WEBVTT

00:00:00.492 --> 00:00:02.235
Narrator: Where we left
off in the last video,

00:00:02.235 --> 00:00:05.077
in 1924, Hitler was in jail,

00:00:05.077 --> 00:00:07.535
his famous coup d'état in 1923,

00:00:07.535 --> 00:00:10.070
his famous Beer Hall Putsched
in Munich had failed.

00:00:10.070 --> 00:00:12.740
He's now in jail, he's writing Mein Kampf.

00:00:12.740 --> 00:00:15.404
When he gets out of jail, so
this is when he's in jail,

00:00:15.404 --> 00:00:18.891
the Nazi party is banned
and a lot of the economic

00:00:18.891 --> 00:00:21.898
turmoil that made the
possibility of overthrowing

00:00:21.898 --> 00:00:24.515
the government more
likely, that we saw in the

00:00:24.515 --> 00:00:27.251
early 20's, that hyperinflation
in Weimar Germany,

00:00:27.251 --> 00:00:29.533
this was now under
control by the time Hitler

00:00:29.533 --> 00:00:30.412
comes out of jail.

00:00:30.412 --> 00:00:33.200
They had issued new currency,
it was far more stable.

00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:36.412
To a certain degree the
Nazi's and Hitler were

00:00:36.412 --> 00:00:39.747
starting from scratch,
although even at this point

00:00:39.747 --> 00:00:43.497
Hitler continues to be an
ever growing influence.

00:00:43.497 --> 00:00:45.934
He's a famous speaker,
there are more and more

00:00:45.934 --> 00:00:47.748
people who are knowing about him

00:00:47.748 --> 00:00:48.908
and who are following him.

00:00:48.908 --> 00:00:51.202
Over the next few years
his book does get published

00:00:51.202 --> 00:00:54.204
and it sells, actually,
tens of thousands of copies

00:00:54.204 --> 00:00:56.996
over the next several
years, but for the most part

00:00:56.996 --> 00:01:00.474
he's still a relatively small
actor in German politics.

00:01:00.474 --> 00:01:03.829
But then we fast forward
as we get to the late 20s,

00:01:03.829 --> 00:01:05.931
the Nazi's are gaining some influence,

00:01:05.931 --> 00:01:08.353
but then in 1929,

00:01:08.353 --> 00:01:09.911
(writing) in 1929,

00:01:09.911 --> 00:01:13.684
you have a global change for the economy

00:01:13.684 --> 00:01:16.531
of the world and that's the beginning of

00:01:16.531 --> 00:01:17.766
The Great Depression.

00:01:17.766 --> 00:01:20.665
In particular, what's often the first sign

00:01:20.665 --> 00:01:22.744
that The Great Depression
was at hand is you have

00:01:22.744 --> 00:01:26.989
the U.S. stock market
crashes in October of 1929,

00:01:26.989 --> 00:01:28.550
famous Black Tuesday.

00:01:28.550 --> 00:01:30.509
That was the mark of the beginning of a,

00:01:30.509 --> 00:01:31.925
not just American Depression,

00:01:31.925 --> 00:01:33.727
but a global depression.

00:01:33.727 --> 00:01:39.992
So you have the whole world
going into a depression.

00:01:39.992 --> 00:01:42.658
Anytime you have economic
turmoil it tends give more

00:01:42.658 --> 00:01:44.854
energy to the more extreme parties,

00:01:44.854 --> 00:01:46.851
whether it is the parties like the Nazi's,

00:01:46.851 --> 00:01:49.929
who one could consider maybe to be on the

00:01:49.929 --> 00:01:51.145
extreme right, or often considered to be

00:01:51.145 --> 00:01:53.337
on the extreme right,
or maybe you could say

00:01:53.337 --> 00:01:55.268
very nationalistic, or even the extreme

00:01:55.268 --> 00:01:57.932
left parties who are obviously against

00:01:57.932 --> 00:02:01.428
capitalist systems and whatever else.

00:02:01.428 --> 00:02:04.220
So, by the election of 1930,
now we're talking about

00:02:04.220 --> 00:02:06.267
Parliamentary elections and the Parliament

00:02:06.267 --> 00:02:09.471
in Germany is the Reichstag.

00:02:09.471 --> 00:02:12.204
(writing) The Reichstag, and I know

00:02:12.204 --> 00:02:13.338
I'm mispronouncing it.

00:02:13.338 --> 00:02:16.535
In the Reichstag
elections, the Nazi party,

00:02:16.535 --> 00:02:19.021
for the first time is able to
have a significant showing.

