WesWorld

Germany, Q2/24

April 1

In Munich, the thirty-six members of the NSDAP accused of treason have been found guilty by the presiding judge.

Herr Hermann Goring, the most senior member of the party to take part in the Beerhall Putsch and survive the affair, has been sentenced to eight years in Landsberg Prison. Most others were sentenced to four or five year terms.

Observers have commented that the sentences are relatively lenient, considering that two senior Bavarian officials died in the putsch. However, it would seem that the murders were viewed as an act committed by a single individual, the deceased Adolf Hitler, rather than a conspiracy carried out by the accused as a whole.

April 19

Bowed but not broken by the dismal failure of the Beerhall Putsch, the NSDAP is campaigning for the upcoming Reichstag elections under new leadership: General Erich Ludendorff.

When asked about his party’s platform, General Ludendorff replied, “Our objective is to restore Germany to its rightful place in world affairs. The governments of Weimar Coalition have done nothing but disrupt the economy and lap up whatever crumbs our old enemies throw at them.”

The NSDAP did not run candidates in the 1920 election, but is fielding several dozen this time around.

April 25

Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno was in Dresden today to speak to local businessmen. Here are some excerpts from his speech:

“What Germany needs now is to reconcile its differences with our neighbours. Trying to settle old scores will only lead to more widows and cripples. We don’t have to be friends with our neighbours, but we don’t have to be enemies, either.”

And:

“Our diligent work on the issue of war reparations has shown the world that we Germans take our word seriously. We paid the money we agreed to pay, and as a result, we were able to negotiate an end to some of those payments. Every mark we’ve paid to date is an investment in our future - a future with a strong economy and benefits for all Germans.”

April 28

Retired Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz has also declared his candidacy in the upcoming election. The former head of the Reichsmarine will be running with the recently formed Fatherland Party, which is running on a platform of increasing German military power.

Speaking to the officers and crew of the battleship Markgraf , Admiral Tirpitz said, “There is no question that each and every one of us would give our lives to defend this land, but it is only reasonable to expect we might succeed by doing so. As it is, the Versailles Treaty leaves us nearly helpless, vulnerable to aggression at the hands of even the weakest villain. How can this fine vessel, storied though her career may be, stand up to a forty thousand ton super-dreadnought? How can we protect our cities from the scourge of aerial bombardment without fighter aircraft? How can we defend our ports without the ability to lay defensive minefields? How can we prevent enemy invasions without submarines to detect them?”

May 2

The head of German’s Communist Party was in Erfurt this afternoon, speaking to a throng of factory workers. Ernst Thaelmann told the crowd:

“The capitalists would tell you that their way is best; that allowing them to profit improves our quality of life. But...is this true? Did our quality of life improve in 1922 when they leapt aboard the galloping horse they call inflation? No; the galloping horse called inflation left something behind for us, but it certainly wasn’t pleasant, was it?”

Herr Thaelmann explained his view on the issue of national defence as: “War is but a violent and profitable tool for the capitalist class. Again, it does not benefit us all - there is no profit in dying, is there? But the companies selling bullets, guns, and coffins make a profit every time one of our boys are force to kill, or are killed. I believe that the right way to resolve conflict is through dialogue, whether person to person or government to government.”

May 7

The Reichstag elections have concluded and once again there is no clear winner. However, the Social Democratic (SD), Catholic Centre (Z), and German Democratic parties (DDP) - the “Weimar Coalition” - did manage to obtain a modest increase in the size of their minority. The pro-Monarchist German National People’s Party (DNVP) also made strong gains, as did some of the more extreme fringe parties including the German Communist Party (KPD) and the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP).

Here are how the parties fared, and we remind readers that in this proportional system, the share of the popular vote equals the percentage of seats the party gains:

Social Democratic Party (SD): 23.2%
Catholic Centre Party (Z): 18.9%
German Democratic Party (DDP): 5.8%

German National Peoples Party (DNVP): 23.1%
German People’s Party (DVP): 8.5%
National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP): 1.9%
Fatherland Party (VP): 1.2%

German Communist Party (KPD): 5.9%
Bavarian People’s Party (BVP): 3.8%
Economic Party (EP): 3.3%
Other (total of seventeen parties): 4.4%

The Berlin Observative spoke with Professor Kurt Schroeder, dean of Political Sciences at Weimar University.

