History UsefulNotes / WeimarRepublic

For all its flaws, the Weimar Constitution had some admirable policies, like the right to unionize, and ensuring freedoms for women. And the government passed a lot of legislation establishing a decent welfare state and limited working hours. It was also probably the most progressive Western country of its time as far as LGBTQ+ rights. There were numerous gay bars and Germany's first LGBTQ+ advocacy group, the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee. The physician who founded it, Magnus Hirschfeld, also founded the sexology institute, the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft. There, Hirschfeld and others pioneered research into areas such as gender affirmation surgeries; the Institut performed the first such modern surgery in the 1930s. They also worked with the Berlin police to stop the arrest of people for cross-dressing (for its own sake or as part of the times' understanding of being transgender). Hirschfeld himself performed world tours discussing his research, though he had to change what he discussed as it was far too taboo for the United States. Unfortunately, the famous photograph of Nazis holding a book burning came about when they marched into the Institut and seized everything in the library. The only writings the Nazis didn't destroy were the lists of names and addresses of members and LGBTQ+ people studied or aided by the Institut.

For a while, after 1923, things seemed to stabilize. Under Chancellor and Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann, the Weimar government was able to gain some major concessions from Europe and the United States, including several reductions to the preparations, and a new currency, which helped end the hyperinflation and brought about an economic boom. Between 1923 and 1929, Stresemann would bring about reconciliation with the rest of Europe, which earned him a Nobel Prize in 1926 that he shared with France's foreign minister, Germany's entry into the League of Nations, and ratification of the Kellog-Briand Pact, which outlawed war as a way to resolve disputes.

But with the Crash of 1929, the American loans that supported this economic boom were withdrawn. The economic collapse led to a return to the political turbulence of the early 20s. Communists and Nazis frequently brawled in the streets.

Near the end, the Republic was in chaos. No party could gain a majority, and they all hated each other so much that forming a coalition was impossible. At the very first meeting of the Reichstag of 1932, the first and only thing it did was dissolve itself and call for new elections. In 1933 there still wasn't a majority and the German government was desperate, feeling that if they didn't act there'd be a civil war. The Nazis at this time, while without a majority, were the largest party. Faced with either working with them, declaring a national emergency or [[RedScare facing Communist upheaval]], President Hindenburg invited Hitler and his Nazis into the government. They hoped they would be able to control them. They couldn't.

* ''Literature/EmilAndTheDetectives

The first few years (and, for that matter, the last few years) of the Weimar Republic was a time of enormous political instability. Between 1918 and 1923, there was an attempted coup by either the far right or the far left every year, as well as almost 500 political assassinations--most of them committed by right-wing organizations like the ''Organisation Konsul'', most of which went unpunished--especially those committed by right-wing extremists, as many judges were unreconstructed monarchists. The last one, the Munich Beer Putsch in 1923, was led by UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. He got less than half a year in jail and wrote ''Literature/MeinKampf''. It didn't help that the Mark suffered from RidiculousExchangeRates, in which thousands of people lost any money that wasn't saved as gold, foreign currency, or silver. This might have also recorded one of the first cases of RidiculousFutureInflation...except not in the future, and with somehow worse inflation. Case in point: you could sit down for tea when the inflation was at its worst at taking the bill two hours later, only to find that your bill had somehow doubled within the two hours you were eating.

