Louis Sharrock

From Kaiser to Fhrer: Germany 1900-45

Statistics
Unit 1 - The Second Reich, 1900-18
Imperial Germany constituted a federal system of 25 states
Prussia accounted for two-thirds of the land area and population of the Reich
Prussia had 17 of the 58 seats on the Federal Council; 14 were required to veto any legislative
change to the Constitution
Between 1900 and 1914, coal and iron production doubled and steel production tripled (by 1914,
the latter was almost double that of Britain).
By 1913, approximately 50 per cent of the world's electrical products originated in Germany.
By 1900, Germany produced ~90 per cent of the world's synthetic dies.
Between 1901 and 1914, Germany won a third of all science prizes awarded
On average, the economy expanded by 4.5 per cent per year, 1890-1914.
In the 20 years before WW1, the proportion of Germans dependent on agriculture for their
livelihood fell from 42 per cent to 34 per cent.
Those dependent on the secondary and tertiary sectors rose from 34 to 38 per cent, and 24 to 28
per cent respectively.
The contribution of sectors to the GNP was ~equal in 1888; by 1913, industry contributed 45 per
cent and agriculture 25 per cent.
Agriculture was only in relative decline; output in real terms rose by 42 per cent between 1888
and 1913.
There were one third more Germans in 1910 than in 1890.
By 1910, 60 per cent of the population lived in urban areas (the highest rate in Europe)
Between 1900 and 1914, trade union membership increased from 0.8 million to 2.4 million.
By 1905, 366 cartels existed compared to only 90 in 1885.
The period 1887-1912 saw a marked shift in electoral results:
SPD vote: 11 seats (0.03 per cent) in 1887; 81 seats (20 per cent) in 1903; 43 seats (11 per cent)
in 1907; 110 seats (28/34.8 per cent) in 1912
In 1887, Conservative Parties (the German Conservative Party, Free Conservative Party and
National Liberal Party) gained 48 per cent of the vote (220 seats). By 1912, there share had
fallen to 26 per cent (102 seats).
The Centre Party consistently gained between 90 and 110 seats; it remained the largest in the
Reichstag until 1912.
The
turn out in Reichstag elections increased from 50 per cent in 1871 to nearly 85 per cent in

1912.
The Navy League, formed in 1898, claimed 300'000 active members and 700'000 further
supporters.
Several measures were introduced in 1900 as an extension of the social welfare programme
initiated by Caprivi in 1891.
An extension of accident insurance
A law making industrial courts compulsory in towns with population greater than 20'000
An extension of the prohibition of child labour (which had banned the employment of those
under 13 in 1891)
In 1913, Moltke (Chief of Staff) demanded a Second Army Bill to increase the peacetime strength
of the army further by 20 per cent, to 800'000 men by 1914.
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Following the Zabrn Affair, which saw 28 citizens detained in military barracks, a Reichstag
vote of no confidence in the Chancellor was passed 293 votes to 54.
Between 1914 and 1918, there was a fall in real wages of ~30 per cent as a result of inflation.
Only 16 per cent of the 8.4 million cost of the war was met by taxation.
Printing money led to a decline in the value of the mark by 75 per cent, 1913-18
The Auxiliary Service Law (1916) empowered the government to conscript all those aged 16-60.
1.8 million German soldiers (16 per cent of those conscripted) were killed during the war, and 6
million injured.
The number of civilian deaths from hypothermia and starvation increased from 121000 in 1916 to
293000 in 1918.
The number of infant deaths rose over 50 per cent during the course of the war.
In 1918, the Spanish flu hit Europe, killing 20-40 million people.
In 1917, 42 SPD deputies broke away to form the USPD.
The 'peace resolution' was passed by 212 votes to 126.
By 1918, the 'Fatherland Party' boasted 1.2 million members.
1915-1919, the number of strikes increased from 141 to 3719 (the number of workers involved
rose from 15'000 to 2'132'000)
In January 1918, over half a million workers went on strike for 5 days in Berlin.
The Reichstag suspended proceedings on 5th October 1918, went into recess until 22nd October,
and adjourned again until 9th November.
By 1918, the Spartacists (1905-) had a national membership of ~5000.

