There were several characteristics which Germany possessed after the First World War which made them vulnerable to being manipulated by someone like Adolf Hitler. As in most nations, the economic factors of the time play a significant role in determining how a society will behave. Germany was economically devastated after a draining defeat in World War I. Due to the Versailles treaty, Germany was forced to pay incredibly sizeable reparations to France and Great Britain. In addition, the Versailles treaty, which many agreed was far too harsh, forced Germany to give up thirteen percent of its land. “Blessed New Year”

At first Germany tried to recover from the war by way of social spending. Germany began creating transportation projects, modernization of power plants and gas works. These were all used to battle the increasing unemployment rate. Social spending was rising at an unbelievable rate. In 1913 the government was spending approximately 20.5 per resident; by 1925 it had risen to almost 65 marks per resident and finally in 1929 it reached over one hundred marks per resident.

Even with all of Germany's economic shortcomings, it could have still been possible to make reparation payments if foreign countries had not placed protective tariffs on Germany's goods. With the income Germany could have gained by selling goods in foreign countries, for relatively low prices, reparation payments could have become feasible. The protective tariffs made this idea impossible and further depressed the German economy.

Faced with reparation payments they could not afford, Germany began printing exaggerated amounts of money. This threw Germany into a state of super inflation. Inflation reached the point where millions of marks were worthless. Cartoons of the time depicted people with wheelbarrows full of money who could not buy a loaf of bread.

Peace & Order vs. Freedom and Exhilaration Liberty, Liberation and License Function of Catharsis ==>> cultural "golden age" ? Can this be true?

Note the wall that divides the German bureaucrat for assisting vets, and the vets themselves; and the black-marketer in the background.

From ''Glitter and Doom" Portraits of Weimar Germany From ''Glitter and Doom" Portraits of Weimar Germany. "But the Weimar years also brought unprecedented social and artistic freedom, making Berlin the most culturally advanced, exciting city in Europe. Film, theater, literature, design and the visual arts thrived, merging with and stimulated by the circuit of cabarets, salons and nightclubs. Homosexuals were unafraid, as suggested by Dix’s portrait of the jeweler Karl Krall, wearing a tight corset beneath his suit, or Schad’s famous depiction of Count St. Genois d’Anneaucourt " Among the upper stratum . Dix and friend

Joseph Goebbels Joseph Goebbels Skinny, small, clubfooted, failed intellectual, both vain and insecure… developed gifts as a provocative speaker and writer which made him second only to Hitler in his flair for propaganda. For some reason never properly explained, Hitler had a more or less pathological hatred of Jews. Anti-Semitism was not new in Europe. Many Jews in germany were highly successful in business and the professions. As such, the often incurred the jealousy of some less successful Aryan competitors. Perhaps this explains why many Germans supported Hitler’s views of the Jews. The Jew became a convenient scapegoat for all of Germany’s troubles. When Hitler became dictator, Jews were banned from public offices, and from the pfoessions such as medicine, law, and teaching. Most Jewish stores were forced to close and in accordance with the Nazi doctrine of racial purity, the Jews were strictly segregated and treated as inferior people. Millions of Jews were eventually thrown into concentration camps,a nd the Nazi policy toward the Jews hardened into one committed to complete extermination. Many Germans were undoubtedly disgusted at the revolting cruelty inflicted on the Jews by the Nazis, and yet there is only one record of a pubic protest ever being made in Germany against Hitler’s treatment of the Jews. This took place in Berlin during WWII, when the government proposed to round up and exterminate all women who had one Jewish grandparent or in other words, who were one quarter Jewish. Before the Holocaust itself, perhaps the most outrageous act against the Jews was the state sanctioned Kristallnacht of November 9th, 1938 – in which Jewish shops, synagogues, and homes were ransacked and many Jews imprisoned. Hitler and the Churches – the Nazis rejected Christianity with its emphasis on peace and the brotherhood of man. Instead the Nazis preached a type of neo-paganism which glorified war and conquest and held that any conduct was justified as long as it served the interests of the state. Neither the Protestant nor Catholic churches in Germany ever officially protested against this debasement of human values. Pastors and priests who courageously preached against the Nazi creed were sent to concentration camps. Hitler’s message to the churches was very clear – they must confine their role to religious leadership and stay completely out of politics.