Structurally, the Republic wasn't actually terribly different from the Hohenzollern Empire. Rather than an Emperor, there was a directly-elected ''[[UsefulNotes/ThePresidentsOfGermany Reichspräsident]]'' (Reich President), who, on account of his level of power, was called (only half-jokingly) the ''[[CaptainErsatz Ersatzkaiser]]'' ("Fake/Substitute Emperor"). Other than that, there were only a few other changes: the requirement that the Chancellor have the support of the Reichstag and the extensive emergency powers of the President (Article 48) being the most important. Their new constitution was supposed to be the Best Constitution Ever, thus uniting the best things (considered) from the constitutions of the most successful western democracies: a strong president as in America, a strong parliament as in the Third French Republic, and direct democracy/plebiscites as in Switzerland.[[note]]Interestingly, none of the plebiscites on the Reich level succeeded, though some came awfully close. The constitution of UsefulNotes/TheBonnRepublic does not allow for any form of direct democracy on the federal level and many state constitutions initially didn't either. Whether this is a good thing or not has come up repeatedly in UsefulNotes/TheBerlinRepublic and overall a tendency in favor of direct democracy has shown itself in state constitutional amendments and local plebiscites being easier than ever before[[/note]] [[GoldenMeanFallacy All of these backfired spectacularly]]: the strength of the president became a problem when a half-senile, easily influenced Hindenburg had almost-dictatorial powers; the strong parliament, which could kick out every government they didn't like, made governing first difficult and finally impossible when the Nazis and the Commies got more than 50% of the votes, and the plebiscites were welcome opportunities for agitators from both left and right to spread their propaganda.

For a while, after 1923, [[HopeSpot things seemed to stabilize]]. Under Chancellor and Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann, the Weimar government was able to gain some major concessions from Europe and the United States, including several reductions to the preparations, and a new currency, which helped end the hyperinflation and brought about an economic boom. Between 1923 and 1929, Stresemann would bring about reconciliation with the rest of Europe, which earned him a Nobel Prize in 1926 that he shared with France's foreign minister, Germany's entry into the League of Nations, and ratification of the Kellog-Briand Pact, which outlawed war as a way to resolve disputes.

Near the end, the Republic was in chaos. No party could gain a majority, and they all hated each other so much that forming a coalition was impossible. At the very first meeting of the Reichstag of 1932, the first and only thing it did was dissolve itself and call for new elections. In 1933 there still wasn't a majority and the German government was desperate, feeling that if they didn't act there'd be a civil war. The Nazis at this time, while without a majority, were the largest party. Faced with either working with them, declaring a national emergency or [[RedScare facing Communist upheaval]], President Hindenburg invited Hitler and his Nazis into the government. They hoped they would be able to control them. [[ForegoneConclusion They couldn't.]]

The first few years (and, for that matter, the last few years) of the Weimar Republic was a time of enormous political instability. Between 1918 and 1923, there was an attempted coup by either the far right or the far left every year, as well as almost 500 political assassinations--most of them committed by right-wing organizations like the ''Organisation Konsul'', most of which went unpunished--especially those committed by right-wing extremists, as many judges were unreconstructed monarchists. The last one, the Munich Beer Putsch in 1923, was led by UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. He got less than half a year in jail and wrote ''Literature/MeinKampf''. It didn't help that the Mark suffered from RidiculousExchangeRates, in whic thousands of people lost any money that wasn't saved as gold, foreign currency, or silver. This might have also recorded one of the first cases of RidiculousFutureInflation...except not in the future, and with somehow worse inflation. Case in point: you could sit down for tea when the inflation was at its worst at taking the bill two hours later, only to find that your bill had somehow doubled within the two hours you were eating.

For a while, after 1923, [[HopeSpot things seemed to stabilize]]. Under Chancellor and Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann, the Weimar government was able to gain some major concessions from Europe and the United States, including several reductions to the preparations, which led to a brief economic boom. Between 1923 and 1929, Stresemann would see improved relations with the rest of Europe, which earned him a Nobel Prize in 1926 that he shared with France's foreign minister, Germany's entry into the League of Nations, and ratification of the Kellog-Briand Pact, which outlawed war as a way to resolve disputes.

But with the Crash of 1929, the Americans that supported this economic boom were withdrawn. Economic collapse led to a return to the political turbulence of the early 20s. Communists and Nazis frequently brawled in the streets.

The first few years (and, for that matter, the last few years) of the Weimar Republic was a time of enormous political instability. Between 1918 and 1923, there was an attempted coup by either the far right or the far left every year, as well as almost 500 political assassinations--most of them committed by right-wing organizations like the ''Organisation Konsul'', most of which went unpunished--especially those committed by right-wing extremists, as many judges were unreconstructed monarchists. The last one, the Munich Beer Putsch in 1923, was led by UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. He got less than half a year in jail and wrote ''Literature/MeinKampf''.

