Weimar
https://twitter.com/CptAllenHistory/status/1708905506348105892
In the years & decades prior to the rise of the #Nazis in #Germany, many refused to believe the #German nation – which had come to be most well-known for its love of the arts & humanities – could commit itself to persecution of #Jews & the unprecedented brutality of the #Holocaust.
Germany had become the center of scientific innovation. #QuantumMechanics and rocket technology came out of Germany. In fact, this is why, post-WWII, the #Americans and the #Soviets were in a race to bring #Nazi scientists (even war criminals) to their country to get a "leg-up" by obtaining German knowledge & scientific understanding.
- Antisemitism saw a dramatic drop in the early 20th century. Going back to 1912, 12 out of the 100 members of the Reichstag (German parliament) were Jewish.
And in the months prior to #WWI in 1914, nobody suspected antisemitism would become a powerful political force in Germany. Though #antisemites had run in German elections, they never got more than 4-5% of the vote.
In 1918, German universities opened themselves up to Jewish scholars including: physicist Albert #Einstein; sociologists Karl Mannheim, Erich Fromm, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, & Herbert Marcuse; philosophers Ernst Cassirer and Edmund Husserl; and political theorists Arthur Rosenberg & Gustav Meyer.
1924-1929 were the “Golden Years” of the Weimar Republic in Germany where foreign relations improved, and the economy prospered. Just some examples of the culture & intellectual progress of Weimar Germany follows.
The Weimar Republic was hailed as one of the most #democratic governments in #Europe. The country provided for individual #freedom for all including the right to #freespeech, the right to #equality, & the right to practice one’s own #religion. All adults over 21 were permitted to #vote, and a #ProportionalRepresentation system was used.
Weimar Germany also produced nine German #NobelPrize winners, five of whom were #Jewish scientists (such as Albert Einstein who received a Nobel Prize in physics in 1921).
As German culture flourished, #Berlin in particular became fertile ground for intellectuals, artists, and innovators.
One example is the German art school in #Bauhaus, which promoted experimental modernist art and architecture. Painter Paul Klee came out of Bauhaus and his lectures on modern art have been compared in importance to Leonardo’s Treatise on Painting & Newton’s Principia Mathematica.
Weimar Germany also produced #Freudian psychoanalysis from Jewish psychologist Sigmund #Freud.
The foundations of the theories of quantum mechanics came out of Wiemar Germany from Werner #Heisenberg and his “uncertainty principle,” among others.
New methods of teaching and engaging students came out of Weimar Germany including the Steiner method, which then spread worldwide.
The science of researching physical movement and its contributions to overall health came from Weimar Germany.
Germany's most influential philosopher during the Weimar Republic was Martin Heidegger, who published one of the cornerstones of 20th-century philosophy during this period, Being and Time (1927). His work influenced generations of philosophers in Europe and the #UnitedStates, particularly in the areas of phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics and deconstruction.
The draw of German culture even survived #Naziism, at least for a time. Many artists and intellectuals simply preferred romantic German culture to, for example, rationalistic French culture. Even in the #WarsawGhetto, some Jewish musicians would play #Beethoven, for example.
https://twitter.com/CptAllenHistory/status/1708913553774641331
Someone mentioned freedom of speech during the #Weimar Republic, but I think the tweet was deleted. Anyway - I wrote up a response, so it's below for anyone interested.
Article 118 of the Weimar #Constitution banned #censorship – in essence, it protected #freespeech.
The Weimar Constitution overall granted citizens many civil liberties, including #freedom of speech and also freedom of the press. It also provided economic and social rights such as #unemployment benefits & a ban against job discrimination because of sex, religion, or politics. The Weimar Constitution also provided the right to put laws directly before the voters in a referendum.
But, in 1929, when the New York stock market crash signaled worldwide #Depression, all foreign loans to the #German government to pay #reparations post-WWI dried up. Without those funds, the government could not pay its reparations or sustain its unemployment and other social-spending programs. Foreign investments in German businesses also stopped, causing many to go bankrupt.
The next several years were much worse in Germany than they were in the #UnitedStates, #England, or #France. #Hitler and other extremists became popular as the public demanded a “#strongman” to “save” #Germany.
Hitler blamed all of Germany’s troubles on #Jews, #communists, and the failure of Weimar #democracy. In April 1932, the Nazis got 37% of the vote, which made the Nazis the largest party in the Reichstag with 230 of the 608 seats.
In January 1933, Hitler was appointed #Chancellor. Another election was called for March 1933; and, on February 27, 1933, as the campaign moved into its final, frantic days, the Reichstag mysteriously was set on fire and burnt down.
An atmosphere of panic and terror followed. Hitler blamed the communists and issued a new “temporary” decree, suspending constitutional rights to crush the communists.
In the March 1933 elections, with close to 6 million Germans unemployed, the #Nazi Party won 44% of the Reichstag seats. With the support of smaller right-wing parties, Hitler commanded a majority to form a new government.
Hitler then submitted an “Enabling Act,” calling for the Reichstag to transfer its lawmaking powers to him. The law also allowed Hitler to ignore any provision of the Weimar Constitution.
On March 23, 1933, the Reichstag met in a Berlin opera house to vote on the Enabling Act. With the aisles packed with Nazi storm troopers, the Reichstag voted to end democracy in Germany and make Hitler #dictator of what he called the “#ThirdReich.”