00:02:19.021 --> 00:02:23.616
It gets 18, it gets
roughly 18% of the vote

00:02:23.616 --> 00:02:27.464
and a proportional
representation in the Parliament.

00:02:27.464 --> 00:02:29.598
Now all of a sudden, this
kind of marks the beginning

00:02:29.598 --> 00:02:32.761
of the Nazi's being significant,

00:02:32.761 --> 00:02:36.430
significant players in German politics.

00:02:36.430 --> 00:02:38.803
Then we get to 1932 and the economy is not

00:02:38.803 --> 00:02:40.534
improving, it is only getting worse.

00:02:40.534 --> 00:02:42.337
(writing) 1932.

00:02:42.337 --> 00:02:45.873
Adolf Hitler actually
makes a run for President.

00:02:45.873 --> 00:02:47.460
The current President at that point

00:02:47.460 --> 00:02:50.144
is Paul von Hindenburg,
famous for the Hindenburg

00:02:50.144 --> 00:02:52.562
line, later for the Hindenburg,

00:02:52.562 --> 00:02:55.678
the Zeppelin, the famous
exploding Zeppelin disaster.

00:02:55.678 --> 00:02:58.536
He was, with Ludendorff,
one of the two leaders

00:02:58.536 --> 00:03:01.666
of the German military
effort during World War I.

00:03:01.666 --> 00:03:05.681
He's President of the
Weimar Republic since 1925

00:03:05.681 --> 00:03:09.078
and in 1932 he is able to get re-election,

00:03:09.078 --> 00:03:13.070
but Hitler has a fairly good showing.

00:03:13.070 --> 00:03:15.664
Hitler is able to get 35% of the vote.

00:03:15.664 --> 00:03:20.587
(writing) Hitler gets
35% of the presidential

00:03:20.587 --> 00:03:23.366
election votes, (writing) of the vote.

00:03:23.366 --> 00:03:25.904
The Weimar Republic had
this strange system.

00:03:25.904 --> 00:03:28.535
It wasn't quite a Presidential
system like the U.S.

00:03:28.535 --> 00:03:30.671
and it wasn't quite a
pure Parliamentary system

00:03:30.671 --> 00:03:32.747
like the current-day Germany.

00:03:32.747 --> 00:03:34.940
The President was independently elected

00:03:34.940 --> 00:03:36.724
and had some powers,
and then the Parliament

00:03:36.724 --> 00:03:38.203
was also independently elected

00:03:38.203 --> 00:03:40.193
and then they would
try to build coalitions

00:03:40.193 --> 00:03:42.116
to have a ruling government.

00:03:42.116 --> 00:03:45.866
Needless to say, 1932
Hitler is now a major actor,

00:03:45.866 --> 00:03:49.056
the Nazi's also have a many, many, many

00:03:49.056 --> 00:03:50.669
seats in Parliament.

00:03:50.669 --> 00:03:53.329
Now, you have several
Parliamentary elections

00:03:53.329 --> 00:03:56.924
as well in 1932 and as
we just talked about

00:03:56.924 --> 00:03:58.129
two in particular.

00:03:58.129 --> 00:04:00.945
In order for a government
to form in Parliament,

00:04:00.945 --> 00:04:03.192
in order to find the
Cabinet and the Chancellor,

00:04:03.192 --> 00:04:04.791
who essentially is the Prime Minister,

00:04:04.791 --> 00:04:07.193
you have an election and
the different parties

00:04:07.193 --> 00:04:09.589
get different amounts of votes.

00:04:09.589 --> 00:04:13.169
If no party has a majority,
the parties have to form

00:04:13.169 --> 00:04:15.562
a coalition that can make a majority.

00:04:15.562 --> 00:04:17.270
There's a lot of horsetrading going on

00:04:17.270 --> 00:04:19.617
with parties negotiating,
hey why don't we form

00:04:19.617 --> 00:04:21.361
a coalition with each other, if we do that

00:04:21.361 --> 00:04:23.205
maybe someone from my party can be

00:04:23.205 --> 00:04:26.022
Minister of the Interior,
someone of your party

00:04:26.022 --> 00:04:28.586
could be the Chancellor
and maybe we can get

00:04:28.586 --> 00:04:32.520
a coalition together to
rule over the government.

00:04:32.520 --> 00:04:34.452
But you have two Parliamentary elections

00:04:34.452 --> 00:04:37.340
and no majority coalition forms.

00:04:37.340 --> 00:04:40.075
(writing) So, two, two elections.

