The German Question, Part One Hundred Three

"Germany's Weimar Republic" Part Six
"The Great Depression Shakes The Republic"

The Weimar Republic essentially stabilized for a period during the mid to late 1920s and it looked as if democracy would firmly take root in former authoritarian Germany, which was granted admission into the "League of Nations" in September 1926,*/** and German prestige was on the rise. Germany and the Soviet Union signed a treaty ("Treaty of Rapallo," named for the Italian city where it was signed) in 1922. The treaty had several clauses and it provided for extensive trade between the two nations. The "public" aspects of the treaty appeared to be relatively benign, but a secret agreement permitted the Germans to test new military technology (which was forbidden by the Versailles Treaty) in the Soviet Union.

The Wall Street Crash and the beginning of the Great Depression led to the beginning of the end for the German Republic. While the political right had scorned the Republic from its inception, linking the democratic government to the far left, this was untrue. The German government was certainly left-leaning, but it also was just as certainly not connected with the far left. In fact, when far leftist elements led rebellions in various parts of Germany during the 1920s, the government actually used right wing militias to help quell the disturbances. So much for the government being connected to the far left, but that didn't stop the right wing from the same accusations all the same. The problem was, by relying upon these right wing groups, the government only gave such groups credibility, and these groups were NOT democratic, nor did they fight the communists to save the republic. They fought to keep the communists out of power, with the hope of gaining power for themselves eventually. It was a pretty strange relationship to say the least.

The electorate was fractured, as a multitude of political parties appeared on the ballots, and delegates to the Reichstag (parliament) were apportioned by percentage of the vote; thus making majority rule almost impossible. The moderate Social Democrats continued as Germany's largest political party, but as the economy tumbled, so did the vote for moderation. The communists on the left and the National Socialists (Nazis) on the right began to garner increasing shares of the vote in regional and national elections. The Nazis, led by the man with the funny looking, Charlie Chaplin-like mustache, were suddenly becoming a political party to be reckoned with.

Next...."The Rise of Hitler and The Nazis"

* The League of Nations was the forerunner of the United Nations.

** Since Austria will be re-emerging as a part of this series, it should be noted that Austria joined the League of Nations in 1920.

WORD HISTORY:
Hide-This is the noun now meaning "skin of an animal," although it is also related to "hide," the verb, meaning "to conceal." These words are related to a number of other English words,^ as well as to words in the other Germanic languages. (I plan to do the verb form in the next article.) The word goes back to Indo Eurpean "(s)keut." which had the notion of "cover, covering." This gave Old Germanic "hudiz," which meant "skin, hide," which then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "hyd," which meant "skin." Later it came to be spelled "hide" and it also took on the more specific meaning "animal skin." Quite common in the other Germanic languages as the general term for "skin" (although some Low German dialects use a form of "pelt" for "skin"): German has "Haut," pronounced "how-t," from Old High German "hut," with a long "u;" some Low German dialects have "Hüt;" West Frisian has "hud;" Dutch has "huid;" Norwegian, Swedish and Danish all have "hud;" and Icelandic has "húð," which is much like "huth."

^ "Hide" is related to "hoard" (noun and verb) and to "hose," words from the Germanic roots of English.