Difference between interpretations (4).
Interpretation 1 suggests that Hitler’s personal appeal was the main reason for the growth of
support for the Nazi party. This can be seen where it states “Hitler Himself was central to the
success of the Nazis in the years 1929-32”. Interpretation 2 suggests that the Nazis’ rise to
power was determined by unpredictable events. This can be seen with the line “Chance
events, such as depression and unemployment, played a much larger role than any actions
of the Nazi leader himself in bringing Hitler to power.”. Therefore, the difference between the
2 Interpretations is the major reasons behind the Nazi growth.
One reason why the interpretations give differing views (4)
One reason why the interpretations give differing views could be because they are basing
their viewpoints on different sources. Interpretation 1 could be based on Source C, as both
heavily lean into the idea that Hitler’s personal appeal is what brought him to power.
Interpretation 2, on the other hand, could be gaining information from Source B, as both
heavily suggest that depression, unemployment, and a lack of trust in the Weimar
government is what lead people to supporting extreme parties instead. Therefore, the reason
why the interpretations give different views is because of the sources they use.
How useful are Sources B and C (8)
Source B is highly useful as an enquiry into the growth of Nazi support from 1929-32
because it shows how the lack of trust in the government moved people towards the Nazis.
was. Source B shows several people lining up for their unemployment benefits. The amount
of people queuing and the “Vote Hitler” written on the wall suggests a high amount of distrust
towards the Weimar Government and a high level of unemployment, poverty and other
economic struggles, which would lead to more people voting for the Nazis instead as the
party promised to fix these issues.. This lines up with my own knowledge as I know that by
1932 unemployment had risen to around 6million and trust in the government was still low as
people had not fully recovered from the Wall Street Crash in 1929. Trust in the government
had also diminished after Bruning raised taxes to aid with the recovery of the economy. The
source comes from a newspaper published in 1932, however we don’t actually know when
the photo was taken. Despite this, the origin aids the source's usefulness as it shows a clear
reflection of public opinion at the time. Overall Source B is highly useful as an enquiry into
the growth of Nazi support from 1929-32 because it shows how the lack of trust in the
government moved people towards the Nazis.
Source C is also highly useful as an enquiry into the growth of Nazi support from 1929
because it shows how influential Hitler was. It claims that Hiter and the Nazis had very
strong personal appeal which drew attention to them during the depression, which can be
seen by “the impression of energy in an atmosphere of hopelessness, seems to have won
her over to the Nazis as well.” This lines up with my own knowledge as I know that Hitler was
very dynamic in the ways he indoctrinated Germany, with Nazi rallies that were colourful and
appealed to children and, as well as speeches that were high in energy and promises. He
used basic English to deliver his points to a wider audience, and used propaganda to heavily
spread his ideologies to people such as women. The origin of this source is that it comes
from a narrative account of a Nazi minister. The fact that he chose to work for the Nazis
showed that he clearly was convinced by the Nazis to work for them, aiding in the source’s
credibility. In conclusion, Source C is also highly useful as an enquiry into the growth of Nazi
support from 1929 because it shows how influential Hitler was.
How far do you agree with Interpretation 2 (20)
Interpretation 2 suggests that a key factor in the growth in support for the Nazi party was
depression in Germany. This can be seen where it says “Events such as the Wall Street
Crash, which led to depression in Germany, brought increased support for the Nazis”. I
agree with the idea because of just how high unemployment rates in Germany were because
of the Wall Street Crash and how dependent they were on America’s economy, reaching
6,000,000 unemployed by 1932. Additionally, at the time, economic instability caused
Bruning to use Article 48 to increase taxes, which shifted support away from the Weimar
government and more towards the extremist parties such as the Nazis. I also agree because
the depression caused an increase in support for a communist society, which people such
as businessmen and others who owned private property would be against, which also led to
an increase in support for the Nazis.
However, I do disagree with Interpretation 2 to an extent because of how it devalues the
efforts Hitler himself made to rising to power. It suggests that “Chance events, such as the
depression and unemployment, played a much larger role than any actions of the Nazi
leader himself.” I disagree with this, as Hitler made himself very well known and utilized
specific propaganda to appeal to a variety of Germans. For example, he would organise
Nazi rallies which were bright and colourful and appealed to youths. He would also use
speeches that were high in energy and promises. He used basic English to deliver his points
to a wider audience, and used propaganda to heavily spread his ideologies to people such
as women.
Interpretation 1 suggests that a key factor in the growth of the Nazi party was Hitler’s strong
sense of personal appeal. This can be seen with “I was carried away on a wave of
enthusiasm by the speech.” From my own knowledge, I know that Hitler used modern
technology such as the radio and travelled using planes in order to further endorse his
ideologies to people all around Germany. In particular, the discipline and organisation of the
party attracted many Germans and the use of the SA having soup kitchens at a time of
extreme poverty lured many more people in. However, the interpretation is somewhat limited
since propaganda and Hitler’s appeal had not gained votes in the 1920s. The Nazi votes
were under 10% demonstrating the lack of support despite using propaganda. Therefore,
interpretation 1 whilst mentioning the use of propaganda and Hitler’s appeal it does not show
a significant increase in votes from early on in the years.