00:04:40.075 --> 00:04:41.683
So this is Parliamentary.

00:04:41.683 --> 00:04:43.253
So this is in the Presidential election,

00:04:43.253 --> 00:04:44.916
Hindenburg is still President,

00:04:44.916 --> 00:04:48.134
but Hitler has a good
showing and then you have two

00:04:48.134 --> 00:04:49.852
Parliamentary elections.

00:04:49.852 --> 00:04:51.163
(writing) Parliament elections,

00:04:51.163 --> 00:04:54.554
or Reichstag elections
where you have no majority,

00:04:54.554 --> 00:04:55.454
no coalition.

00:04:55.454 --> 00:05:00.249
(writing) no majority, majority coalition.

00:05:00.249 --> 00:05:02.648
The Nazi's continue to
be a major actor here,

00:05:02.648 --> 00:05:06.513
they continue to have
more and more of a showing

00:05:06.513 --> 00:05:08.917
inside the Reichstag.

00:05:08.917 --> 00:05:12.225
Then by 1933 it's a bit of crisis.

00:05:12.225 --> 00:05:15.022
So as we get in to early
1933 we have a little

00:05:15.022 --> 00:05:16.241
bit of a crisis.

00:05:16.241 --> 00:05:19.323
We have no government,
we have no Chancellor,

00:05:19.323 --> 00:05:23.156
we have no Cabinet to
essentially be the executive,

00:05:23.156 --> 00:05:26.297
the government of the
country because there's been

00:05:26.297 --> 00:05:27.762
no major coalitions.

00:05:27.762 --> 00:05:30.859
The Weimar Constitution
allowed a strange thing,

00:05:30.859 --> 00:05:35.395
it allowed the President
to appoint a government,

00:05:35.395 --> 00:05:38.930
appoint a Cabinet, a
Chancellor that might not

00:05:38.930 --> 00:05:40.605
even be representative of what's

00:05:40.605 --> 00:05:42.284
going on in Parliament.

00:05:42.284 --> 00:05:45.648
So, Paul von Hindenburg
is convinced that ...

00:05:45.648 --> 00:05:50.746
hey look, he was no fan, he
was no fan of Adolf Hitler

00:05:50.746 --> 00:05:52.654
but he's convinced that look,

00:05:52.654 --> 00:05:55.412
Adolf Hitler was your opponent if you make

00:05:55.412 --> 00:05:58.631
Adolf Hitler the head of
an interim Government,

00:05:58.631 --> 00:06:01.428
the head of an interim
Cabinet then that might

00:06:01.428 --> 00:06:03.630
be a way to create some national unity

00:06:03.630 --> 00:06:05.869
and then maybe we could
have some Parliamentary

00:06:05.869 --> 00:06:08.910
elections that there can
be a majority coalition

00:06:08.910 --> 00:06:10.441
and you could have, I guess you could say,

00:06:10.441 --> 00:06:13.404
a more legitimate government take hold.

00:06:13.404 --> 00:06:15.866
So, Paul von Hindenburg is convinced

00:06:15.866 --> 00:06:19.741
and so he does, even
though the Nazi's are still

00:06:19.741 --> 00:06:22.488
a minority party, even
though they weren't part of

00:06:22.488 --> 00:06:24.010
any type of a majority coalition,

00:06:24.010 --> 00:06:27.122
Paul von Hindenburg who is
not a fan of Adolf Hitler

00:06:27.122 --> 00:06:29.133
appoints him as Chancellor.

00:06:29.133 --> 00:06:30.943
This is in January.

00:06:30.943 --> 00:06:33.693
So in January, Hitler,

00:06:33.693 --> 00:06:37.377
(writing) Hitler is appointed Chancellor,

00:06:37.377 --> 00:06:39.749
Chancellor, which is
essentially the Prime Minister

00:06:39.749 --> 00:06:44.873
of the Reichstag of Germany.

00:06:44.873 --> 00:06:47.465
Then we get to February
and events get really,

00:06:47.465 --> 00:06:49.586
really, really interesting.

00:06:49.586 --> 00:06:55.178
In February of 1933 you have a fire in the

00:06:55.178 --> 00:06:56.941
Reichstag building in Berlin.

00:06:56.941 --> 00:06:59.028
This is the Reichstag
building right over here

00:06:59.028 --> 00:07:01.853
and it is on fire.

00:07:01.853 --> 00:07:03.587
They find this gentleman
here on the scene,

00:07:03.587 --> 00:07:07.551
Marinus van der Lubbe,
he is a Dutch communist.

