NA ZISM AND GERMANY:

HITLER’S ROAD TO POWER

UNIT 7: INTERWAR PERIOD

HISTORICAL THEORIES ON HITLER

Hitler was only a

symptom of the

feelings of common

German people

The Germans were

Hitler’s first victims

WHAT IS NAZISM?

• Nazism: form of fascism that also incorporates rabid

antisemitism, racism, and eugenics

• Eugenics: practices that aim to improve the genetic

quality of a human population by removing undesirables

from the gene pool

– Theory and practice of eugenics began in the United States

ADOLF HITLER

• Originally from Austria, spent teenage years in Vienna

• Young Hitler was “lost” in Vienna

– Struggled to make ends meet

– Teenaged Hitler was first influenced by local politicians in Vienna who

spouted antisemitic propaganda and knew how to rile up a crowd

• Hitler moved to Munich, Germany in his 20s to avoid being drafted

into the Austrian army (pre-WWI)

– Later claimed the Austrian army had too many races mixed into it

ADOLF HITLER

• The breakout of WWI gave his life a direction and a cause to commit himself to; joined the German army

– Hitler was gassed near the end of the war; temporarily blinded and mute

– Learned of Germany’s defeat while recovering in the hospital; outraged

• After the war, Hitler was employed in the German army as an informant

– Sent to spy on radical party meetings; found he agreed with many of the radicals

ADOLF HITLER

So what led to the development of Hitler’s ideology?

• Early exposure as a teen to charismatic anti-Semites

• Anger over Germany’s loss in WWI

• Later exposure to radical political groups

WWI’S EFFECTS ON GERMAN POLITICS

• November 1918, many Germans still believed victory still possible

• Kaiser Wilhelm is overthrown, new government forms: the Weimar

Republic

– New gov’t signs armistice with Allies

• Armistice came as shock to Germans

– “Stab-in-the-back” theory (Dolchstosslegende)

• Belief that the German army did not lose WWI on the battlefield but was instead betrayed by

civilians at home

• Some believed the “civilians” that betrayed Germany were the Jews or communists

• Weimar Republic already distrusted by German people as result

HITLER AND EARLY NAZISM

• Core of Hitler’s political ideas: racism, anti-Semitism,

ultranationalism

• Hitler believed Jews were behind Germany’s loss in WWI

• After WWI, Hitler joined a right-wing ultranationalist party, the

German Worker’s Party

– Hitler soon controlled the party; renamed to National Socialist German

Worker’s Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), or Nazi Party

– Nazi Party supported by the SA (or Brownshirts), a paramilitary group

(Sturmabteilung)

HITLER AND EARLY NAZISM

• Beerhall Putsch: Hitler, Nazis attempt to overthrow

Weimar Republic in failed coup

–Hitler thrown in prison; writes Mein Kampf

• Details beliefs on propaganda and antisemitism

–Hitler realizes he must take power legally, not violently

“If we pass all the

causes of the

German collapse in

review, the ultimate

and most decisive

remains the failure to

recognize the racial

problem and

especially the Jewish

menace.”

Protocols of

the Elders

of Zion

“To what an extent the whole

existence of this people is based

on a continuous lie is shown

incomparably by the Protocols

of the Elders of Zion, so

infinitely hated by the Jews. They

are based on a forgery, the

Frankfurter Zeitung moans and

screams once every week: the

best proof that they are

authentic ... For once this book

has become the common

property of a people, the Jewish

menace may be considered as

broken.”

“All propaganda must be

popular and its intellectual level

must be adjusted to the most

limited intelligence among those

it is addressed to. Consequently,

the greater the mass it is

intended to reach, the lower its

purely intellectual level will have

to be. But if, as in propaganda

for sticking out a war, the aim is

to influence a whole people, we

must avoid excessive intellectual

demands on our public, and too

much caution cannot be

extended in this direction…”

“…The receptivity of the

great masses is very limited,

their intelligence is small, but

their power of forgetting is

enormous. In consequence of

these facts, all effective

propaganda must be limited

to a very few points and

must harp on these in slogans

until the last member of the

public understands what you

want him to understand by

your slogan.”

RISE OF NAZISM

• Hitler uses anger over Treaty of Versailles to rally Germans

– Also exploits German antisemitism

– Nazi Party rapidly expands, largest party in German gov’t by

1929

• Hitler promised end to economic depression; end to German

humiliation (exploits nationalist feelings)

• President Hindenburg makes Hitler chancellor in 1933

https://youtu.be/5tGKfIJwrh4

REICHSTAG FIRE

• Early 1933, a fire broke out in the Reichstag

(German parliament building)

–Communist found guilty of arson

•Hitler seized the opportunity

–Claimed fire was proof that communists were trying to

overthrow the gov’t

–Exploited public’s anger over fire, fear of communism

• Used Enabling Act to pass laws abolishing freedom of speech,

press, privacy

NAZIS TAKE CONTROL

• In 1933, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act

–Gov’t can pass any laws it wants, even if normally

unconstitutional

• After Hindenburg dies, Hitler uses Enabling Act to

combine the position of chancellor and president; Hitler

now ruled supreme

NEW YORK TIMES, 1934

“The German people were asked to vote whether they approved the

consolidation of the offices of President and Chancellor in a single Leader-

Chancellor personified by Adolf Hitler. By every appeal known to skillful

politicians and with every argument to the contrary suppressed, they were asked

to make their approval unanimous…

…The results given out by the Propaganda Ministry early this morning show that

out of a total vote of 43,438,378, cast by a possible voting population of more

than 45,000,000, there were 38,279,514 who answered "Yes," 4,287,808 who

answered "No" and there were 871,056 defective ballots. Thus there is an

affirmative vote of almost 90 per cent of the valid votes and a negative vote of

nearly 10 per cent…”

IMPORTANT NOTE

•Hitler’s ideas never changed,

but people began to view them

as more attractive

Weimar Republic overthrows Kaiser

Weimar Republic signs armistice with

Allies

Hitler joins and later takes over

Nazi Party

Nazi membership increases because of hyperinflation

Hitler’s failed Beerhall Putsch;

jailed, writes Mein Kampf; released

Germany economy stabilizes under

Weimar Republic

Nazi membership plummets

Great Depression hits

Nazi membership massively increases

Hitler loses in presidential election

Hindenburg just barely

Hindenburg appoints Hitler as

chancellor

Reichstag FireReichstag passes Enabling Act of

1933

Freedoms of speech, press,

privacy abolished

Hindenburg dies

Hitler combines presidency and chancellorship; reigns supreme