Elections and Governments 1929-33

Question 1

May 1928 election

Answer 1

Big increase in voters for Nazis, from 2.6% to 18.3%

- second biggest party in the reichstag

Question 2

September 1930 election

Answer 2

KPD - went from 10.6% to 13.1%
SPD - 29.8% to 24.5%
DVP and DNVP - vote almost halved

Question 3

July 1932 election

Answer 3

Nazis - dramatic rise in support, becoming single largest party - 37.4%
KPD - 14.5%
SPD - vote fell by 25%
all other parties apart from ZP saw their vote fall

Question 4

November 1932 election

Answer 4

KPD - 16.9%
DNVP - 6.2% to 8.9%
Nazi - 33.1%

Question 5

March 1933 election

Answer 5

Nazi - 43.9%
Hitler was already Chancellor
all parties’ votes declined
Anti-Weimar parties controlled the Reichstag

Question 6

Problems in coalition government

Answer 6

parties in Müller’s government represented different interest groups with conflicting demands
the parties wanted to protect their voters from cuts in spending
- farmers wanted high food prices, but workers wanted low
- businesses that exported wanted free trade, and those who supplied to domestic markets wanted protectionism
- Müller’s finance bill didn’t get through the Reichstag, so he asked Hindenburg to use Article 48 but he refused
- Müller was forced to resign

Question 7

use of presidential decrees and Article 48

Answer 7

government using presidential decree from March 1930

Brüning depended on Hindenburg using Article 48, reflecting the in ability of a coalition to agree

Question 8

Müller’s successor

Answer 8

Brüning from the ZP succeeded Müller

Question 9

Brüning’s government

Answer 9

Brüning was supported by leading German industrialists and the army
Brüning used Article 48 to pass his finance bill
Brüning remained in government until September 1930

Question 10

Brüning’s policies - land to the unemployed

Answer 10

Brüning decided to give land from bankrupt Junker estates to unemployed workers, but this negatively affected him
Hindenburg, president at the time, was a Junker and refused to sign the emergency decrees of Brüning
- he resigned in April 1932

Question 11

Brüning’s policies - paramilitary groups

Answer 11

political violence are alongside unemployment

Brüning banned the SA and the RF, which were the Nazi and Communist paramilitary groups respectively

Question 12

Brüning’s policies - deflation

Answer 12

many of Brüning’s policies led to further deflation, with prices, wages, welfare payments and rent all decreasing
- this resulted in business profits falling, losing him industrialists’ support