And so, time went on.
In January, 1923, an event occured which would unify the Germans as they had no been since before the war: French soldiers occupied the Ruhr, Germany's industrial heartland.
The French excuse for the occupation was the German's default on reparation's of the Versaille treaty. The specific default it claimed was Germany's failure to deliver 100,000 telephone poles to France.
Rightfully outraged at being occupied for such a minor offense, the German government resorted to passive resistance. Workers walked off their jobs, resulting in the closing of mines, factories and other offices. Since the government initiated these actions, they owed some type of compensation to these ousted workers. They subsequently began printing trillions upon trillions of marks.
The steady declining mark now began to slide out of control to absolute worthlessness. When the Ruhr occupation began, one American dollar translated into 18,000 marks. In July, 160,000 marks. One month later, 1 million. By November, 4 billion. One joke of the time told of a woman who went into market to buy vegetables with a basket overflowing with money; when she emerged from the store she found that her basket had been stolen, with all the money left behind.
In response, the strong-minded Gustav Sreseman moved to stop the disaster. He was forced to place the country into a state of emergency.
Meanwhile, in Bavaria, the emergency powers fell onto a trio of Hitler suspected Bavarian separatists. Hitler felt it necessary, and quite an appropriate time to make a move; a Nazi takeover, or putsch would occur.
A meeting between the three emergency rulers and their supporters in a large Munich beer hall presented itself to be a perfect opportunity for just such a putsch. One of the three had just begun to speak when Hitler burst in the door with Hermann Goring and a number of Storm Troopers. A machine gun was set up and Hitler lept onto a table, fired a pistol into the air, and proclaimed; "The revolution has begun! This hall has been surrounded by 600 heavily armed men. The Bavarian and National governments have been removed and a provisional government has been formed. The army and police barracks have been occupied; troops and police are marching under the swastika banner!".
The crowd gathered could not know that that statement was a complete lie. Nevertheless, he forced the three leaders into a nearby room.
Meanwhile, a messenger that Hitler had sent, arrived at the home of retired General Erich Ludendorff to pursuade him to join the putsch. Though rather angry at the intrusion, this dabbler in racist and nationalist theories agreed to join the putsch.
Kahr, Lossow and Seisser (the three emergency leaders) were meanwhile unimpressed by Hitler's demands that they support him in his uprising. However, upon the entry of Luddendorff into the beer hall, they changed their minds somewhat. They agreed to appear with him and Hitler in front of the crowd. The crowed cheered and eventually dispersed. The Storm Troopers took some Bavarian state officials hostage, yet let the triumvirs go, presumably to get the police and troops to join the uprising. However, upon release, the three ordered radio stations to broadcast that the putsch had been defeated.
In an effort to make a long story short, this resulted in basically a riot in the streets of Munich. Nazi supporters fought it out with the police, losing the battle. Luddendorf, among others were arrested. Most notably, Hitler and Goring. Hitler was tried for treason, and luckily the court's sympathies were on his side. He was found guilty, yet the judge assured him, and his associates that he would not fully serve his five year sentence.
Imprisoned in Landsberg Fortress, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle), his famous autobiography/manifesto/blueprint for future plans.
(Though I will basically shorten this well-known story down, it is important to know that after his release from prison he did not all of a sudden become Chancellor of Germany, though the following might suggest it. Nest week's article will hopefully fill in some of the missing time.)
Eight more years would pass before Hitler would become the German dictator he was known for. Freshly in place, he settled old scores, eliminated all opponents and suspected enemies of the state, and basically solidified his posisition of power. The Nazi tsunami of power and terror began to roll.
NEXT WEEK: The Burning of the Reichstag
World War II
