Authors: Jennifer Llewellyn, Steve Thompson Date published: July 8, 2020 | It had the adverse effect of spurring other governments to enact retaliatory tariffs, decreasing the foreign market for American goods. Six million Germans, 40 per cent of the working population, were unemployed; and thousands found themselves without a place to live… As anxiety and fear gripped the masses of unemployed men, blatant prejudices resurfaced against full-time female workers. Holocaust Survivors and Victims Resource Center. It began as an American crisis, specifically a huge stock market crash, but had knock-on effects around the world. Factories depended on these consumers continuing to purchase their goods. Publisher: Alpha History While there were few shortages of food, millions found themselves without the means to obtain it. Millions of industrial labourers – the same men who in 1928 had been the best-paid blue-collar workers in Europe – spent a year or more in idleness. Millions of industrial workers – who during the ‘Golden Age of Weimar‘ had become the best-paid blue-collar workers in Europe – spent a year or more in idleness. Their election successes and their membership rose and fell in exact parallel to the unemployment figures. Heinrich Bruning, who became chancellor in March 1930, feared inflation and budget deficits more than unemployment. The Great Depression was a long and extensive economic crisis, affecting most developed nations in the early and mid-1930s. Despite its rapid growth, the German economy could not endure this retraction of cash and capital. British novelist Christopher Isherwood, who lived in Berlin during the worst of the Depression, described its scenes: “Morning after morning, all over the immense, damp, dreary town and the packing-case colonies of huts in the suburb allotments, young men were waking up to another workless empty day, to be spent as they could best contrive: selling boot-laces, begging, playing draughts in the hall of the Labour Exchange, hanging about urinals, opening the doors of cars, helping with crates in the market, gossiping, lounging, stealing, overhearing racing tips, sharing stumps of cigarette ends picked up in the gutter.”. Site Map The Great Depression was severely felt in Germany, where it caused widespread unemployment, starvation and misery. This provision effectively prevented many German industries from selling their goods in foreign markets. The Nazi leader found the situation to his liking: “Never in my life have I been so well disposed and inwardly contented as in these days. The stock market crash on October 24, 1929, marked the beginning of the Great Depression in the United States. On an index of 1928 = 100, consumer prices fell to 77 in 1933; and industrial production rose to 110 in 1929, fell to 59 in 1932. This downward trend continued for three weeks, with share prices falling each day. Careers World War I transformed the United States from a relatively small player on the international stage into a center of global finance. It was in late 1926 that the German authorities decided to restrain the subsequent expansion of economic activity. The effect of this decline was spiralling unemployment. Children suffered worst, thousands dying from malnutrition and hunger-related diseases. Publications The effects on German society were devastating. On Thursday, October 24, 1929, stock prices began to fall on the New York Stock Exchange, losing 11% of their value in a single day. ... Crisis of capitalism: The Great Depression in the USA and its wider impact in terms of the emergence of fascist economies and states. The severe depression faced by the German economy in the 1930s was partly due to the problems of recovery from the First World War. Hjalmar Schacht resigned in protest and, in an article in a London magazine, John Maynard Keynes commented that it would "weigh on Germany much more heavily than the Dawes Plan, which it was agreed she could not support"[5]. In the 1920s (the “Roaring Twenties”) many American consumers, assuming economic prosperity would continue indefinitely, took on large amounts of personal debt, sometimes at extremely high interest rates. Many factories and industries either closed or downsized dramatically. Eleven months after the Wall Street Crash, the NSDAP was able to increase its share of the Reichstag vote almost ninefold. Between 1929 and 1932, American industrial production fell by 45 per cent. They were informed that “any alien wage earner without special means of support coming to the United States during the present period of depression is, therefore, likely to become a public charge,” and should be rejected for an immigration visa. Within the United States, the repercussions of the crash reinforced and even strengthened the existing restrictive American immigration policy. After the war, the United States began a period of diplomatic isolation. These regulations, forcing potential immigrants to prove they were financially stable and could support themselves