Hitler; det var inte inflationen, det var arbetslösheten

When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, Germany’s economy was in dire straits. Under Chancellor Heinrich Brüningthe German government had clung dogmatically to economic orthodoxy in the face of the Great Depression, staying on the gold standard /fast växelkurs/ and imposing ever harsher fiscal austerity /den som är satt i skuld är inte fri/. 

The result was economic devastation and extremely high unemployment.

Hitler broke with the economic orthodoxy, enabling him to preside over a rapid economic recovery. 

The popularity he gained from the economic revival allowed him to consolidate power.

Paul Krugman Substack Feb 27, 2026

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-economics-of-faltering-fascism

There was hyperinflation during the Weimar era, and it did contribute to a general sense of chaos that undermined the fledgling republic. 

But that peaked in 1923, the year Hitler botched a putsch and went to jail — a full decade before he seized power. 

https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2023/04/what-germans-think-they-know-about.html

The Nazis only won 32 Reichstag seats in the election of May 1924, and just 12 in 1928. The Nazi party did not become a popular political force until long after the hyperinflation period ended. 

The Economist, November 15th 2013

https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2017/07/den-tyska-hyperinflationen-de-eldade.html

Keynes "The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919)"

https://www.perplexity.ai/search/keynes-the-economic-consequenc-s2TaHCtbTL.2V0XguManGg

Brüning helped President Paul von Hindenburg win reelection in the spring of 1932, but on May 30 of that year Brüning resigned, a victim of intrigues by General Kurt von Schleicher and others around Hindenburg. 

The immediate cause of his dismissal was his project to partition several bankrupt East Elbian estates. 

Hindenburg, himself an eastern landowner, considered this plan Bolshevism, and his withdrawal of confidence left Brüning with no choice but to resign.

https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2024/05/seeing-reich-to-come-under-cover-as.html