Hermann Goering – Reich Commissioner Minister for Air and organizer of the Luftwaffe (airforce) – also the first organizer of the Gestapo Hermann Goering Appointed Reich Commissioner, controlling Prussia   -within a week had provided himself with a list of police officers and government officials to be purged Prussian police force to be reinforced by enlisting voluntary auxiliaries, from the SA, SS and the Stahlhelm… who continued to wear their uniforms with the addition of a white armband, and were virtually given the freedom of the streets, without interference from the regular police. The reign of terror has no proper record of the numbers arrested, tortured, and killed. Old scores were largely against communists, and socialists, Jews, Catholic priests, politicians, and journalists

was an English comic actor and filmmaker who rose to fame in the silent era. Chaplin became a worldwide icon through his screen persona "the Tramp" and is considered one of the most important figures of the film industry. His career spanned more than 75 years, from a child in the Victorian era to close to his death at the age of 88, and encompassed both adulation and controversy.

His early years were spent with his mother and brother in the London district of Kennington; Hannah had no means of income, other than occasional nursing and dressmaking, and Chaplin Sr. provided no support for his sons. As the situation deteriorated, Chaplin was sent to a workhouse when seven years old. The council housed him at the Central London District School for paupers, which Chaplin remembered as "a forlorn existence". He was briefly reunited with his mother at nine years of age, before Hannah was forced to readmit her family to the workhouse in July 1898. The boys were promptly sent to Norwood Schools, another institution for destitute children.

In September 1898, Hannah Chaplin was committed to Cane Hill mental asylum – she had developed a psychosis seemingly brought on by malnutrition and an infection of syphilis. Chaplin recalled his anguish at the news, "Why had she done this? Mother, so light-hearted and gay, how could she go insane?“ For the two months she was there, Chaplin and his brother were sent to live with their father, whom the young boy scarcely knew. Charles Sr. was by then a severe alcoholic, and life with the man was bad enough to provoke a visit from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. He died two years later, at 38 years old, from cirrhosis of the liver. Hannah entered a period of remission, but in May 1903 became ill again. Chaplin, then 14, had the task of taking his mother to the infirmary. He lived alone for several days, searching for food and occasionally sleeping rough, until his brother Sydney returned from the navy. Hannah was released from the asylum eight months later, but in March 1905 her madness returned, this time permanently. "There was nothing we could do but accept poor mother's fate," Chaplin later wrote, and she remained in care until her death in 1928.

By age 13 Chaplin had fully abandoned education. At 16-years-old, Chaplin starred in the West End production at the Duke of York's Theatre from 17 October to 2 December 1905. He completed one final tour of Sherlock Holmes in early 1906, eventually leaving the play after more than two and a half years. By 1908, Sydney Chaplin had become a star of Fred Karno's prestigious comedy company. In February, he managed to secure a two-week trial for his younger brother. Karno was initially wary, thinking Chaplin a "pale, puny, sullen-looking youngster" who "looked much too shy to do any good in the theatre.” But the teenager made an impact on his first night at the London Coliseum, winning more laughs in his small role than the star, and he was quickly signed to a contract. His salary was £3 10s a week. Karno is credited for making famous the ‘custard pie in the face’ gag.

Making a Living marked his film debut, released 2 February 1914 Making a Living marked his film debut, released 2 February 1914. Chaplin strongly disliked the picture, but one review picked him out as "a comedian of the first water." Chaplin's character attempts to convince a passerby (director Henry Lehrman) to give him money. Chaplin is then shown flirting with a woman; Lehrman enters to present the woman with flowers and sees Chaplin. A slapstick fight between the two ensues. Later, Lehrman's character takes a photograph of an automobile accident; Chaplin's character steals the camera whilst the journalist is helping a trapped motorist and rushes back to the paper with it to claim the photograph as his own. A short pursuit with the Keystone Kops follows.

"the Tramp" character, as it became known, debuted to audiences in Kid Auto Races at Venice – shot later but released two days earlier. Chaplin adopted the character as his screen persona. Made by Keystone Studios and directed by Henry Lehrman, the movie portrays Chaplin as a spectator at a 'baby-cart race' in Venice, Los Angeles. The spectator keeps getting in the way of the camera and interferes with the race, causing great frustration to the public and participants. The film was shot during the Junior Vanderbilt Cup, an actual race with Chaplin and his co-stars improvising gags in front of real-life spectators. Unusually the camera breaks the fourth wall to show a second camera filming (as though it were the first), to better explain the joke. At this stage Chaplin only gets in the way of the visible camera on screen, not the actual filming camera. In so doing it takes on a spectator's viewpoint and becomes one of the first public films to show a film camera and cameraman in operation

During 1915, Chaplin became a cultural phenomenon During 1915, Chaplin became a cultural phenomenon. Shops were stocked with Chaplin merchandise, he was featured in cartoons and comic strips, and several songs were written about the star. In July, a journalist for Motion Picture Magazine wrote that "Chaplinitis" had spread across America. As his fame grew worldwide, he became the first international film star. With his Essanay contract coming to an end, and fully aware of his popularity, Chaplin requested a $150,000 signing bonus from his next studio. He received several offers, including Universal, Fox, and Vitagraph, the best of which came from the Mutual Film Corporation at $10,000 a week.

