The years leading up to Hitler's party election (1933) saw Germany effectively in ruins. In 1923 mining production in the Ruhr valley, which produced four fifths of Germany's coal and iron was halted due to passive resistance to French occupation. When the government called an end to the resistance, many Germans were outraged to give in to what they believed were outrageously unfair reparations. Many Germans were disgruntled with the government and their country's political position. Violent citizens banded together to form militia groups to tackle the Weimar Republic. Hitler and the…
