|
|
|
| Sunday, 28 August 2005 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Famous
trials that shook the world: Hitler's Beer Hall putsch The Beer Hall putsch occurred in the evening of November 8 to early afternoon of November 9, 1923 when the budding Nazi party's leader Adolf Hitler and his team unsuccessfully tried to gain power in Bavaria, Germany. (A putsch is what Germans call a revolt of a small number of people).
Beer halls were huge taverns that existed in most South German towns, where hundreds or even thousands of people would gather during the evenings and drink beer out of stone jugs. They were also places where political rallies would be held. One of the largest Beer Halls in Bavaria was the Burgerbrau Keller where the putsch was launched. Bavaria was made a kingdom by Napoleon in 1799. In the 19th century, Bavaria tended to support Austria against Prussia. After being defeated by Austria in the Seven Weeks' War (1866), Bavaria sided with Prussia and in 1871 joined the new German Empire. After World War I (1914-1918) Bavaria was ruled by a triumvirate which consisted of General kommissar Gustav von Kahr, General Otto von Lossow (army commander), and Colonel Hans Ritter von Seisser (police chief). In April 1921, the European Allies of World War I, notably France and England, presented a bill to Germany demanding payment for damages caused in the war which, they said, Germany had started. This bill (33 billion dollars) for war reparations had the immediate effect of causing ruinous inflation in Germany. The German currency, the mark, slipped drastically in value. It had been four marks to the US dollar until the war reparations were announced and in 1922 sank to 400 to the dollar. The German government asked for a postponement of payments but the French refused. The Germans defied them by defaulting on their payments. In response to this, in January 1923, the French Army occupied the industrial part of Germany known as the Ruhr. By July 1923, German mark sank to 160,000, and by November, it took 4,000,000,000 marks to obtain a dollar. Germans lost their life savings. Salaries were paid in worthless money. Groceries cost billions. Hunger riots broke out. For the moment, the people stood by their government, admiring its defiance of the French. With no other choice, in September 1923, the German government made the fateful decision to resume making payments. To the nationalists in Germany, this was an admittance of guilt of starting the First World War - something they could not tolerate. One such group was the fledgling Nazi Party. Led by Adolf Hitler it had about 70,000 members by 1923. Hitler used the anger felt against the Central government to attempt an overthrow of the regional government in Bavaria as a prelude to the take-over of the national government. Hitler's fiery oratory attracted thousands to the Nazi rallies. He had the ability to sense and express the fears, hatreds, and hopes of his Bavarian listeners, whose worsening economic circumstances made them susceptible to his emotional speeches against those responsible for Germany's plight. Following the example of Mussolini, Hitler favoured a "March on Berlin" to overthrow the central government and establish a new nationalist government. Hitler seized the first opportunity for action. On November 8, a rally was to be held in the Buergerbraeukeller, to honour Kahr. Kahr was the featured speaker, along with General Lossow and Colonel Seisser. Hitler surrounded the building with his Storm troopers, broke in, took over the meeting, and melodramatically proclaimed: "The national revolution has broken out." Taking Kahr, Lossow, and Seisser into an adjoining room, Hitler pressured them to join him in overthrowing the national government. They refused until General Erich Ludendorff, who in Hitler's scheme for the new government was to be head of the army, came in to apply new pressure. Ultimately the three agreed and returned to the hall to the acclaim of the audience. Hitler accepted their promises of support and allowed them to go free, much to his undoing. Lossow, upon his release, contacted his army and ordered to crush the revolt. Kahr also reneged on his promise. Unaware of the developments, Hitler on March 8, 1923 started his march with Ludendorff and 3000 supporters through Munich to gain popular support for the coup. At the centre of the city they were faced by armed police and soldiers who blocked them from going further. What happened next is not clear but shots were fired. The firing continued for just one minute but in that time sixteen Nazis and three policemen were killed. Hitler had a dislocated shoulder. Some say this was caused by his attempts to seek cover, once the firing started. Hitler later claimed that it was because he had caught a colleague as he fell who had been mortally wounded and the stress on his shoulder had dislocated it. Hitler is said to have been driven away from the scene in a car that was waiting for him. He was arrested two days later and was charged with treason. Luderndorff marched to a nearby square where he was arrested. The treason trial against Hitler, Ludendorff, and other leaders took place in February and March 1924. Considerable public attention was focused on the trial and gave Hitler the opportunity to establish his name outside of Bavaria. He used the publicity brilliantly to transform defeat into propaganda victory. At the trial, Hitler refused to admit that this had been an act of high treason. The real criminals, he proclaimed, were the betrayers of Germany who had signed the Versailles treaty. Hitler also attacked the credibility of the state's chief witnesses, Kahr, Lossow and Seisser, saying they all wanted the same thing he did. Hitler portrayed himself as the real patriot opposing the Republic, since he had had the courage to act. The judges were sympathetic to Hitler's words. Ludendorff was acquitted and Hitler was given the most lenient sentence possible for treason - five years in prison with an understanding of early probation. The putsch had failed, but Hitler had not. A few days before Christmas, 1924, Hitler emerged a free man after nine months in prison, having learned from his mistakes. In addition to creating the book, Mein Kampf, he had given considerable thought to the failed Nazi revolution of November 1923, and its implications for the future. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
