This document provides an overview of key topics and questions about the Weimar Republic from 1919-1933. It includes questions about the flaws in the Weimar Constitution and difficulties with the Treaty of Versailles. It also examines the threats from political extremism on the left and right. Furthermore, it surveys Weimar election results over time and images from the hyperinflation crisis of 1923. The document aims to analyze why the Weimar Republic collapsed in 1933 and the rise of Hitler and the Nazis.

1. Weimar Germany: The
Failed Republic
1919-1933

2. Questions-Part 1A
• Was the Weimar Constitution fatally
flawed?
• What aspects of the treaty of the Treaty
of Versailles were most difficult for
Germans to accept?
• Did the Treaty of Versailles
fundamentally weaken Germany?
• “Descent into Chaos” and “The Poison
Kitchen” – What do these readings tell
you about post-war conditions in

3. questions-part 1B
• Assess the threats to Weimar from the
extreme left and the extreme right. Which
branch of political extremism was more
dangerous to Weimar Germany and why?
• To what extent do you agree with the
statement that the Weimar Republic was
“a republic without republicans”? Refer to
your reading in your response.
• Study the political cartoons on pages 44
and 49. What messages do they convey?

4. a survey of weimar election
results

5. 19 January 1919

6. 6 June 1920

7. 4 May 1924

8. 7 December 1924

9. 20 may 1928

10. 14 September 1930

11. 31 july 1932

12. 6 november 1932
(the last free election)

13. 5 March 1933

14. Political Cartoons

16. questions-part 1C
• What caused the Great Inflation of
1923?
• How great a threat did it pose for
Weimar Germany?
• What were its main effects?
• How important a figure was
Stresemann to the Weimar Republic at
this time?

17. images from the great
inflation

19. part 2
• Weimar Republic, 1924-1929: A false
stability?
• Why did the Weimar Republic collapse
in 1933 and why did it give way to
Hitler and the Nazis?

20. Weimar Germany 1924-1929: A false
Stability?

21. An artist’s final warning: Fritz Lang’s The
Testament of Dr. Mabuse

22. Formative Socratic seminar
• Why did the Weimar Republic collapse
in 1933 and why did it give way to
Hitler and the Nazis?

23. The Sources
• Layton, Weimar and the Rise of Nazi Germany, 1918-1933
• “Descent into Chaos” from R.J. Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich,
pp. 60-76
• “The Poison Kitchen” from R. Rosenbaum, Explaining Hitler, pp. 37-
59.
• “Weaknesses of Weimar” from R.J. Evans, The Coming of the Third
Reich, pp. 78-102
• “Fritz Gerlich and the Trial of Hitler’s Nose” from R. Rosenbaum,
Explaining Hitler, pp. 155-167.
• “The Months of Opportunity,” from Alan Bullock, Hitler: A Study in
Tyranny, pp. 210-250.

24. Sources (cont’d)
• The fictional Ernst Janning in Judgement at Nuremburg,
http://safeshare.tv/w/RmGVzEHSyK