00:07:07.551 --> 00:07:09.385
It is essentially the blame is placed

00:07:09.385 --> 00:07:11.614
as this was some type
of a, the beginning of

00:07:11.614 --> 00:07:13.972
some type of a communist revolution.

00:07:13.972 --> 00:07:16.333
This is used as a pretext.

00:07:16.333 --> 00:07:19.027
Hitler then advises Paul von Hindenburg

00:07:19.027 --> 00:07:21.532
to essentially use some
of his emergency powers

00:07:21.532 --> 00:07:24.194
as President, which is
another strange thing

00:07:24.194 --> 00:07:25.890
that the Weimar Constitution allowed for,

00:07:25.890 --> 00:07:28.275
it allowed the President
under emergency conditions

00:07:28.275 --> 00:07:30.600
to start to suspend civil rights.

00:07:30.600 --> 00:07:32.443
This was an emergency situation

00:07:32.443 --> 00:07:35.623
and so Paul von Hindenburg does that.

00:07:35.623 --> 00:07:38.797
He essentially issues ...
once you have the Reichstag

00:07:38.797 --> 00:07:42.698
fire (writing) Reichstag fire,

00:07:42.698 --> 00:07:45.840
and then Hindenburg is
convinced by the Nazi's

00:07:45.840 --> 00:07:50.496
to pass the Reichstag Fire Decree.

00:07:50.496 --> 00:07:54.916
(writing) Fire decree,
which essentially suspends,

00:07:54.916 --> 00:07:56.951
it gives the government emergency powers

00:07:56.951 --> 00:08:00.535
and it suspends civil liberties,
which everything up to

00:08:00.535 --> 00:08:02.280
this point now is actually legal,

00:08:02.280 --> 00:08:04.040
this was actually allowed for in the

00:08:04.040 --> 00:08:05.303
Weimar Constitution.

00:08:05.303 --> 00:08:10.596
(writing) Suspends, suspends
civil, civil liberties.

00:08:10.596 --> 00:08:13.145
And since there's no
coalition, the whole point that

00:08:13.145 --> 00:08:15.572
Hitler's Cabinet was going
to be an interim one,

00:08:15.572 --> 00:08:18.272
you have another Parliamentary election

00:08:18.272 --> 00:08:21.722
coming in March with the hope of maybe

00:08:21.722 --> 00:08:24.722
a majority coalition forms, but that March

00:08:24.722 --> 00:08:27.252
election, especially with
civil liberties suspended

00:08:27.252 --> 00:08:29.329
you could imagine that the Nazi's ...

00:08:29.329 --> 00:08:33.071
and they have their paramilitary troopers

00:08:33.071 --> 00:08:35.249
started intimidating other parties,

00:08:35.249 --> 00:08:37.795
making sure that they had a better showing

00:08:37.795 --> 00:08:39.666
at the polls, they started intimidating

00:08:39.666 --> 00:08:40.935
other candidates.

00:08:40.935 --> 00:08:43.662
The March election start to swing hugely

00:08:43.662 --> 00:08:46.323
in the Nazi's favor, so
in the March election

00:08:46.323 --> 00:08:50.744
they're able to get 44% of the vote,

00:08:50.744 --> 00:08:53.221
which is still not enough, by themselves,

00:08:53.221 --> 00:08:54.464
to form a government.

00:08:54.464 --> 00:08:56.099
It's still not a majority,
but they're able now ...

00:08:56.099 --> 00:08:59.244
they're now the largest
part in the Reichstag,

00:08:59.244 --> 00:09:00.288
in the Parliament.

00:09:00.288 --> 00:09:02.328
They're able to now form
a majority coalition,

00:09:02.328 --> 00:09:04.408
and I guess you could
say more legitimately ...

00:09:04.408 --> 00:09:08.325
although this was a
election of intimidation,

00:09:08.325 --> 00:09:12.074
they were able to now form a government,

00:09:12.074 --> 00:09:13.466
they're able to now form a government

00:09:13.466 --> 00:09:15.553
based on a majority coalition

00:09:15.553 --> 00:09:18.267
and Hitler remains Chancellor.

00:09:18.267 --> 00:09:21.804
But then, this new Parliament passes the

00:09:21.804 --> 00:09:23.971
Enabling Act in March.

