‘loyal’ to the democratic Republic • Dependence on Länder to preserve stability • 1930 onwards Germany was ruled under emergency powers of Article 48 • Hindenburg appointed Franz von Papen as Reichskanzler, who toppled the SPD minority administration of Prussia • ‘Republic with not enough republicans’

• Splinter parties and anti-Republican sentiment caused Coalition governments to be unstable and shortlived; Communist Party & Nazi Party grew steadily/exponentially

the ‘Third Reich’, 1933-1945 •Election 1932—A coalition government formed with Hindenburg as President and Adolf Hitler as Chancellor •A majority of the cabinet was non-Nazi •Hitler made a Nazi-majority cabinet •Fifty thousand SA & SS members were recruited •New elections yielded a 52% win by the Nazi party

•February 27, 1933—Blamed on communist by the Nazi government •With only SPD opposition full emergency powers were granted to Hitler’s government •Between Jan. & March 1933 sixty-nine politically motivated murders occurred •Up to 30,000 political opponents were incarcerated •Boycott of Jewish owned businesses begin in April •Book burnings •Destruction of “un-German” culture •Abolition of trade unions •National Socialists sole political party

•August 2, 1933—Hindenburg dies and Hitler combines the office of the President and Chancellor •The German constitution was not once violated by Hitler at this time

•The National Socialists were able to easily gain the confidence and support of Germans because of the vulnerable state of the country •Job creation slashed the number of un-employed from over 6 million to less than a half million •Nationalist propaganda helped to unify the German people

the ‘Third Reich’, 1933-1945 •Fear was a huge part of the Nazi’s success •The Nuremburg Laws, 1935

•November 9, 1935—Kristallnacht •Mass destruction of Jewish homes, synagogues and businesses •About 25,000 Jews deported •Jews forced to wear yellow Star of David to indentify them

•War World II in Europe begins on September 1, 1939 when Nazi Germany invades Poland…the Soviets later invaded from the East •Nazi Germany later invades the Low Countries, Denmark, Finland and Norway, all of Eastern & Southern Europe into Russia & Greece, France and North Africa from Egypt to Morocco

•The Nazis would establish extermination and labor camps across Europe and especially in southern and eastern Poland •Jews, Homosexuals, Gypsies, communists and even growing numbers of Poles and Russians were sent to die in gas chambers or working •Over 150,00 victims (the incurably mentally and physically ill) died by euthanasia until the practice stopped due to Catholic protests

the ‘Third Reich’, 1933-1945 •After a failed invasion of Russia and the US, UK, Canadian and Allied landings in Normandy, Italy and N. Africa the successful Nazi campaign across Europe began to reverse •June 6, 1944—the Anglo-American Allied powers land on the beaches of Normandy in France •On June 20, 1944 a group of Nazi-German military officers and highly placed civilians attempted to assassinate Hitler—a clear sign of dissent within the hierarchy of Nazi German government and military

•Germany fell in the spring of 1945 •Soviet and Western Allied troops meet on April 25, 1945 at the Elbe •Germany surrendered in Europe on May 7, 1945 (known as Victory in Europe or V-E Day

•The end of WWII marked a major turning point in the history of the German people •The German people were morally, economically, socially and physically devastated like never before •They bore the scars of systematic destruction across Europe done in their names •The ghost of the Holocaust would haunt the German people •Over 11 million people in Europe killed in Holocaust alone •6 million Jews •2-3 million Soviet POWs •2 million ethic Poles •1 million or more Romani •10000 or more Homosexuals

the German States and Unification, 1945-1989 •Mass destruction of German political, social, economic systems and infrastructure required almost total reconstruction •German people became quite subservient to whatever existing power structure there was •There was a considerable lack of political interest among Germans at the time •The creation of a new political required a lot of changes to put Germany on the path to becoming a real Republic •Germany was divided into four section administered by one of each of the Allied powers (USA, UK, USSR and France) •Länder established by occupying Allied powers are essentially unchanged today

•By 1949 two German states with reasonable powers of self government existed •Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) comprised of the Soviet zone in the East •Bundesrepublik Deutschland (BRD) comprised of the western Allied zones in the west and south

the German States and Unification, 1945-1989 

By 1947 the German Länder were holding elections again

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Many old parties were re-emerging under new titles

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The “Basic Laws” was written as a constitution for the BRD (it was written anticipation an eventual reunification) ◦

The BRD government was established in Bonn, the DDR established in East Berlin

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By the mid 1950s a stable 5 party republic was fully functioning in the BRD

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Preferring Socialism over Capitalism as a means of preventing future Fascisms a fully functional Soviet republic existed in the DDR

Checkpoint in Berlin, the Border markings in united Germany, a view of Bonn (former capital of the BRD (West Germany)

the German States and Unification, 1945-1989 •

During the Cold War the BRD came of age and soon became a world economic and political leader and expanded human, political and economic rights within its borders with vigor • Political changes occurred mostly by amendment • Constitutional Court • System for the election of Chancellor and President • Growth in German civic life and political participation • Expansion of civil liberties to women and homosexuals • Increased political opportunities

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DDR was a one party Soviet republic where a powerful and watchful government existed • Most East Germans retreated into privacy in response to the lack of political and social liberties East Berlin (top) West Berlin (Bottom)

the German States and Unification, 1945-1989 • • •

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By the end of the 1980s there was increasing unrest in the DDR By October protests were on the rise The opening of the Hungarian border with Austria unleashed a swell of East Germans in the BRD By November elections and political concessions lead to the easing of travel restrictions to/from the DDR On the night of November 9, 1989 the border between the DDR and BRD was opened and the Berlin Wall was torn down On October 3, 1990 the political unification of Germany occurred •

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The formal title of the country became the Bundersrepublik Deutschland and the capital was moved to Berlin

Political union was achieved peacefully and smoothly and resulted in the creation of a functional federal republic Gaps still exist between former East Germans and West Germans