AQA A-Level History: Democracy and Nazism: Germany 1918–1945

Source A — written for this exercise in the style of a private letter from an unemployed factory worker in the Ruhr to his brother, October 1932.

I have had no regular work since the spring of last year, and the dole is cut again. Four million, they say, are idle, but in our street it feels like every man. The Republic promised us so much in better days and now it governs by decree over our heads, for the Reichstag does nothing but quarrel. I went last week to a Communist meeting and the week before to the Nazis, for both shout that they will sweep the system away, and a man who is hungry will listen to anyone who promises bread and work. My wife favours the Nazis because they speak of order and of Germany made great again; I am drawn to the Reds. What I know is that the parties of the middle, the Democrats and the rest, have nothing left to say to us. Whoever ends this misery shall have my vote, whatever his colour.

Source B — written for this exercise in the style of an editorial in a conservative nationalist newspaper, December 1932.

The parliamentary experiment has plainly failed. For two years now the Chancellor has governed under Article 48, because no majority can be assembled in a Reichstag splintered among a dozen factions and dominated at its extremes by Marxists and National Socialists who wish only to destroy it. This is not the fault of the present government but of the system itself, imposed upon Germany in 1919 by the victors and the men of November who signed the shameful armistice. The nation cries out for firm leadership and a restoration of authority. Herr Hitler commands a great movement and the loyalty of millions; were his energies harnessed within a cabinet of national concentration, and tempered by responsible conservative ministers, the threat from the Left might be mastered and order restored. Better to bind him to government than to leave the streets to him.

Source C — written for this exercise in the style of a report by a foreign diplomat to his government, January 1933.

The political crisis here shows no sign of resolution. Since the fall of Bruning the country has been governed by presidential cabinets enjoying no popular mandate, while real power drains to the camarilla around the aged Field-Marshal President. The elections of the past year have made the National Socialists the largest party by far, yet their share fell back in November, and there are signs the movement has passed its peak and is short of funds. The Communists, by contrast, continue to gain. Sober opinion holds that the depression, and the deflationary policy pursued to meet it, has destroyed what faith the middle classes retained in the Republic. The intrigues now afoot to install Herr Hitler as Chancellor under conservative tutelage are, in my judgement, exceedingly dangerous; those who imagine they can use and control him gravely underestimate the man.

Question: With reference to these sources and your understanding of the historical context, assess the value of these three sources to a historian studying the reasons for the collapse of Weimar democracy by January 1933. [30 marks]

To what extent were the problems facing the Weimar Republic between 1919 and 1923 caused by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles? [25 marks]

How far did the Weimar Republic achieve genuine stability in the years 1924 to 1929? [25 marks]

'The Nazi consolidation of power between January 1933 and August 1934 was achieved above all through legal and constitutional means.' Assess the validity of this view. [25 marks]

How important was terror in maintaining the Nazi regime in power in the years 1933 to 1939? [25 marks]