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Louis Sharrock

From Kaiser to Fhrer: Germany 1900-45

Statistics
Unit 2 - To what extent was Germany responsible for the outbreak of the First World War?
The Second Naval Law in 1900 expanded the size of the German Navy to 38 battleships (it was
followed by further expansion in 1906, '08 and '12)
By 1905, Britain had started to concentrate three quarters of its naval force in European waters
British projections estimated that, by 1911, Germany would have eleven Dreadnoughts to
Britain's twelve (in fact, the respective figures were 13 and 18).
By 1914, the combined armies of Russia and France outnumbered those of Austria and Germany
by over 1 million.
There was a significant growth in German military expenditure in the years up to the outbreak of
WW1; 3.6 per cent of GNP in 1900, 3.9 per cent in 1910, and 4.7 per cent in 1913.
In August 1913, France increased the length of military conscription from two to three years.
In December 1913, Russia added 500'000 men to its forces.
Each of these developments would take between two and three years to come into effect.

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Louis Sharrock

From Kaiser to Fhrer: Germany 1900-45

Statistics
Unit 3 - The Weimar Republic, 1919-29
The All-German Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils in December 1918 voted 344-98 in
favour of National Assembly elections.
The SPD won 38 per cent of the vote in the National Assembly elections, making it the largest
party.
Between them, the pro-democratic parties (SPD, DDP and ZP) won 76.1 per cent.
Furthermore, a high turn-out of 83 per cent suggested faith in the idea of democracy.
The DNVP gained 10.3 per cent, but had the backing of influential forces (ie landowners,
industrialists, army officers etc.)
In May 1919, a 35000-strong Freikorps army overthrew the KPD-led Bavarian Soviet Republic.
The total Freikorps strength was around 400'000.
On 31st July 1919, the Reichstag voted strongly in favour of the Constitution (262 votes to 75)
Germany was declared a federal republic, with 17 Lnder.
The President was to be elected by the people every seven years.
Elections were to be conducted by proportional representation - one seat~60'000 votes in an
electoral district.
Referenda required 10 per cent of voters as signatories of a petition.
By the Treaty of Versailles:
The German Army was restricted to 100'000 men; and its Navy to 15'000
6 battleships, and no submarines or airforce, were permitted
The IARC fixed reparations at 6600 million in 1921.
The
Treaty was accepted in the Reichstag in June 1919 by 237 votes to 138.

In the elections of June 1920, support for pro-democratic parties fell to 48 per cent (SPD 37.9-21.7
per cent; DDP 18.5-8.3 per cent; ZP 19.75-18.0 per cent)
The DNVP vote increased from 10.3 per cent to 15.1 per cent, and that of the KPD/USPD from 7.6
per cent to 20.0 per cent.
In the years 1919-23, Weimar had six government, the longest of which lasted use 18 months.
The KPD enjoyed the support of around 10-15 per cent of the electorate, 1919-23
By the early 1920s, there were around 70 relatively small splinter nationalist parties.
In the period 1919-22, there were 376 political assassinations (22 by the left and 354 by the right)
Of the 354 committed by the Right, 326 went unpunished, a total of 90 years imprisonment
were handed out, and no one received the death penalty.
Of the 22 'Leftist' assassinations, 4 went unpunished, 250 years of imprisonment were
sentenced, and 10 death sentences were given.
The Kapp Putsch saw 12'000 troops march on Berlin.
Only one of 705 prosecuted was actually found guilty, and sentenced the minimum 5 years
imprisonment for treason.
The Munich Beer Hall Putsch witnessed 14 Nazis killed, and Hitler arrested.
Hitler was sentenced to just 5 years, and was released after 10 months.
During the period 1914-23 (particularly the later stages) the value of the mark depreciated
rapidly against that of the US dollar. Consider the exchange rate:
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July 1914 - 4.2M to 1USD; January 1919 - 8.9; January 1920 - 14.0; January 1922 - 191.8; January
1923 - 17'792; December 1923 - 4'200'000'000'000
By autumn 1923, it thus cost more to print a bank note than the note was worth.
In 1922, over half a million supporters of the Republic came out onto the streets in protest at the
murder of Ratheneau by the Consul Organisation.
Unemployment rose to 4.1 per cent in 1923 (ie still relatively low)
Germany had just 1.8 per cent unemployment in 1921 v. 17 per cent in Britain.
Industrial production nearly doubled 1918-22.
Under the guidance of Finance Minister Hans Luther, government expenditure was sharply cut
in 1923; 700'000 public employees were sacked.
The 'Rentenmark' was introduced, at a value of 1~1 trillion marks.
By 1928, production equalled that of 1913, and national income was 12 per cent higher than in
1913.
Exports rose by 40 per cent between 1925 and 1929.
25.5 billion marks were loaned 1924-30
Wages rose every year in the period 1924-30; in 1927 and 1928, by as much as 5-10 per cent.
In 1927, a compulsory unemployment insurance scheme covering 17 million workers was
introduced.
Economic growth was uneven, and actually declined in 1926.
Unemployment never fell below 1.3 million during this period, and rose to 1.9 million in 1929.
Grain production peaked at only 75 per cent its 1913 level; by the late 1920s, income per head in
agriculture was 44 per cent below the national average.
The government continued to spend beyond its means; public expenditure accounted for ~ 26
per cent of GNP in 1928 (double the pre-war figure)
There was arbitration in some 76000 industrial disputes between 1924 and 1932.
The DNVP peaked in December 1924 with 103 seats (20.5 per cent); and fell back to 14.2 per cent
in May 1928.
The Nazis registered only 12 seats (2.6 per cent) in 1928.
The KPD gained 54 seats (10.6 per cent) in 1928; this saw the formation of Mller's 'Grand
Coalition', which enjoyed over 60 per cent support in the Reichstag.
There were seven different governments in the period 1923-30, only two of which had majorities.
The longest survived for just 21 months.
Election turn-outs consistently declined in the mid-1920s.
162 people were killed in political violence, 1924-29.
The Young Plan saw Germany's total reparations liability decrease from 6600 million to 1850
million.
Germany would pay reparations until 1988
The Plan was opposed by the nationalist right - the 'National Opposition' - but the resulting
referendum only received 13.9 per cent of the vote.
In 1926, 332 million cinema tickets were sold
By 1932, despite the depression, one in four Germans owned a radio.