BO: Your take on the election, Herr Schroeder?

KS: The big story here is the implosion of the old Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD). They had 17.9% of the vote in the last election, and came out with less than one percent yesterday. They wouldn’t work with the Weimar Coalition, accomplished little to nothing, and were summarily abandoned by the voters. They’re not even listed as a party in the final tally - they’re in the “Other” category.

BO: Where did their supporters turn to?

KS: Difficult to say. Strictly looking at the numbers would suggest that they went to all of the parties, but I think it unlikely. More likely, the moderate voters fled to the Weimar Coalition, which in turn lost some of its more traditionalist voters to the Right. USPD’s left-leaning voters almost certainly voted KPD. Many of the remainder probably backed the new Economic Party.

BO: Now, the Weimar Coalition did make some gains, but is it enough to secure stable government?

KS: They went from a collective 43.6% of the vote in 1920 to 47.9% yesterday - perhaps a little disappointing, considering the general success they had in the last two years. Both the Catholic Centre and Social Democrat parties gained, but the Democratic Party lost some ground - probably to the right. Still, one would expect President Ebert to give Herr Cuno the first crack at the next government.

BO: He had a good run from November 1922 onward. Can he maintain a stable government through to 1928?

KS: It’s unlikely but possible. Wilhelm Cuno isn’t the great leader some might make him out to be - he can take credit for the currency stabilization and the reparations agreement, but those were really driven by his finance minister and the French government respectively. He still needs to secure 2.2% of the vote for any confidence motion, he’s going to have to negotiate hard to get it, and I’m not convinced he can do it. Outside of the Rightist bloc and the KPD, the only parties with more than 1% of the vote are the Bavarian Peoples Party and the Economic Party, both of which have more than 2.2%, but also have very narrow and well defined interests that will inevitably clash with those of the Coalition.

BO: Now, on the right side of the political spectrum, there were gains as well...

KS: Yes. It seems that the political spectrum is polarizing a bit - two main camps are emerging, the Coalition and the Right, with a number of one-idea fringe parties and the KPD as the wildcards. The Rightists went from 29% to 34.7%, based on concerns about the economy and defence. The German National Peoples Party was the real winner here, going from 15.1% up to 23.1%, while Gustav Stresemann’s National Party plummeted from 13.9% to 8.5%.

BO: That’s a big loss for Stresemann.

KS: It is. Everybody recognizes that he’s a capable and smart man, but his party was fractured and a lot of his old support looks to have gone over to Dr. Jarres’ National Peoples Party. This could be a good thing, ironically - he may have a smaller party, but it may be united now, and thus more readily able to back him. Perhaps Stresemann could be a factor during the next four years, unlike the last four.

BO: Your assessment of the smaller right-wing parties?

KS: About as I expected. Ludendorff probably would have been in the Putsch if he hadn’t already been in prison. Like him or hate him, he managed to re-organize the NSDAP in the three months between his release and the election, and they’ve now got a small but vocal presence in the house. He’ll have an ally on defence issues in Admiral Tirpitz, whose Fatherland Party is tightly focussed on that topic.

BO: And the KPD?

KS: Ernst Thaelmann and the KPD leadership benefited from strong campaigning and the implosion of the USPD. They’ve got almost six percent of the vote, which could be significant during voting in the house. A good four years here could draw away votes from the Coalition and the various smaller parties in 1928.

BO: Thank you, Herr Schroeder.

KO: You’re welcome.

Nicely put, Doc....

It´s very interesting to see how you´re playing around with german history. Quite interesting. What are the sources you based those news on? Without some research you surely wouldn´t be able to write such a good piece, would you?

Cheers,

HoOmAn

Sure I could. But it'd be total BS, which isn't what I'm after (with Germany - for India, anything goes!)

