The Third Reich began with an epic failure. It was November 1923, and Germany was struggling under the onerous Treaty of Versailles. The mighty German military had been gutted after a humiliating loss in World War I. Hyperinflation had brought the country to its knees—a loaf of bread cost 4.6 million marks. Germans are looking for someone to blame, and with the omnipresent anti-Semitism in Europe, the Jewish people were an easy target.
Enter a fledgling political party—one of many during this tumultuous time—calling itself the National Socialist Party. They have a foothold in Bavaria, where many leaders are sympathetic to their message. A young Austrian, who wanted to be an artist but didn’t have the talent, has been honing his natural public speaking skills for such a time as this. His name? Adolf Hitler.
The far right nationalist Nazis were brewing up trouble, and Hitler announced on the morning of November 8, 1923, that “the time for action has come.” He loaded his pistol and called for his paramilitary thugs, the SA, to meet him at the Burgerbrau beer hall in the Munich city center at 7:00 pm.
Bavarian State Commissioner Gustav von Kahr was speaking at the Burgerbrau when Hitler arrived, and an estimated crowd of 3,000 had gathered to hear him. An oompah band provided entertainment before the speech, and beer steins filled the tables. The mood turned somber during Kahr’s boring speech, and Hitler saw his opportunity. He raised his gun toward the ceiling and fired two shots, startling the crowd. “The national revolution has begun!” he yelled.
The leader of the Storm Troopers, decorated war hero Hermann Göring, had assembled men around the building’s exits and phone lines and strode into the beer hall in support of their leader. He encouraged the crowd to keep drinking their beer while Hitler met with Kahr and other Bavarian leaders in a back room.
As the crowd grew anxious, Hitler came back out to pump them up. According to one witness, he turned the crowd "inside out like a glove," railing against Berlin and the ineffective Weimar Republic. This was not the first attempted "putsch," or coup, during the young democracy—the far right Kapp Putsch had failed in '20. The crowd, and many Germans, were angry at Berlin for providing no momentum for their struggling country.
Hitler returned to Kahr and his other hostages, who could hear the enthusiastic crowd, and brought out another feather in his cap: decorated war general Erich Ludendorff. For the moment, they convinced Kahr and the other Bavarian leaders to join a march on Berlin, and they all returned to the stage to shouts of "Heil Hitler!" and a rousing rendition of the German national anthem. Everything was going well.
Convinced of Kahr's support, Hitler left the beer hall to oversee control of the train station as his troops were creating chaos in Munich—burning down rival newspaper offices and smashing windows of Jewish-owned businesses. Leaving the beer hall was a fatal mistake. Kahr and his allies betrayed him and took over the radio and declared the Nazi party illegal, ordering the arrest of Hitler and his party officials. The writing was on the wall.
A New York Times reporter described Hitler as “obviously overwrought and dead tired, a little man in an old waterproof coat with a revolver at his hip, unshaven and with disordered hair.” In a last ditch effort, the Nazis marched through the city trying to embolden support. They had some success, as supporters joined them as they weaved their way through the narrow Munich streets. A sizeable crowd gathered outside the old Rathaus in the city center. Perhaps there was hope?
The Nazis met up with the state police at the Odeonsplatz, and a gun battle ensued. Göring was shot in the thigh and groin, an injury that would lead to a dependence on opioids. Hitler fell down in the rush and dislocated his shoulder. With twenty people dead, and a hundred or more wounded, he ran to a waiting car and escaped the city to hide in an attic, where they found him in his pajamas a few days later.
Captured in an attic in your pajamas after a failed coup? It would seem to be the end of his political career. Hitler was suicidal when they transferred him to the cushy Landsberg Prison, but quickly recovered with news there would be a trial before the People's Court with right-leaning judges. Bavaria was hoping for a low key trial and a quick dismissal of the young firebrand, but Hitler had other ideas.
His opening remarks, to a room full of press, lasted nearly four hours, during which he told his life story and railed against Jews and left-wing idealogues. He bore complete responsibility for the putsch, even bragging about it despite being tried for high treason. During the trial, his repeated outbursts and lengthy speeches made him a household name in Germany and even the world as his antics made headlines. The judges found him guilty and gave him the minimum sentence of five years. Deportation to Austria was mandated, but he was allowed to stay because he "consider[ed] himself to be German." He waved to the crowds as he returned to prison, where he served six months.
What had seemed like the end was only the beginning. As he sipped coffee and ate meals with white tablecloths, he dictated his fiery memoir Mein Kampf. His party made great gains in the spring elections. The Nazis were on the move, and in less than ten years, Hitler was appointed Chancellor and the Third Reich would officially begin. He rose from the ashes of a failed revolution.
Was it fate? Destiny? Some would say so. He should have been deported to Austria. He should have been viewed as a coward for escaping the scene and hiding after the putsch. He should have faded from view, instead the focus on him became greater. Was it just a coincidence of events, or the convergence of a nationalistic message and human nature looking for someone to blame? Whatever the reasons, the results were catastrophic.
Learned a lot! HL