When the stock market collapsed on Wall Street on Tuesday,
October 29, 1929, it sent financial markets worldwide into a
tailspin with disastrous The German economy was especially
vulnerable since it was built upon foreign capital, mostly loans
from America and was very dependent on foreign trade. When those
loans suddenly came due and when the world market for German
exports dried up, the well oiled German industrial machine
quickly ground to a halt. As production levels fell, German
workers were laid off. Along with this, banks failed throughout
Germany. Savings accounts, the result of years of hard work,
were instantly wiped out. Inflation soon followed making it hard
for families to purchase expensive necessities with devalued
money. Overnight, the middle class standard of living so many
German families enjoyed was ruined by events outside of Germany,
beyond their control. The Great Depression began and they were
cast into poverty and deep misery and began looking for a
solution, any solution. Adolf Hitler