Democracy Rising: Hannah and the Weimar Revolution

*author note*

This is a story I've been telling myself since I was twelve years old. It may be too far-fetched to be true. In any case, this is an effort to make sense of my own journey, as well as give a voice to the past I knew so little about. While it may not be 100% historically accurate, the sentiment is what matters.

*

It had been three years now since the war ended, and in the early summer of 1925, Hannah Prokop was beginning to feel optimistic about her country's future. The economy was finally recovering from the war, and though it was slow, she knew it would eventually be better than before. She lived with her father and younger brother in a small apartment in Leipzig, where her father worked in a factory. Her mother had died when she was a child, so she spent most of her time with family friends or out with her friends on the weekends. Some days she would meet up with her cousin Mina, who lived close by in Dresden.

She hadn't seen Joel in quite some time; he had moved to Berlin after they graduated from high school two years ago. He had been accepted into the prestigious art academy there as an apprentice under one of the best artists and sculptors of their day, Emil Nolde. Hannah had always been proud of him and his talent for art, but not everyone shared that vision. Most people saw his work as 'degenerate' - too dark or too sexual - and thought art should only serve to elevate society instead of corrupt it. She hoped he could continue making the work he loved despite the critics who might denounce his work for his talent alone. She wrote him often, sharing news about their town and how many more jobs were opening up since the war ended, but she rarely received replies from him anymore. It might have something to do with Berlin being such a busy city; she remembered how much he hated being in Leipzig when they first met years ago at school because it was too quiet for him.

As Hannah approached her tram stop on her way home that afternoon, she noticed a line of men standing outside one man's shop across the street from where she stood staring curiously at them. They looked strangely out of place dressed in suits and ties on a warm summer day like today; they all wore white shirts and black ties except for one man who wore a red tie, which immediately caught Hannah's attention because it was such an unusual color for someone to wear during these conservative times where wearing extravagant clothing or bright colors in public was discouraged by members of the political party trying to gain influence over the government (the Nationalists).

One man waved his hand at her and said "Could you spare some change?" And then another man said, "We're asking everyone here today." She ignored them as they approached her and continued walking toward them as they tried to get closer to tell them no money today but just as she reached them she heard one of them say "Our leader has been arrested," and suddenly was overcome with curiosity so she turned around to see what they meant by that statement. One of the men took out a pamphlet and handed it to her titled "The Arrested Man" written by Theodor Fritsch himself: their leader who owned this store they were standing in front of!

The title page read:

"Fritsch has been arrested! But why? He is innocent! You must believe us!"

Hannah quickly skimmed through it as moments later another man approached her asking for change but this time she responded kindly saying "I'm fine today but thank you for your kindness," which made him smile back at her politely before moving along down the line toward other people walking by like herself but many others were ignoring them completely or hustling away from them as quickly as possible without even so much as looking their direction until one man yelled out above all the others saying "I am Adolf Hitler!" which made a few people turn around suddenly startled by his sudden outburst over something none of them cared about at that moment when they were trying so hard not to hear anything these men outside wanted to say anyway so they went back to avoiding these men altogether as if they didn't exist while others yelled back at him "Go away! What are you doing here?"

But then suddenly Maria von der Pfordten marched right up behind Hitler shouting "Why did you allow this?"

And Hitler responded "Maria von der Pfordten? What are you doing here?"

"I own this store! Why did you arrest my husband?" Maria shouted back angrily pointing into Theodor Fritsch's window where we could all see him sitting inside reading quietly with his glasses still on reading his own newspaper entirely oblivious to what was happening outside his window. He didn't seem surprised at all by all this commotion going on outside his window as if nothing else mattered in that moment except reading what he could only be reading about himself within those pages which made me wonder what exactly these pamphlets people were handing out even said about Fritsch that would make anyone believe he was worth believing all because he owned this store or rather what exactly Hitler's pamphlets said about Fritsch if any that made anyone think he should have never been arrested in the first place let alone now allowed back outside again where everyone could see him like nothing happened?

Not long after Maria went inside Theodor Fritsch's shop he emerged carrying his jacket over his arm with both hands inside looking peaceful until Maria walked up behind him suddenly making Fritsch jump slightly almost dropping his jacket which made me laugh quietly wondering why he wouldn't expect someone like Maria showing up behind him especially after hearing all the commotion caused earlier today seemingly upsetting him enough to ignore whatever else happened while he waited patiently inside his shop reading whatever newspapers came across his desk probably thinking everything would just go away if he ignored it long enough but obviously Maria wasn't having any of that so how could Fritsch expect otherwise?

Nobody spoke for several minutes before Maria finally broke through all this silence making everyone uncomfortable by speaking first saying everything at once making no sense whatsoever except maybe to herself: "You can't just go around arresting people like this without good reason!"