Panzerschiffe and Weimar Germany's part in rearmament

The Panzerschiff program is an example of military development rooted in the Weimar Republic. The republic's end should not be treated as a clean starting line for German rearmament. Programs associated with the later military buildup already required money and institutional participation during the republican period. Not every politician needed to know every detail, but enough officials were involved for the programs to exist and receive funding. Regime change can obscure this continuity in state activity.