indefinitely without getting a job, limited the number of applicants who qualified for immigration visas. In Australia, the demand for wool and food exports slumped, along with prices, wages and unemployment. URL: https://alphahistory.com/nazigermany/the-great-depression/ After a few hours the banks paid out only 20 per cent of the sums demanded by customers; and the government announced a two day bank holiday. Instead, the Allies allowed their desire for revenge to get the better of them, and historians are nearly unanimous in their judgment that the terms dictated to Germany were unnecessarily debilitating. Rather than ramping up spending, Bruning increased taxes to reduce the budget deficit. The years of depression in Germany affects all segments of society. Within a year this figure had more than doubled and by early 1933, a staggering 6 million people (26 per cent of the workforce) were out of a job. Weimar Republic memory quiz: concepts (I), Weimar Republic memory quiz: concepts (II), Weimar Republic memory quiz: concepts (III), Weimar Republic memory quiz: dates 1918-19, Weimar Republic memory quiz: dates 1920-22, Weimar Republic memory quiz: dates 1923-24, Weimar Republic memory quiz: dates 1925-28, Weimar Republic memory quiz: dates 1929-32. Between 1929 and 1933, hundreds of Americans starved to death. At the time of the Wall Street stock market crash, the NSDAP held just 12 seats in the Reichstag while Hitler was a figure of curiosity rather than a legitimate political candidate. The Wall Street crash had disastrous effects on the US economy. The result was mass unemployment; by 1932, more than 12 million Americans were out of work. Banks struggled to provide money and credit. What was the impact of the Great Depression in Germany? Others scavenged for scraps in dustbins and rubbish heaps. | on the US stock exchange brought about a global economic depression. The day became known as "Black Thursday," Many factors had led to that moment. War expenditure had been almost completely financed by loans and the money supply had been quadrupled in the period from 1914 to 1918. Between 1929 and 1932, American industrial production fell by 45 per cent. The collapse in economic confidence fuelled a run on banks, as people rushed to secure their savings. When the United States called for those loans to be repaid to stabilize its own economy, it threw foreign economies into economic depression as well. By 1932, German industrial production was at 58 per cent of its 1928 levels. By 1932, German industrial production had fallen to just 58 per cent of its 1928 levels. The destruction of the currency wiped out the people's savings, which meant that there would be very little capital available within the German economy for years to come. In 1927 and 1928, the Wall Street Stock Exchange became the epicentre of a new gold rush, as thousands of Americans rushed to invest in the booming share market. - 20075385 Know something about this topic? By the end of 1929, around 1.5 million Germans were without a job. American industry had supported the Allied war effort, resulting in a massive influx of cash into the US economy. It hit particularly hard in Europe where multiple nations were indebted to the United States. Know something about this topic? We would like to thank The Crown and Goodman Family and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing Payments made by Germany to the victorious Allies represented a drain of capital that would have otherwise been directed toward the growth of German industry. British novelist Christopher Isherwood, who lived in Berlin during the worst of the depression, described scenes of unemployment and impoverishment in the German capital: “Morning after morning, all over the immense, damp, dreary town and the packing-case colonies of huts in the suburb allotments, young men were waking up to another workless empty day, to be spent as they could best contrive: selling boot-laces, begging, playing draughts in the hall of the Labour Exchange, hanging about urinals, opening the doors of cars, helping with crates in the market, gossiping, lounging, stealing, overhearing racing tips, sharing stumps of cigarette ends picked up in the gutter.”. Visit our YouTube Channel. While the Great Depression (and German economic conditions in general) were not solely responsible for bringing Hitler to power, they helped create an environment in which he gained support. The severe depression faced by the German economy in the 1930s was partly due to the problems of recovery from the First World War.War expenditure had been almost completely financed by loans and the money supply had been quadrupled in the period from 1914 to 1918. As in the United States, the Weimar Republic decided to cut spending rather than increase it to spur the economy, further worsening the situation. Last Updated 16 June 2011. Title: “The Great Depression in Germany” In January 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor by President Hindenburg.