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Louis Sharrock

From Kaiser to Fhrer: Germany 1900-45

Statistics
Unit 4 - The Rise of the Nazis
By mid-1921, NSDAP membership had risen to 3300, largely as a result of Hitler's oratory.
In order to equip the NSDAP to right election campaigns, it was reorganised into 35 regions
(Gaue) corresponding to the Weimar electoral districts.
The SS was founded in 1925, and had a membership of just 200 by 1929.
The Nazi Party gained just 2.6 per cent of the vote (12 seats) in the elections of May 1928.
However, in regional elections one year later, the NSDAP saw significant gains in several
localised areas; in Thuringia, it registered 11.3 per cent.
National income shrunk by 39 per cent, 1929-32.
Industrial production declined by 42 per cent over the same period.
The number of those unemployed reached ~6 million in 1932 (ie one third of the total workforce)
Some 5000 businesses were bankrupted; along with five major banks in 1931.
The 'National Opposition' won only 5.8 million votes in the referendum on the Young Plan (far
short of the 21 million required)
NSDAP membership rose to 130'000 by the end of 1929.
Brning's economical proposals were rejected in the Reichstag (July 1930) by 256 votes to 193.
The ensuing election saw Nazi vote rise from 810'000 to 6'409'600.
With 107 seats and 18.3 per cent of the vote, the NSDAP became the second largest party in the
Reichstag.
The vote of the DNVP halved from 14.2 per cent to 7 per cent; together, the DDP and DVP lost 20
seats.
The vote of the SPD fell from 29.8 per cent to 24.5 per cent, while that of the KPD rose from 10.8
per cent to 13.1 per cent.
The turn-out in 1930 was 82 per cent compared to 75.6 per cent in 1928, while the size of the
electorate had grown by 1.8 million.
The number of presidential decrees rose from 5 in 1930 to 44 in 1931, and 66 in 1932.
The sitting days of the Reichstag declined from 94 in 1930 to 42 in 1931, and 13 in 1932.
During the July 1932 election campaign, there were 61 riots in Prussia.
The results again, showed the Nazis to have made significant gains:
With 230 seats (37.3 per cent), the Nazis became the largest single party in the Reichstag.
The vote of the DNVP fell further to 5.9 per cent.
The DDP and DVP polled just 11 seats (2.2 per cent) between them.
The SPD vote fell further to 21.6 per cent; the KPD vote again increased to 14.3 per cent.
Overall, only 39.5 per cent had voted for the main pro-democratic parties.
The KPD and NSDAP registered 51.6 per cent between them.
The middle class constituted ~45 per cent of Nazi party membership in 1932, while they
constituted just 26.8 per cent of society as a whole (1933)
41.3 per cent of those joining the NSDAP pre-1929 were born 1904-1913; this group represented
only 25.3 per cent of the total population.
Of adults aged 20-30 who joined political parties, 61 per cent joined the Nazis.

