Ben Wilson

That is one of the stipulations of his parole.

The Bavarian government had banned him from making public speeches, a restriction that actually lasts until 1927.

But that's only in Bavaria.

He does get the right to speak in the rest of Germany a little bit earlier.

So Germany in 1924 and 1925 was stabilizing economically.

So Germany had gotten some loans from the U.S., inflation had finally kind of been solved, and the Weimar Republic was entering a period of relative calm.

So that's good times for Germany.

The problem is for Hitler, good times for Germany are bad times for the far right movement.

Because again, they had gained popularity because of the absolute abject failures of the Weimar government.

Now that the Weimar government seems to be doing okay, there's not really movement or excitement for a far right movement.

So these are kind of the down years for Hitler.

But rather than focusing on growth during a time period that's going to be really not conducive to that, instead, he focuses on reunification.

He calls a party meeting at the Bürgerbräukeller, the same beer hall where the putsch had began, and he performed one of the great pieces of political theater in his career.

So Hitler's a celebrity.

Everyone's behind him.

But it is hard to overemphasize just how bitter the fights were in his absence.

There's all these splinter parties.

Everyone is accusing each other of betraying the movement.

There's this downward spiral of like, you're a fake rightist.

No, you're a fake right.