In conclusion, while interpretation 1 suggests that Hitler’s personal appeal was what helped
the Nazi party to gain the maority vote, ultimately it was chance events such as the Wall
Street Crash which turned people away from the Weimar government and towards extremist
parties such as the Nazis instead. This can be seen with the votes for the Nazi party rising
from 2.6% in May of 1928 to 37.4% in July of 1930. Therefore, I agree with interpretation 2
more than I agree with interpretation 1.
What can you infer from the source (4)
-
NSDAP was initially made up of army men - “I introduced all my army friends to the
German Workers’ Party”
Popularity of the Nazi party increased starting 1920 - “From that day on, the party
began to increase so much”
How did Hitler create a dictatorship 1933-34 (12)
Hitler held a dim view of the value of democracy, which he had consistently criticised as being
un-German, and that it was a political system that had been forced upon the German people, as
part of the unfair Versailles settlement. As Hitler entered government in the winter to 1933, he
did so at a time of economic depression for the nation, which was going to bring to bear a lot of
pressure on the German political system. The German people had been increasingly desperate
to find a solution to the growing problems in their country; and it were these problems and issues
within the political system that Hitler was able to prey upon. Hitler initially entered power in a
democratic position and his vision was to change this into a more dictatorial power. Due to the
fragile nature of German politics at this time, where the government had gone through a string of
chancellors (e.g Bruning) in late 1932, Hitler had been able to use the increased political strength
of the Nazi Party to leverage more concessions from President Hindenburg, who had resisted
allowing Hitler to ascend to the Chancellorship. This was also connected to the fact that no single
party was able to get an outright majority in the Reichstag, thus placing the Nazis in an influential
position, which Hitler used to disrupt the democratic process, through a policy of noncooperation.
Having become Chancellor, another event that helped him to achieve this vision was the
Reichstag Fire which happened on the 27th of February 1933. This is because an opportunity
presented itself to reduce the threat of communism, a movement that had been growing for some
time now. A Dutch Communist named van der Lubbe was caught red-handed with matches and
fire-lighting materials. As a result of this, Hitler used it as an excuse to arrest many of his
Communist opponents, and as a major platform in his election campaign of March 1933. The
fire was so convenient that many people at the time claimed that the Nazis had burned it down,
and then just blamed the Communists. On March 27th, Hitler held a general election, appealing
to the German people to give him a clear mandate. Less than 50% of the people voted Nazi,
which did not give him a majority in the Reichstag. Therefore, by using the Reichstag as his
driving point, he arrested the 81 Communist deputies which gave him a majority. Herman
Goring, Hitler’s most loyal supporter Göring’s worked in the Reichstag and his sole concern was
to stultify the democratic system and the opportunity to do this more effectively happened when
he was elected as speaker of the Reichstag. Nazi stormtroopers stopped opposition deputies
going in, and beat up anyone who dared to speak against it, thus highlighting the weak nature of
German democracy and its inability to prevent intimidation. Therefore, these events enabled
Hitler`s vision of changing the democratic bureaucracy to suit his goals, and this was further
enhanced when on the 23rd of March, the Reichstag voted to give Hitler the power to make his
own laws. The subsequent Enabling Act resulted in making Hitler the dictator of Germany, with
power to do anything he liked - legally.
He used these powers to begin to establish a dictatorship. Because of this, life under Hitler
changed drastically at this time because of the impact that the change in laws were having on
Germany. As a result, this affected a wide range of areas of German society, such as local
government, trade unions and political parties. The Nazis took over local government and the
police. They started to replace anti-Nazi teachers and University professors. Hitler set up the
Gestapo (the secret police) and encouraged Germans to report opponents and 'grumblers'. Tens
of thousands of Jews, Communists, Protestants, Jehovah's Witnesses, gypsies, homosexuals,
alcoholics and prostitutes were arrested and sent to concentration camps for 'crimes' as small as
writing anti-Nazi graffiti, possessing a banned book, or saying that business was bad. This
enabled Hitler to suppress much dissent within Germany and prevent an effective political
opposition to the Nazis. Trade Unions offices were closed, their money confiscated, and their
leaders put in prison. In their place, Hitler put the German Labour Front which reduced workers'
pay and took away the right to strike. Therefore, Hitler was able to largely prevent open
democratic discourse within Germany and stop the growth of any open opposition to his aims
and ambitions, thus making Germany more and more feel like a dictatorship.
Once Hitler had consolidated his position with regard to Germany`s political structure, he turned
his attention to suppressing any dissent within the Nazi Party itself. One of the ways in which this
happened was in the `night of the long knives` in June 1934 when Hitler used the SS to arrest
and execute over 200 SA leaders, including Ernst Rohm. This allowed Hitler to consolidate his
control over the Nazi Party and remove any potential threat to his power base, as by 1934 the SA
had around 2 million members. As a result of this, Hitler was able to appease the German army
elite and to a certain degree win over their support. This enabled Hitler to start to control another
aspect of German society, namely the military, and start to plan a rearmament programme.
Therefore, this further eroded the separation of powers within the German political system, as
Hitler was able to control more of its areas. However, with the death of President Hindenburg in
August 1934, one of the final obstacles to Hitler`s creation of a dictatorship had gone. Therefore,
Hitler could takeover the position of President, practically unopposed, due to the fact that he had
enough control within the German government. The significance of President Hindenburg`s
death was that as a WW1 war hero, he was one of the few people left in Germany who arguably
had more support from the German people than Hitler, and who potentially could have stopped
or slowed down the path towards dictatorship that Germany had found itself on during the years
of 1933-34.