My sources are all websites, since I don't have time to get into a library these days. Here's five that I've used recently for political stuff (there are others, but they're on the home computer). I can't guarantee that they're all accurate, but I haven't noticed any glaring inconsistencies so far.

http://www.colby.edu/personal/r/rmscheck/

http://rulers.org/index.html

http://www.parties-and-elections.de/indexe.html

http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/facu…search/1216.pdf

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Germany.htm

The second and third links are quite useful for anybody with a real-life nation, by the way. And the third will show y'all the historical results of the two 1924 Reichstag elections. Will I also have a second election this year? Probably not - it's too much work.

The most difficult aspect of all this is fleshing out the personalities of the historical figures I present. I have to make a lot of assumptions and try to write their quotes in a vaguely relevant manner, since I haven't yet found a lot of historical quotes to work with.

So now I have to figure out what kind of coalition ends up in power, and how long it'll last.

Thanks for letting us know. Now we can browse those pages too and if we can make us of something.

I have no doubt it´s quite a lot of work to write those news pieces but they are pretty good and sound reasonable.

One thing: Göring was a well-known fighter hero from WW1. In your timeline Hitler got killed and Göring got caught. However, IIRC he wasn´t injured, correct? If so he wouldn´t have problems with drugs (morphium) later and wouldn´t become so fat (you know, they shot his balls...). So he may not loose ground as he did historically but make good use of his popularity and good contacts to re-start his carrer instead....either as a politician or among a new to be build airforce.

Regards,

HoOmAn

That's correct, Goring wasn't injured in this putsch. It's an interesting point you make - if he sticks with politics, the interaction with Ludendorff should be interesting. Good thing he's socked away in Landsberg for a bit, so I can figure out what to do with him. Maybe he could write a book while he's locked up...

9 May 1924

President Friedrich Ebert has asked Wilhelm Cuno, of the Catholic Centre Party, to serve as Chancellor for a second time. Herr Cuno is reported to have agreed, and is said to be contacting the Social Democratic and Democratic parties to confirm their participation. There are rumors around Berlin that both the president and Herr Cuno are negotiating with some of the other parties in the Reichstag in an effort to form a coalition with a majority of seats in the house.

14 May 1924

Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno unveiled his coalition government today, and it contained a major surprise: the participation of Gustav Stresemann’s National Party.

President Ebert commented, “The prospect of a majority coalition should please all democratic Germans, for it brings the promise of stability and compromise. I wish Chancellor Cuno and his colleagues the best of luck in the coming years.”

Senior cabinet posts announced today were:

Foreign Affairs: Gustav Stresemann
Interior: Rudolf Oster
Finance: Hans Luther
Justice: Wilhelm Marx
Defence: Otto Gessler
Economy: Joseph Wirth
Labor: Johannes Becker
Food: Andreas Hermes

Former Foreign Affairs minister Friedrich von Rosenburg will be appointed ambassador to India, while ex-Justice Minister Rudolf Heinze did not run in the election and ex-Labor Minister Heinrich Brauns was left out of the cabinet.

Professor Kurt Schroeder of Weimar University remarked, “A Weimar/DVP coalition gives Herr Cuno a slim majority of 56.4% in the Reichstag. The pairing could be productive if it can be made to work - Cuno needs a more pro-active Foreign Affairs policy, and Stresemann needs to make an impact. The question will be whether the DVP backs Stresemann, and how the coalition as a whole treats delicate issues like the Versailles Treaty.”

5 June 1924

Gustav Stresemann is off to the New World to discuss reparations.

“It is crucial that we build on the momentum generated by the Franco-German renunciation of reparations in October. By meeting with officials in the American government, I hope to make progress on the issue of reparations to that nation.”

Herr Stresemann is expected to meet with the American Secretary of the Treasury, as well as the Allied Reparations Committee.

The Government of the Philippines extends its best wishes to Chancellor Cuno.

The Danish Crown sends it's congratulations to Herr Cuno, and we hope that he will be able to build on the progress he has already made in rebuilding Germany