For all its flaws, the Weimar Constitution had some admirable policies, like the right to unionize, and ensuring freedoms for women. And the government passed a lot of legislation establishing a decent welfare state and limited working hours.

It was also probably the most progressive Western country of its time as far as LGBTQ+ rights. There were numerous gay bars and Germany's first LGBTQ+ advocacy group, the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee. The physician who founded it, Magnus Hirschfeld, also founded the sexology institute, the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft. There, Hirschfeld and others pioneered research into areas such as gender affirmation surgeries; the Institut performed the first such modern surgery in the 1930s. They also worked with the Berlin police to stop the arrest of people for cross-dressing (for its own sake or as part of the times' understanding of being transgender). Hirschfeld himself performed world tours discussing his research, though he had to change what he discussed as it was far too taboo for the United States. Unfortunately, the famous photograph of Nazis holding a book burning came about when they marched into the Institut and seized everything in the library. The only writings the Nazis didn't destroy were the lists of names and addresses of members and LGBTQ+ people studied or aided by the Institut.

Economically, though...well, the Mark suffered from RidiculousExchangeRates, thousands of people lost any money that wasn't saved as gold, foreign currency, or silver, and when things looked as if they had somewhat stabilized, the economic crisis of 1929 struck. This might have also recorded one of the first cases of RidiculousFutureInflation...except not in the future, and with somehow worse inflation. Case in point: you could sit down for tea when the inflation was at its worst at taking the bill two hours later, only to find that your bill had somehow doubled within the two hours you were eating.

[[caption-width-right:350:''"They carry the name of the enterprise - but who carries its spirit?"'' [[note]]A ''Simplicissimus'' caricature depicting, from left to right: a cleric, a politician, a Reichswehr soldier, a vagrant, a farmer, a capitalist, an intellectual, and an SA trooper[[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:''"They carry the name of the enterprise - but who carries its spirit?"'' [[note]]A ''Simplicissimus'' caricature depicting, from left to right: a [[SinisterMinister cleric]], a [[CorruptPolitician politician]], a [[SociopathicSoldier Reichswehr soldier]], a [[LowerClassLout vagrant]], a farmer, a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive capitalist]], an [[IntellectuallySupportedTyranny intellectual]], and an [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany SA trooper]][[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:''"They carry the name of the enterprise - but who carries its spirit?"'' [[note]]A ''Simplicissimus'' caricature depicting, from left to right: a [[SinisterMinister cleric]], a [[CorruptPolitician politician]], a [[SociopathicSoldier Reichswehr soldier]], a [[LowerClassLout vagrant]], a [[CorruptHick farmer]], a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive capitalist]], an [[IntellectuallySupportedTyranny intellectual]], and an [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany SA trooper]][[/note]]]]

Structurally, the Republic wasn't actually terribly different from the Hohenzollern Empire. Rather than an Emperor, there was a directly-elected ''[[UsefulNotes/ThePresidentsOfGermany Reichspräsident]]'' (Reich President), who, on account of his level of power, was called (only half-jokingly) the ''[[CaptainErsatz Ersatzkaiser]]'' ("Fake/Replacement Emperor"). Other than that, there were only a few other changes: the requirement that the Chancellor have the support of the Reichstag and the extensive emergency powers of the President (Article 48) being the most important. Their new constitution was supposed to be the Best Constitution Ever, thus uniting the best things (considered) from the constitutions of the most successful western democracies: a strong president as in America, a strong parliament as in the Third French Republic, and direct democracy/plebiscites as in Switzerland.[[note]]Interestingly, none of the plebiscites on the Reich level succeeded, though some came awfully close. The constitution of UsefulNotes/TheBonnRepublic does not allow for any form of direct democracy on the federal level and many state constitutions initially didn't either. Whether this is a good thing or not has come up repeatedly in UsefulNotes/TheBerlinRepublic and overall a tendency in favor of direct democracy has shown itself in state constitutional amendments and local plebiscites being easier than ever before[[/note]] [[GoldenMeanFallacy All of these backfired spectacularly]]: the strength of the president became a problem when a half-senile, easily influenced Hindenburg had almost-dictatorial powers; the strong parliament, which could kick out every government they didn't like, made governing first difficult and finally impossible when the Nazis and the Commies got more than 50% of the votes, and the plebiscites were welcome opportunities for agitators from both left and right to spread their propaganda.

