Hitler loses citizenship

After Hitler came to power in 1933, many towns and cities in Germany made him an "honorary citizen". That means that he was welcome to stay in the town, because of his contributions.

Surprisingly, he is still a honorary citizen of many towns. However, the Guardian reports that some have only just recently decided to remove him from the list.

Just one more of the lingering effects of history.

Election pledges mean very little in Germany

This article appeared on page 2 of the Straits Times (Sept 7) and also on a few other newspapers.

"...German politicians are able to make such “truth-deficient” promises because of a complicated electoral system designed to ensure that no single party can ever rule on its own.

For decades, only three political formations dominated the scene: Chancellor Merkel's right-of-centre Christian Democrats, the Socialists and the minority, pro-business Liberals. So, coalitions were straightforward: Depending on how the votes were cast, the Liberals either joined the left or the right of the political spectrum.

But now, two additional parties - the Greens and a far-left movement - have gained a foothold in Parliament. Creating a government has therefore become a much more complicated task. Political enemies have had to work together.

Coalitions have been made out of strange bedfellows. Germany is currently run by a 'grand coalition' of both Socialists and Christian Democrats.

The unintended consequence of the system is that no party is held to account for promises made during the electoral campaign. Pledges are made in the full knowledge that most of them would be discarded when a coalition is formed...."

Click here for the full article on the Malaysian Insider.


Questions:

1. What is a coalition?
2. What is a system of proportional representation?
3. How does/did this system of proportional representation affect Germany (i) during the Weimar years, (ii) now?
4. How far is Germany's political situation similar to the situation during the Weimar years?

Nuremberg Rally

The Nuremberg rally was a yearly event organized by Hitler's Nazi Party.



In 1937, Hitler made all German soldiers swear an oath of loyalty directly to him. This meant that they would be loyal to Hitler directly, and not the German state.

What other methods did Hitler use to control Germany?

What is proportional representation?

In Chapter 4 (Nazi Germany), we learnt that a system of proportional representation caused Weimar government in Germany to be weak. What is proportional representation?

In most countries, there is an organization called Parliament. This organization decides all the major policies of the country. Each country's parliament will have a certain number of people (e.g. 200). The people vote at elections to decide who will make up Parliament.

In proportional representation, the number of people each party send to Parliament is decided by the percentage of vote each party has in elections.

For example if:
Party A gets 70% of the votes from the people, it gets 70% of the power in Parliament.
Party B gets 20% of the votes from the people, it gets 20% of the power in Parliament.
Party C gets 10% of the votes from the people, it gets 10% of the power in Parliament.

Party A gets the most power in Parliament and it can decide the country's policies.

However in Weimar Germany this is what would happen:

Party A gets 30% of the votes from the people, it gets 30% of the power in Parliament.
Party B gets 40% of the votes from the people, it gets 40% of the power in Parliament.
Party C gets 30% of the votes from the people, it gets 30% of the power in Parliament.

No party gets over 50% of the power, so no party can decide the country's policies. As a result, there is a lot of fighting to decide the the country's policies. This fighting was not good for the country.

Proportional representation is not bad in itself, but in the case of Weimar Germany it led to weak governments.

A good video on Hitler's rise to power.



After watching this, try answering this question.

"Hitler rose to power mainly because of his abilities." How far do you agree? Explain your answer. [13 marks]

Chapter 2, Treaty of Versailles; Chapter 4, Rise of Hitler; Chapter 6, Appeasement

This video is about:
1) the terms and conditions of the Treaty of Versailles. (0:01 to 1:00) Chapter 2
2) the rise of Hitler (1:01 to 2:00) Chapter 4
3) the causes of the collapse of peace and start of war in Europe (2:00 onwards) Chapter 6



When watching the video, think about the following issues:

Treaty of Versailles
- What were the main terms?
- Do you think the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh?

Rise of Hitler
- Which reason do you think was the most important for Hitler's rise?

Causes of War
- What is appeasement?
- Do you think appeasement was a sensible policy?