Question

Write a three-to five-paragraph letter in the voice of an American traveling in Germany during the late

1930s. Imagine you're writing the letter for other Americans. In it, describe what you observe in Germany
during this period by addressing these points:
• How is the German economy doing during the Great Depression?
• How are the Great Depression's effects on the German economy similar to or different from its
effects on the U.S. economy?
• How has Nazism affected average Germans?
• What political ideas are popular in Germany? Why? (10 points)

Answer 1

1. The German economy during the Great Depression was in terrible condition. The economy simply crumbled because the United States retreated their loans as they were in terrible condition themselves. Germany didn't had enough power to be able to balance its economy without outside support, so it experienced enormous inflation. The inflation was so big that a person would have taken a whole barrel full of banknotes in order to buy few groceries.

2. The similarities of the effects of the Great Depression on the German and US economy can be seen in multiple things. One thing is the large inflation, though the German one was much larger. The unemployment rates increased significantly. More and more people were becoming homeless as they were losing their jobs and had no money. The difference can be seen mainly as to why it happened. In the US, the Great Depression happened as the economy was producing too much, so it was strong, but produced much more than the market can accumulate. In Germany, the economy was very weak and fragile, and it crumbled because it was not able to support itself without foreign aid.

3. The Nazism had huge effect on the average German. The people were easy to manipulate by Hitler, as they had nothing to lose considering the terrible condition in which they and their country were. Hitler gave promoted enemies to the people, ones that were responsible for the troubles of the people. He also promised them that by eliminating those people he will make Germany strong again. As the people had no other way out, they were easily drawn to this, and gradually they started to become more and more extreme, especially as they were seeing that the economy is quickly recovering and their living standard has went significantly up.

4. The political ideas that were most popular in Germany were the national-socialism, socialism, and capitalism. The national-socialism was by far the most popular one though, with the socialism and capitalism having much less support. The reason for this was very simple, the people in Germany were in terrible situation, so they needed a savior, and the leader of the national-socialists, Adolf Hitler, presented himself in that manner, managing to easily manipulate the desperate masses.