Ironically Friedrich Ebert, the chief founder and first president of the Weimar Republic, had not wanted to establish a republic at all. Though a social democrat, he was also a monarchist and wanted to keep the Hohenzollerns (albeit reduced to figurehead status as with the House of Windsor in Britain) in place; the declaration of the republic was only a desperate move by a member of his cabinet to stop the communists declaring one instead. Technically, it failed in that - the communists declared a Soviet Republic a few hours later. Very few people cared about the second declaration, however (the man who made the proclaimation would later be killed leading an attempted communist coup against the Weimar democracy in 1919). After that, there was no going back, even if the monarchists wished to.

If you're ever on ''Series/{{QI}}'' and Sandi Toksvig asks you what Germany was called in 1930, don't say "The Weimar Republic". That name is an invention of historians and was not used at the time (like [[UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire 'The Byzantine Empire']] or 'UsefulNotes/TheBonnRepublic'). The correct term is "Deutsches Reich" (German Empire).[[note]]"Reich" directly translates as "realm", but "reich" is more casually used than "realm" is. The German word for France, for instance, is Frank''reich'' - Frankish Realm. The constituent assembly in Weimar actually had some trouble deciding whether the state should be called "Deutsche Republik" (indicating a democratic republic) or "Deutsches Reich" (smacking of monarchism). Ultimately, a compromise between the center-left that favored the former and the (center-)right that favored the latter was found with Article 1 opening with "Das Deutsche Reich ist eine Republik" - "The German Realm is a Republic".[[/note]]

Ironically Friedrich Ebert, the chief founder and first president of the Weimar Republic, had not wanted to establish a republic at all. Though a social democrat, he was also a monarchist and wanted to keep the Hohenzollerns (albeit reduced to figurehead status as in Britain) in place; the declaration of the republic was only a desperate move by a member of his cabinet to stop the communists declaring one instead. Technically, it failed in that - the communists declared a Soviet Republic a few hours later. Very few people cared about the second declaration. After that, there was no going back, even if the monarchists wished to.

In fact, in ''Language of the Third Reich'' one of the characters, an old Jewish doctor, mentions that it was possible to see who won the last street brawl just by the injuries alone: if there were mostly [[ImprovisedWeapon crushed skulls and blunt trauma from beer bottles, chair legs or just plain old clubs]], that was the Communists beating Nazis, and if the wounds were [[KnifeNut mostly by the knife]] then vice versa, such was the political climate of the time.

If you're ever on ''Series/{{QI}}'' and Sandi Toksvig asks you what Germany was called in 1930 (she hasn't done it yet, but it's bound to come up at some point), don't say "The Weimar Republic". That name is an invention of historians and was not used at the time (like [[UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire 'The Byzantine Empire']] or 'UsefulNotes/TheBonnRepublic'). The correct term is "Deutsches Reich" (German Empire).[[note]]"Reich" is a bit hard to translate accurately into English, as it is a mostly neutral term that can apply to both dynastic and non-dynastic states; The German word for France, for instance, is Frank''reich''. An interesting fact is that the constituent assembly in Weimar had some trouble deciding whether the state should be called "Deutsche Republik" (indicating a democratic republic) or "Deutsches Reich" (smacking of monarchism) ultimately a compromise between the center-left that favored the former and the (center)-right that favored the latter was found with Article 1 opening with "Das Deutsche Reich ist eine Republik" - the German Reich is a Republic[[/note]]

