The aftermath of World War I laid the groundwork for Germany’s collision course with mass poverty and political extremism. When Germany was defeated by the Allied forces in 1918 and saw its monarchy dissolved and replaced by the Weimar Republic, a parliamentary government, life as everyone had known it was over. The strict terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the peace agreement that Britain, France, and the other Allied powers set forth as Germany’s punishment for waging war, was signed in 1919 and obliterated the German economy. Specifically, the treaty’s Article 231, commonly referred to as the “war guilt clause,” stipulated, “The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.” Germany was obliged to pay approximately $31.5 billion in reparations for the economic damages it caused during the war and make significant territorial concessions.2 Consequently, Germany lost all of its colonies, 13 percent of its territory in Europe, and almost all of its military equipment, and its army was restricted to 100,000 men.3 The draconian provisions of the peace agreement incensed many Germans, including Adolf Hitler, who resented that Germany surrendered in the first place.

Not only did the Treaty of Versailles break Germany’s economy, it also destroyed the morale of the German people, who could no longer make ends meet. Inflation skyrocketed until the United States provided another way for Germany to pay back its war debts. In 1924, at the request of the Allied Reparations Committee, the prominent Chicago banker Charles Dawes investigated the terms of Germany’s agreement and recommended an increase in foreign loans to Germany and a reorganization of the German state bank. Adolf Hitler, a veteran of the Great War and an emerging voice in the Nazi Party, opposed the Dawes Plan because he claimed it gave foreigners control over Germany’s economy and didn’t reduce the amount of outstanding reparations. However, the plan managed to get inflation under control and strengthen the German economy. By 1928, the unemployment rate in Germany had dropped significantly.4

Growing up in the Albert family came with a great deal of isolation despite the abundance of material comforts most Germans could only dream of having at the time, including a spacious apartment, household staff, and vacations on the North Sea. But Karl and Margarete were distant and removed in their own ways, and both parents were also strict disciplinarians, particularly Margarete, who spanked her children with a cane, according to Charlotte. Nurturing didn’t come easily for Margarete, and Charlotte didn’t snuggle with her mom, play dress-up in her beautiful clothes, come home crying to her if a schoolmate was cruel, or share much about her crushes, goals, or dreams. If anyone ever received affection, it was Frederick, whom his family affectionately called “Frika.”