00:09:23.971 --> 00:09:27.883
(writing) Enabling Act, Enabling Act,

00:09:27.883 --> 00:09:29.497
which is essentially an amendment

00:09:29.497 --> 00:09:34.977
to the Weimar Constitution
which gives the Cabinet,

00:09:34.977 --> 00:09:37.151
especially the Chancellor,
effectively the Chancellor

00:09:37.151 --> 00:09:38.523
who's the head of the Cabinet,

00:09:38.523 --> 00:09:41.805
legislative powers,
unlimited legislative powers

00:09:41.805 --> 00:09:43.553
for the next four years.

00:09:43.553 --> 00:09:46.480
So, it gives legislative powers

00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:47.964
and remember we already have suspended

00:09:47.964 --> 00:09:48.672
civil rights.

00:09:48.672 --> 00:09:50.926
So, the Reichstag is
essentially giving over the

00:09:50.926 --> 00:09:52.515
legislative powers,

00:09:52.515 --> 00:09:57.995
(writing) legislative
powers, to the Chancellor

00:09:57.995 --> 00:10:01.566
who happens to be, who
happens to be Hitler.

00:10:01.566 --> 00:10:03.888
There was some check on
this by the President,

00:10:03.888 --> 00:10:06.615
but then we have Hindenburg
dying the next year.

00:10:06.615 --> 00:10:10.538
After this, after the
suspension of civil rights

00:10:10.538 --> 00:10:12.971
and then the Enabling
Act shortly afterwards,

00:10:12.971 --> 00:10:14.935
Hitler is essentially in full control,

00:10:14.935 --> 00:10:17.781
Hitler and the Nazi's are
essentially in full control

00:10:17.781 --> 00:10:19.381
of the German government.

00:10:19.381 --> 00:10:22.275
At this point, Hitler is the dictator,

00:10:22.275 --> 00:10:26.391
(writing) the dictator of, he
is the dictator of Germany.

00:10:26.391 --> 00:10:28.756
They start to act fast,
they start to intimidate

00:10:28.756 --> 00:10:30.792
other parties, they use violence,

00:10:30.792 --> 00:10:36.044
they start to imprison
people and by July of 1933

00:10:36.044 --> 00:10:40.417
... so they're acting very,
very fast, by July of 1933

00:10:40.417 --> 00:10:43.317
Nazi's are the only legal party.

00:10:43.317 --> 00:10:47.004
(writing) only legal Pot party

00:10:47.004 --> 00:10:49.378
and they essentially have full control.

00:10:49.378 --> 00:10:51.274
Now, this is how Hitler came to power

00:10:51.274 --> 00:10:53.053
and the question that's probably circling

00:10:53.053 --> 00:10:55.414
in your mind is, "Who did this fire?"

00:10:55.414 --> 00:10:57.200
This fire was the catalyst,
although Hitler was

00:10:57.200 --> 00:10:59.161
already Chancellor and
maybe he would have found

00:10:59.161 --> 00:11:00.871
some way to get to power regardless,

00:11:00.871 --> 00:11:03.750
but this fire, even
though there was evidence

00:11:03.750 --> 00:11:05.703
that it looked like maybe
Marinus van der Lubbe

00:11:05.703 --> 00:11:08.091
did it, it was blamed on the communist,

00:11:08.091 --> 00:11:09.967
it was the pretext that was used to give

00:11:09.967 --> 00:11:12.348
the government even more power,

00:11:12.348 --> 00:11:14.722
especially the Nazi's even more power.

00:11:14.722 --> 00:11:16.476
This is an open question,
one of those great

00:11:16.476 --> 00:11:19.278
open questions, one of
those great open questions

00:11:19.278 --> 00:11:20.301
of history.

00:11:20.301 --> 00:11:22.414
Some people feel that maybe it was just a

00:11:22.414 --> 00:11:26.476
communist plot, maybe it
was Marinus van der Lubbe

00:11:26.476 --> 00:11:29.145
acting on his own and maybe
it just happened to fall

00:11:29.145 --> 00:11:32.439
into the hands of Hitler and
they were able to use it,

00:11:32.439 --> 00:11:34.934
while other historians
think that this was actually

00:11:34.934 --> 00:11:38.200
a plot by the Nazi's to
create this emergency state

00:11:38.200 --> 00:11:41.155
and Marinus van der Lubbe
was kind of a puppet

00:11:41.155 --> 00:11:42.480
in this whole plot.

00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:45.897
So, open question of
history, but needless to say

00:11:45.897 --> 00:11:50.226
as we go from 1919 to
1933, Hitler goes from

00:11:50.226 --> 00:11:55.574
a fairly unknown individual
to full dictator of Germany.