[[caption-width-right:350:''"They carry the name of the enterprise - but who carries its spirit?"'' [[note]]A ''Simplicissimus'' caricature depicting, from left to right: a [[SinisterMinister cleric]], a [[CorruptPolitician politician]], a [[SociopathicSoldier Reichswehr soldier]], [[{{Lumpenproleteriat}} a vagrant]], a [[CorruptHick farmer]], a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive capitalist]], an [[IntellectuallySupportedTyranny intellectual]], and an [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany SA trooper]][[/note]]]]

* The musical and movie ''Theatre/{{Cabaret}}'' takes place during this time. The rise of the Nazis helps lead to a [[spoiler: DownerEnding]].

* The series ''Series/BabylonBerlin'' is set during this time and lavishly displays the social and political turmoils of the era.

The first few years (and, for that matter, the last few years) of the Weimar Republic was a time of enormous political instability. Between 1918 and 1923, there was an attempted coup by either the far right or the far left every year, as well as almost 500 political assassinations--most of them committed by right-wing organizations like the ''Freikorps'' or ''Organisation Konsul'', most of which went unpunished--especially those committed by right-wing extremists, as many judges were unreconstructed monarchists. The last one, the Munich Beer Putsch in 1923, was actually led by UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. He got less than half a year in jail and wrote ''Mein Kampf''.

Economically, though...well, the Mark suffered from RidiculousExchangeRates, thousands of people lost any money that wasn't saved as gold, foreign currency, or silver, and when things looked as if they had somewhat stabilized, the economic crisis of 1929 struck. This might have also recorded one of the first cases of RidiculousFutureInflation...except not in the future, and with somehow worse inflation. Case in point: you could sit down for tea when the inflation was at its worst at taking the bill two hours later, only to find that your bill had somehow doubled within the two hours you were eating. Germany became so ruined that people didn't even hesitate to give their vote to UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler after he promised them economic prosperity. The Nazis beating up their opponents also contributed, though the violence was entirely mutual.

* ''Film/TheDoll''

* ''Series/BabylonBerlin'' is set during this time and displays the social and political turmoils of the era.

Culturally, the Weimar Republic was very productive. Most notably, it contained the Cabaret culture (which produced Creator/MarleneDietrich), UsefulNotes/{{Dada}}ism, Bauhaus architecture, Main/GermanExpressionism and director Creator/FritzLang, who probably created the RobotGirl trope (and others) in ''Film/{{Metropolis}}''. Even Creator/AlfredHitchcock made some British-German coproductions during this time. Then there were [[UsefulNotes/DichterAndDenker lots and lots of famous writers and intellectuals]]: Creator/BertoltBrecht, Kurt Tucholsky, Erich Maria Remarque, Erich Kästner, brothers Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Elias Canetti, Lion Feuchtwanger, Ödön von Horváth, Robert Musil, and so on. UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}} grew to a size it still hasn't reached again and some of the social housing from that era is now protected as UNESCO world heritage sites - Not exactly what you'd expect of "the Projects".

Weimar (so-called because that's where the constitution was written--Berlin remained the capital [[note]]but when the constitution was made, there was too much unrest there (again), so the delegates, fearing for their lives, moved to the much-quieter city of Weimar[[/note]]) was the government that ran Germany from the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne until the UsefulNotes/{{Nazi|Germany}}s took power.

Ironically Friedrich Ebert, the chief founder and first president of the Weimar Republic, had not wanted to establish a republic at all. Though a social democrat, he was also a monarchist and wanted to keep the Hohenzollerns (albeit reduced to figurehead status as in Britain); the declaration of the republic was only a desperate move by a member of his cabinet to stop the communists declaring one instead. Technically, it failed in that - the communists declared a Soviet Republic a few hours later. Very few people cared about the second declaration. After that there was no going back, even if the monarchists wished to.

* A few strips in ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' show Germany towards the tail end of the Republic, growing more than peeved at having to put up with the Treaty of Versailles.

* ''Film/TheManWhoLaughs''