The Beer Hall Putsch

   

    The Great Depression had thrown Germany into economic, political, and social turmoil.  Many Germans were fed up with the Weimar Republic's failure to provide for them and was demanding change.  Around the world governments were faced with the various groups demanding radical change at home.  In Germany some groups were demanding the return of the monarchy, others wanted a communist revolution like in Russia, and a small group of fascists wanted the republic to be replaced.

         The Nazis were originally known as the German Worker's Party.  Hitler became a member of the party in 1919 and quickly emerged as the leader. The party was made up of many veterans of World War I who had grown tired of Weimar's policies.  Under Hitler's leadership the party changed the name to Nationalist Socialist Party or in German:Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP, Nazi for short.  By 1920 the party had grown to include around 3,000 members.

        Hitler realized one thing the movement lacked was a recognizable symbol or flag. In the summer of 1920, Hitler chose the symbol which to this day remains perhaps the most infamous in history, the swastika.

        It was not something Hitler invented, but is found even in the ruins of ancient times. The swastika was originally a symbol of peace.  Hitler had seen it each day as a boy when he attended the Benedictine monastery school in Lambach, Austria. The ancient monastery was decorated with carved stones and woodwork that included several swastikas.

       But when it was placed inside a white circle on a red background, it provided a powerful, instantly recognizable symbol that immediately helped Hitler's party gain popularity.  Hitler described the symbolism involved: "In the red we see the social idea of the movement, in the white the national idea, in the swastika the mission to struggle for the victory of Aryan man and at the same time the victory of the idea of creative work, which is eternally anti-Semitic and will always be anti-Semitic."

In a short period of time, Hitler was able to turn a symbol that for thousands of years stood for peace, into a symbol of hatred and ignorance.

      On November 8, 1923, Hitler and his followers attempted a "putsch" or a coup in the city of Munich.  Hitler's plan called for the capture of three government officials who would be at a Beer Hall in Munich.  A second, larger group of Nazis were to have the barracks in Munich surrender and secure the city. Once he had the officials convinced to help him lead an overthrow of the government he would march from Munich to Weimar and be given control of the nation.  

   Hitler had a machine gun placed outside the beer hall to prevent anyone from getting out, and around 8:30 he stormed into the Beer Hall, fired his pistol into the air and demanded that the hundreds of people gathered inside be silent. "The National Revolution has begun!" Hitler shouted. "...No one may leave the hall. Unless there is immediate quiet I shall have a machine gun posted in the gallery. The Bavarian and Reich governments have been removed and a provisional national government formed. The barracks of the Reichswehr and police are occupied. The Army and the police are marching on the city under the swastika banner!"  The people inside did not know that this was a complete lie looked on in silence. 

        Hitler gathered the three officials and demanded that they join him in declaring a Nazi Revolution and join him in the new government.   The three men refused to speak to the skinny man with the mustache, and blankly stared at him.  Hitler took out his pistol and informed the men that he had four bullets in the chamber, three for them and one for him.  If the revolution did not work, they all would have the same fate.

       The Nazi troopers failed to take over the German barracks in the city.  As time dragged on, Hitler began to realize that his revolution was failing, and failing fast.  He left the Beer Hall to try and convince the soldiers to surrender and join him in revolution, but had no such luck.  When he leaves, the three officials trick the Nazi captures into letting them go, and Hitler returns with no troop support and no hostages. 

   All night Hitler paced trying to figure out his next move.  The next day, at 11:00, Hitler led three thousand of his followers into the streets of Munich to capture city hall.  German police and military had blocked the road by the capital and as the Nazis marched towards the police, violence seemed unavoidable.  Both sides fired at each other, 16 Nazis were killed, and 4 police officers died protecting the city.  Hitler is knocked down and crawls away, escaping serious harm.

After three days of hiding and fear of execution, Hitler is arrested by the authorities.  His glorious Nazi Revolution had only lasted for less than 24 hours.   He is placed on trial and sentenced to five years in prison.