Weimar cities : Assimilating urban modernity in the Weimar Republic, 1919-1933

Weimar cities : Assimilating urban modernity in the Weimar Republic, 1919-1933

economics, city politics, governance, local management, local authorities, urban history, Weimar Republic

Many Germans perceived the Weimar Republic of the 1920s as an "urban republic" dominated by the power and cultural preeminence of the large metropoles, particularly Berlin. German cities had new and important roles after the war, firstly as the biggest spenders in reconstruction efforts, and secondly as the administrators of new welfare and unemployment programmes. Yet at the same time, municipal finance was undermined by the Reich's new centralized tax structure, in which cities were last to receive distributed revenues. State bureaucrats, bankers, and the private sector exhibited strong hostility towards city governments, accusing them of corruption and nepotism, irresponsible borrowing, and improvident spending. In sum, it was just as Weimar's cities assumed considerable new responsibilities, administering social services that were central to the nature and success of the republican experiment, that they were denied the financial and political support necessary to carry out their new roles. This dissertation examines the Deutsche Staidtetag (German Congress of Cities) as a focal point for the larger issues associated with city power and efforts to manage urban modernity in the republic and, by extension, the feasibility of the experiment itself. Dynamic agents of modern change, cities viewed themselves as regulated by state and financial administrations bound by traditional forms and practices, and saw their financial weakness as part of a larger, systemic failure to meet the needs of a growing and increasingly sophisticated network of urban centres. Through the Stadtetag, municipalities campaigned actively in the later 1920s for firm institutional connections with Reich ministries, an official place in the federal parliament, and seats on various bodies that managed the Weimar economy. These initiatives ultimately failed. Sliding deeper into depression and crisis after 1930, local governments were last in line for federal financial aid. As a consequence, they experienced financial hardship out of all proportion to their roles in the republic's power structure, and suffered a critical loss of authority and legitimacy when state-appointed commissioners implemented unpopular cost cuts and imposed new taxes. In 1933, subverting and taking over local governments was one of the primary objectives of Hitler's National Socialists; many local studies have shown the ease with which they achieved their goal.

Bingham, John Patrick

York University

1997

Kater, Michael H. Advisor

en

Thesis

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http://lallier.msh-vdl.fr/theses/items/show/883

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