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On 12th September, the Reichstag passed a huge vote of no confidence (512 votes to 42) in von
Papen's government.
In the resulting elections (November 1932), Nazi vote fell to 11.7 million (33.1 per cent or 196
seats) though the Nazis remained the largest party in the Reichstag.
Hitler was appointed Chancellor on 30th January 1933, but his cabinet contained only 3 (of 12)
Nazis.
The Nazis remained 63 seats short of an overall majority.
During the course of the 1933 election campaign, 69 people were killed and in Prussia, Gring
enrolled an additional 50'000 into the police force.
The Nazis won 44 per cent of the vote, giving them 288 of a total 647 Reichstag seats (36 short of
the 324 required for an overall majority).
The Nazi-DNVP block registered 340 seats in a Reichstag with an effective membership of 566
(the KPD had been outlawed).
This number remained 92 short of the 432 required for a two-thirds majority.
The Enabling Law was eventually passed by 444-94 (with the support of the ZP)
Some 150'000-200'000 political opponents of the Nazi Party were imprisoned in 1933.
At a meeting of 20 leading industrialists on 20th February, the Nazi Party were promised 3
million Reichsmarks.

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Louis Sharrock

From Kaiser to Fhrer: Germany 1900-45

Statistics
Unit 5 - How popular and efficient was the Nazi regime in the years 1933-39?
A series of plebiscites tend to indicate support for Hitler's policies:
'Do you support the remilitarisation of the Rhineland? (1936) - 99 per cent in favour.
'Do you support the union of Germany and Austria? (1938) - 99 per cent in favour.
There was not an extensive network of terror: only 21 Gestapo officers covered the entire
Wurzbrg area, and a mere 300 personnel were responsible for the 4 million population of
Dsseldorf.
Nationally, the Gestapo had a staff of only 32'000.
The SS in the late 1930s numbered under a quarter of a million.
Only 4000 people were held in concentration camps (mainly asocials) in 1935.
By 1935, unemployment had fallen to just over 1 million (~6 million in January 1933)
The DAF, formed in 1933, soon became the largest organisation in Nazi Germany with over 22
million members (by 1939).
Public investment was tripled 1933-36, and government expenditure rose by 70 per cent.
Industrial production increased by 60 per cent in the same period, while GNP rose 40 per cent.
By 1939, the KdF had over 7000 paid employees and 135000 voluntary workers, organised in
every factory employing more than 20 workers.
The number of people in KdF holidays rose from 2.3 million in 1934 to 10.3 million in 1938.
28'500 Siemens workers in Berlin were able to take holiday due to the programme.
Average workers' real wages rose above 1929 levels in 1938
The average working week was increased from 43 hours (1933) to 47 hours (1939)
Farmers' incomes recovered to 1928 levels in 1938, and agricultural production increased by 20
per cent.
2.5 million families benefited from increased benefits for larger families.
From June 1933, interest free loans were made available to those women who withdrew from the
labour market to get married (RM600)
By 1938, the percentage of those enrolled in the Hitler Youth movement had reached 77.2 per cent
(from just 1.5 per cent in 1932)
32 per cent of teachers were members of the Nazi Party in 1936, compared to just 17 per cent of
the Reich Civi Service as a whole.
By 1938, recruitment of teachers had declined and there were 8000 vacancies (with just 3500
graduates).
In 1932, fewer than 25 per cent of German households owned a wireless; by 1939, 70 per cent of
German homes had a radio, the highest national figure in the world.
Germany had over 4'700 daily newspapers in 1933
By 1939, the Nazi publishing house controlled two thirds of the German Press.
Circulation of the official party newspaper - Vlkischer Beobachter - reached 1.7 million in 1944.
There was a 10 per cent decline in overall newspaper circulation by 1939.
Over 42 million Reichsmarks were spent on the 325-acre Olympic sports complex; the Olympic
stadium, with 110'000 seats, was the largest of its kind in the world.
300 microphones and 20 transmitting vans were made available to foreign media.
Leni Reifenstahl shot over a million feet of film, with 33 camera operators.
TV broadcasts were seen by 150'000 in 28 viewing places across Berlin.
Of 1097 feature films made between 1933 and 1945, only 96 were at the express request of the
Propaganda Ministry.
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The SPD newspaper maintained an estimated circulation of 200'000.

