THE MUNICH PUTSCH

1923

The Putsch grew out of Hitler's attempt to exploit the crisis of 1923.   At first, Hitler had prepared his stormtroopers to help in a wider Bavarian rebellion.  When the Bavarian leaders (Kahr, Lossow and Seisser) threatened to call off the action, Hitler realised that he could not keep the stormtroopers waiting any longer.   On the night of 8 Nov 1923 he took over the Beer Hall and forced Kahr, Lossow and Seisser to promise to support him.   A triumphal march into Munich was planned on 9 Nov, but the police easily dispersed the Nazis..       Although the Putsch failed, it - and the trial that followed - turned Hitler into a national hero, and laid the foundation of his future success.

Sturmabteilung (SA)• Often referred to as the ‘Brownshirts’

Ernst Roehm

• In the crises of 1923, the membership of the Nazi Party grew from 6,000 to 55,000

• In September 1923, the German Chancellor, Stresemann, called off the general strike in the Ruhr (it was ruining Germany). This made EVERY German angry with the government.

• In 1922, Mussolini had seized control of the government of Italy by marching on Rome. Hitler hoped to copy his example

The Events of the ‘Putsch’

8 Nov 1923

• Hitler interrupted the Beer Hall meeting, and forced Kahr, Lossow and Seisser (Bavarian leaders) at gunpoint to agree to support him

• The SA took over the Army HQ (but NOT the telegraph office)• Jews were beaten up, and the offices of the anti-Nazi Munich Post newspaper

offices trashed• Kahr, released by Hitler, called in the police and army reinforcements

9 Nov 1923

• The Nazis marched on Munich• Stopped by police in Residenzstrasse, 16 Nazis were killed. • Ludendorff was arrested• Hitler hid, then fled (he was arrested 2 days later)

• Hitler turned his trial into a publicity opportunity, giving long speeches. Before the Munich Putsch, Hitler was an unknown Bavarian politician. After his trial he was a national right-wing hero

• Even the judge said he agreed with Hitler, and gave him only a short prison sentence

Nazi BeliefsRacial Policy• Hitler viewed life as a struggle for

dominance between the so-called strong and weak races

• Aryan – blue eyes and blonde hair (superior). In Hitler’s words… “the highest species of humans on earth”

Social Policy• Nazi community should be based on

‘blood and soil’

Government• Would be authoritarian – all decisions

would be made by a single leader whose orders would be obeyed

Anti-Semitism• Hitler believed that Jews were a united

race conspiring to dominate the world

Foreign Policy• The aim of lebensraum dominated Nazi

foreign policy

Hitler’s Henchmen

Ernst Roehm• Leader of the SA• Wanted the Nazi

Party to combine the German Army with the SA, which would effectively make him the most powerful man in Germany

Heinrich Himmler• Heinrich Himmler –

Leader of the SS and Chief of German police

He also controlled the Gestapo

Himmler was also in charge of the extermination camps in which over 6 million people died

Joseph Goebbels• Goebbels became the

Minister for Enlightenment and Propaganda

• He was a brilliant speaker• He was a vicious anti-

Semite who organised ‘Kristallnacht’ – the Night of Broken Glass