ABSTRACT
The Weimar Constitution put a premium on freedom and justice rather than on stability; given the specific German situation, this betrayed a lack of judgment. The inflation period and the Great Depression are two of the major milestones in the social history of the Weimar Republic, but they are equally important in its political and cultural history. The directors of industry and the managers of the big banks rarely appeared in the limelight, but they played a not unimportant role in the history of the Weimar Republic. The Weimar police force was more loyal to the new state. In many cases it was commanded by Social Democrats who had rio inhibitions about its reform. The other main pillar of the Republic was the Democratic Party, liberal and slightly left-of-centre in outlook, progressive but not too much so, in favour of reform but afraid of going too far and too fast.