Some 600 (of 17'000) Protestant Pastors were arrested by Nazis; while the Confessional Church
gained the support of 7'000.
In 1933, between 150'000 and 200'000 were detained in concentration camps; around one third of
these were released in May 1933 and the majority of the remainder in August 1934.
In 1935, 5000 were convicted of high treason; the prison population increased by 53'000 (ie
doubled), with 23'000 criminals classified as 'political prisoners'.
By 1934, SA membership had reached 3'000'000 (from 100'000 in 1931)
Around 200 were murdered on the Night of the Long Knives.
Between 1936 and 1939, the number of those in concentration camps rose from 7'500 to 21'000; the
majority were classed as asocials.
By 1933, the SS had a membership of ~52'000 (up from 250 in 1929).
In 1933, the cabinet met 72 times; this number had decreased to 4 in 1936, and the last official
cabinet meeting was in February 1938.
The reintroduction of conscription in March 1935 saw the size of the German army rise to
550'000.
In 1938, 18 generals (including Blomberg and Fritsch) were retired, and a further 44 were
transferred to lesser commands.

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Louis Sharrock

From Kaiser to Fhrer: Germany 1900-45

Statistics
Unit 6 - Life in Wartime Germany, 1939-45
At Stalingrad, the Red Army forced the surrender of 300'000 German soldiers (ie be entirety of
the German Sixth Army) in January 1943.
While meat was rationed, it remained at a generous level of 500g/week until April 1942.
Until early 1944, rations remained ~10 per cent above the minimum calorific standard.
On the night of 24th July 1943, a massive raid in Hamburg created a fire-storm that killed more
than 30'000 civilians, and left 1 million homeless.
By 1945, it is estimated that as a result of bombings 305'000 people were killed, 780'000 were
injured and 2 million homes were destroyed (around 20 per cent)
By 1945, 7 million Germans were left homeless.
Nearly two-thirds of all servicemen killed during the war died in 1944-45.
In 1944, a compulsory 60 hour week was introduced and holidays banned.
The number of death sentences imposed by ordinary courts rose from 139 in 1939 to 4000 in 1944.
The number of those detained in German concentration camps increased from 25'000 (1939) to
700'000 (1945).
Robert Uhrig established resistance cells in factories; by the summer of 1941, 89 such cells existed
in Berlin.
Following the 1944 Bomb Plot (General Stauffenberg), some 22 (of 2000) generals were executed.
Notoriously, 12 Edelweiss Pirates were publicly hanged in Cologne in 1944.
It is estimated that ~40 per cent of Catholic clergy, and more than 50 per cent of Protestant
pastors, were harassed by the Nazis during the war.
By 1939, the Germany army numbered 3.8 million men, and the airforce 3'000 war planes.
The Nazi state had accrued a debt of roughly 42 billion Reichsmarks.
In 1939, armaments expenditure accounted for 23 per cent of GNP (compared to 17 per cent in
1933)
In real and percentage terms, German military spending doubled between 1939 and 1941 (British
spending trebled in the same period)
By the summer of 1941, 55 per cent of the workforce was involved in war-related projects (this
figure reached 61 per cent in 1944)
Germany's airforce only increased from 8290 aircraft in 1939 to 10780 in 1941; Britain's airforce
trebled to 20100 in the same period.
German tanks available for the invasion of the USSR numbered only 3500 (just 300 more than for
the invasion of the West).
In the Donbass region, output was only 5 per cent pre-war levels in 1942.
In Speer's six months, ammunition production rose by 97 per cent, tank production by 25 per
cent and total arms production by 59 per cent.
Between 1942 and 1944, weapons production tripled.
In the same period, productivity per munitions workers increased by 60 per cent.
By 1944, there were nearly 8 million slave labourers working in Germany (constituting one-fifth
of the total work force).
Poland, invaded by Germany in 1939, was home to 3 million Jews.
The invasion of Belgium, Holland and France (1940), Greece and Yugoslavia (1941) and the
alliance with Romania and Hungary (1940), left 2 million further Jews at the Nazi's mercy.
Western Russia, occupied 1941-42, contained 2.5 million Jews.
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4'500 million Jews were forced to emigrate Austria following Anschluss in 1938.
Some 20'000 Jewish men were sent to concentration camps as a result of Kristallnacht, while ~100
were killed and 10'000 Jewish business destroyed.
Half a million Jews died in Poland's ghettos as a result of malnutrition and disease.
During the winter of 1941-2, it is estimated Einsatzgruppen killed some 700'000 Jews in Western
Russia.
Of the three million Jews living in Poland in 1939, approximately only 4000 survived the war.
6 million European Jews had been murdered by 1945 (of ~11 million in 1939)
Between 225'000 and 500'000 Gypsies were exterminated over the same period.

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