Adolf Hitler

The Great Depression was a shock wave that spread like an epidemic throughout the world, especially those that relied on trade with other countries for resources. This caused a great deal of trouble for Germany who was heavily dependent on loans and deposits from USA. When USA recalled the loans back, it crumbled Germany’s economy. Many became unemployed and fell into poverty. Unemployment was raised up to 1.3 million people without any forms of income for their families. This was when the economic situation took an unfavorable political turn.

 

Due to the extreme views within the coalition government, a course of action could not be decided upon. One of the reasons was because the Weimar government believed that just like the 1923 economic crisis where Germany recovered from the slump without the government taking action , the Great Depression was thought to be the same. Instead, what the government did was to cut social services. One of which was when the budget for war victims were decreased by one-third ; many felt betrayed.

 

Hitler was able to manipulate the unfortunate situations of the people as well as the failure of any effective action taken by the government. Weimar’s lack of action was viewed as a sign of ignorance in face of the people’s sufferings. He used the sufferings triggered by the Great Depression to rally the people for change by giving the masses an entity to blame. People did not just lose faith in the Weimar government; they blamed the entire democratic system  itself for its failure in sustaining Germany. Thus, clouded by poor living conditions brought about by the effects of the Great Depression, Hitler was able to unite the people together by giving them a promise of a brighter future.

 

The Great Depression made them realise how weak and powerless their government was which made it easier for external influences like Hitler to manipulate them when they were already at a very low point in their life. Therefore, the effects of the Great Depression played a major contribution in the rise of Hitler as it further emphasize on the weak government which made the people seek out an alternative to alleviate them from their sufferings.