6. Anti-Jewish actions gained momentum during the depression
With the world’s economy led into a global depression following the collapse of the stock market in the United States, followed by international bank failures, the accusations of an international financial conspiracy led by Jews gained a wider audience. In the fall of 1930 the SA began overt actions against Jewish financial and mercantile interests, smashing shop windows and storefronts. Other, less reactionary German political parties lost strength to the Nazis and the Communists, and Hitler’s influence as the leader of the Nazi party grew with its increasing strength in the Reichstag. The conservative German government appeared helpless against the ravages of the depression, which Hitler blamed on a coalition of Jewish financial interests, western capitalists, and communists. SA and Nazi supporters continued to engage in violent confrontations on Germany’s streets.
The communist party in Germany was nearly equal in strength to the Nazis in the early 1930s, and responded to direction from Moscow, which saw the Nazis as the main threat to their influence in Berlin. From 1930-1932 the Center Party, a group of moderate conservatives, operated the coalition government of Germany with Heinrich Bruning as Chancellor, and Paul von Hindenburg as President. Hindenburg enjoyed the support of the Army, and Bruning used that alliance to govern without the support of the Reichstag, often in opposition to the elected representatives. Senior military officials actively lobbied for the support of the Nazi party, and in 1932, under pressure from his military advisers, Hindenburg removed Bruning from power and appointed Nazi sympathizer Franz von Papen Chancellor, a move Hitler was vocal in approving.