Chaplin was the subject of a backlash in the British media for not fighting in World War I. He defended himself, revealing that he had registered for the draft but was not asked to fight. Despite this campaign Chaplin was a favourite with the troops, and his popularity continued to grow worldwide. The name of Charlie Chaplin was said to be "a part of the common language of almost every country", and according to Harper's Weekly his "little, baggy-trousered figure" was "universally familiar".

Chaplin married 17 year old actress Mildred Harris Chaplin married 17 year old actress Mildred Harris. She gave birth to a boy who died 3 days later. The death of his son may have spurred on the creative process behind “The Kid”. For this new venture, Chaplin also wished to "do something more" than comedy and, according to Louvish, "make his mark on a changed world.“ Filming on The Kid began in August 1919, with four-year-old Jackie Coogan his co-star. The Kid was in production until May 1920. Shortly before this, Chaplin and his wife had separated after 18 months of marriage – they were "irreconcilably mismated", he remembered. At 68 minutes, it was his longest picture to date. Dealing with issues of poverty and parent–child separation, The Kid is thought to be influenced by Chaplin's own childhood and was the first film to combine comedy and drama. It was released in January 1921 to instant success, and by 1924 had been screened in over 50 countries.

Chaplin married for the second time Chaplin married for the second time. Mirroring the circumstances of his first union, Lita Grey was a teenage actress – originally set to star in The Gold Rush – whose surprise announcement of pregnancy forced Chaplin into marriage. She was 16 and he was 35, meaning Chaplin could have been charged with statutory rape under California law. He therefore arranged a discreet marriage in Mexico on 24 November 1924. When their son, Charles Spencer Chaplin, Jr, was born on 5 May 1925, Chaplin sent Grey and the child into hiding: it was seen as too close to their wedding, so a fake birth announcement was made to the press at the end of June.

The 1940s saw Chaplin face a series of controversies, both in his work and his personal life, which changed his fortunes and severely affected his popularity in America. The first of these was a new boldness in expressing his political beliefs. Deeply disturbed by the surge of militaristic nationalism in 1930s world politics, Chaplin found that he could not keep these issues out of his work: "How could I throw myself into feminine whimsy or think of romance or the problems of love when madness was being stirred up by a hideous grotesque, Adolf Hitler?“ He chose to make The Great Dictator – a "satirical attack on fascism" and his "most overtly political film". There were strong parallels between Chaplin and the German dictator, having been born four days apart and raised in similar circumstances. It was widely noted that Hitler wore the same toothbrush moustache as the Tramp, and it was this physical resemblance that formed the basis of Chaplin's story

Charlie Chaplin as a Jewish barber

Charlie Chaplin as Adenoid Hynkel Chaplin spent two years developing the script, and began filming in September 1939. He had submitted to using spoken dialogue, partly out of acceptance that he had no other choice but also because he recognised it as a better method for delivering a political message. Making a comedy about Hitler was seen as highly controversial, but Chaplin's financial independence allowed him to take the risk. "I was determined to go ahead," he later wrote, "for Hitler must be laughed at.“ Chaplin replaced the Tramp (while wearing similar attire) with "A Jewish Barber", a reference to the Nazi party's belief that the star was a Jew. In a dual performance he also plays the dictator "Adenoid Hynkel", a parody of Hitler which Maland sees as revealing the "megalomania, narcissism, compulsion to dominate, and disregard for human life" of the German dictator.

Paulette Goddard as Hannah Chaplin viewed Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will at a showing at the New York Museum of Modern Art. Film maker. Chaplin laughed uproariously at the film. It provided many elements of The Great Dictator, and it was repeated viewings of Will that allowed Chaplin to so closely mimic Hitler's mannerisms. It is suspected Chaplin's decision to go ahead with making The Great Dictator was finalized by his viewing of Riefenstahl's film. The rally speech by Hynkel, delivered in German-sounding gibberish, is a caricature of Hitler's oratory style, which Chaplin studied carefully in newsreels

Jack Oakie as Benzino Napaloni, Dictator of Bacteria

Henry Daniell as Garbitsch Chaplin viewed Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will at a showing at the New York Museum of Modern Art. Film maker. Chaplin laughed uproariously at the film. It provided many elements of The Great Dictator, and it was repeated viewings of Will that allowed Chaplin to so closely mimic Hitler's mannerisms. It is suspected Chaplin's decision to go ahead with making The Great Dictator was finalized by his viewing of Riefenstahl's film. The rally speech by Hynkel, delivered in German-sounding gibberish, is a caricature of Hitler's oratory style, which Chaplin studied carefully in newsreels

Billy Gilbert as Herring