ABSTRACT
The six years between the currency stabilization in 1924 and the resignation of the last parliamentary Reich cabinet in March 1930 were the "golden years" of the Weimar Republic. The national elections held in May 1928 could be seen as additional evidence of the country's return to political stability. The big winner was the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the staunchest pillar of democracy in Germany; the Social Democrats obtained almost 30% of the popular vote. In May 1924 Germany held its first Reichstag election since June 1920. As was to be expected, the results reflected the political backlash from the country's economic hard times. The Ruhr crisis represented an economic watershed in the Weimar years. Weimar culture was a genuine multimedia phenomenon. In the middle period of the Weimar years, politics were characterized by a number of seemingly contradictory developments. Much of the glitter of Weimar's golden years was fools' gold.
