The Impact of the Wall Street Crash on Nazism

 by Sophie Escott

In 1919, Germany’s allies held a large conference, in which they discussed how to punish Germany after the war. They came up with the Treaty of Versailles, which was a Peace Treaty the German Government was forced to sign. The treaty blamed Germany for the outbreak of the war, and punished her through military, territory and financial stability. This left Germany in complete and utter chaos. Poverty struck, and hundreds of thousands were left homeless and jobless. The German government found that they simply could not afford to pay the sum of money in the Treaty of Versailles agreement, so they turned to America. The German government made an agreement with American banks and businesses, stating that America would lend Germany money to pay the sum that was required to her allies, and it had to be paid back when the Americans said so. When the crash on Wall Street occurred, America demanded their money back, in an attempt to stabilize the economy and save their businesses. Germany had no choice but to reimburse them with the amount of money that they borrowed, creating even more mayhem. 

Many members of the German population who were poor, and without a job turned to the Nazi party, as one of their main arguments was that, if elected, they would abolish the Treaty of Versailles, which many saw as the event that had led everything downhill. If Germany originally did not agree to the terms and conditions of the treaty, then they would not have had to borrow the money from America, which would have avoided the mess caused by the crash of Wall Street. That would have avoided total poverty, and the people of Germany might still have their homes, jobs and financial stability. The Nazi party argued that pulling out of the Treaty of Versailles would save the German government money in the future so that Germany now could work on rebuilding their economy, and getting the people their jobs back. They argued that this would create the best outcome for everyone, as now there would be more people working, which would help grow the economy, and for the members of the public, who would now have enough money to live more comfortably.

Another reason why the crash on Wall Street made the Nazi party more popular was because of how strong the leadership appeared to be so that Hitler’s boldness and strong opinions seemed somewhat reassuring to some members of the general public amidst the economic and political mayhem caused by the Great Depression. Hitler promised that if he were to get the vote, he would make sure everything was under control, which would have made the members of the public feel safe and looked after. Because they were desperate to feel economically secure too many voters therefore ignored Hitler's threats towards others such as political opponents and above all the Jewish population who were later brutally killed in the Holocaust.