This economic catastrophe gave rise to social problems of corresponding magnitude. Most serious was the mass unemployment, which reached tragic proportions. In March 1933, the number of people out of work in the United States was estimated conservatively at over 14 million , or a fourth of the total labor force. In Germany , with its higher percentage of jobless people, the frustrations and tensions were more acute. Eventually they made it possible for Hitler to triumph, for social dislocation on such a large scale inevitably had profound political repercussions.
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