12/2 & 12/3 HITLER & NAZI GERMANY
• Icebreaker: Conduct an OPVL analysis on excerpts
from the Mein Kampf (My Struggle) written by
Adolf Hitler
ORIGINS & RISE 1918 - 1933
• Overview
• Weimar Republic which was set up in 1919, proved to be politically weak.
• Faced opposition from left wing communist & right wing conservatives &
nationalist
• Focused on the Treaty of Versailles
• When French & Belgians invaded the Ruhr in 1923 hyperinflation resulted =
middle class savings gone
• US revoked loans following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Germany fell into
depression
HOW DID POLITICAL CIRCUMSTANCES OF GERMANY
AFTER 1918 CONTRIBUTE TO THE RISE OF NAZISM?
• Before WWI Germany ruled by authoritarian Kaiser Wilhem II
• German constitution of 1871 made provision for the Reichstag (elected parliament) but
never fully developed
• War destroyed the imperial regime = Kaiser abdicating on Nov. 9 1918 due to chaos,
strikes, & mutinies
• Socialist government took over in Nov. 1918 under Friedrich Ebert and he would sign an
armistice to end the war
• In January 1919 a new democratic constitution was put in place
• Many Germans were angry over armistice who believed in their country and that the
army could have fought on
ANGER OVER THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES
• Germany lost 13% of its territory
• Lost all its colonies
• Forced to reduce the size of military
• Demilitarized Rhineland
• Polish Corridor
• Germans accept the war guilt & pay reparations
• Self Determination applied in Europe resulting in many Germans
living outside of its borders
• Anshluss forbidden with Austria
IMPACT OF THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES ON THE
BORDERS OF GERMANY
PROBLEMS WITH THE WEIMAR GOVERNMENT
• New constitution gave considerable power to the president who was
elected every seven years
• President appointed the chancellor who ran the government &
under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution had power to rule in
case of an emergency
• Proportional Representation
• Vote for parties NOT people
WEAKNESS OF THE GOVERNMENT
Spartacus League (KDP)
•German Communist Party
•Extreme left wing socialist movement
•Tried to overthrow the government through violent
revolution
•Refused to work with SPD (Social Democratic Party)
Conservative Elite
Not as hostile, but openly disliked the government
Many veterans, judges, senior civil servants
Nationalists
Had Freikorps: (volunteer groups of demobil soldiers)
Conducted political murders in the name of nationalism
SOURCE A:
“In the eyes of the right, the Republic was associated with the surrender, a shameful and deliberate
act of treachery, and the peace treaty a further act of betrayal. The fact that the new republican
institutions were democratic added to the hostility. It was openly said that loyalty to the fatherland
required disloyalty to the republic”
(Bullock Hitler, A Study in Tyranny)
HITLER JOINS POLITICS
• National Socialist German Worker's Party
(NSDAP)
• Disorganized party
• Did not recognize the Weimar Republic
• Nationalist
• Freikorps joined
• Anti- Semitism
• Hitler became the chairman of the party in
1921
THE MUNICH PUTSCH (THE BEER HALL PUTSCH)
• Hated the Weimar Republic
• November 8, 1923: Hitler held rally at
a Munich Beer Hall and proclaimed
“revolution!”
• Led 2,000 armed "brown-shirts" (SA)
to take over the Bavarian
government. (Lost)
• Won national attention
• Ruhr crisis and the great inflation
were at their height.
PRISON SENTENCE
• Tried for Treason (gets 5 yrs. in
prison) served 9 months
• Wrote Mein Kampf (My
Struggle) in prison
• Outline his hatred of Jews
and Communists
• Gave a history of the Nazi
Party
GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION
• Hitler decided to seize power constitutionally rather than by force of arms.
• Golden Era for the Weimar Republic
• May 1928 Nazis win only 12 seats (2.6% of the vote) i
• Hitler spoke to mass audiences
• Wanted German people to resist the rule of Jews/Communists
• Talked of creating a new empirerule the world for 1,000 years.
• Hitler gained more publicity by joining the DNVP (Right Wing German
National People’s Party) in campaigns against the 1929 Young Plan
HOW FAR DID THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF 1929 – 1933
OPEN THE WAY FOR HITLER’S RISE TO POWER
• 1929 – 30 withdrawal of US loans and collapse in the export
market had drastic effects for Germany
• 1/3 of Germans were without jobs
• Communist and right wing extremist mocked the government
inaction and promised they held the key to future prosperity
• Nazis claimed to be a ‘national party’ that would keep out
communism, uphold law and order, return to traditional middle
class values
• Yet they had no formula to end the depression or raise
employment levels
POLITICAL PARTIES
• Between 1928 and 1932 the political parties became increasingly divided
• On the left the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and communist (KPD)
refused to work together
• Right wing conservatives (DNVP sought more authoritarian gov’t and had
some sympathy with the Nazis…yet could not come to agreements on cuts
needed after October 1929
NAZIS GAIN POWER
• In 1930Nazis vote went from 3% to 18%
• In 1932Hitler ran for President and won 30% of the vote (Nazis held
107 seats)
• Hitler lost the presidential election to Paul von Hindenburg
• Hitler offered Vice-Chancellor (rejects it)
• Franz von Papen named chancellor—has major problems
• Kurt von Schleicher replaced von Papen
• Convinced of Nazi decline von Schleicher and von Papen tried to
harness their energy (July Reichstag election the Nazis won 230 seats –
November election down 196 seats)
NAZIS GAIN POWER
• Hitler, Hindenberg and von Papen formed a coalition
• “Backstairs Intrigue”
• Hitler called for new election
• Massive propaganda campaign
• Reichstage Fire Blamed the Communist Party for starting
the fire…Hindenberg issued a decree for the “Protection of
the People”….took away peoples civil liberties & with the
power to search, arrest, and censor ‘until further notice, the
Nazis were able to remve opponents before the elections
took place
• Nazis won 43.9% of the total vote on March 5, 1933
THE REICHSTAG FIRE, FEBRUARY 1933
• Reichstag building partially
destroyed by fire.
• Hitler convinced Hindenburg to
take strong action, and the
president suspended freedom of
speech and the press and other
civil liberties.
THE ENABLING ACTS (1933)
• On March 23, 1933, the Reichstag passed the Enabling
Act, which gave dictatorial authority to Hitler's cabinet for
four years.
• Provided the basis for Hitler’s dictatorship
• Destroyed the power of the Reichstag allowing the
chancellor to issue laws without consultation
DUE NEXT CLASS!!!!!
• Preliminary Internal Assessment (IA) Sheet!!!!
• Must have TOPIC, RESEARCH QUESTION,
RUNNING LIST OF SOURCES, POSSIBLE OPVL
SOURCES & OUTLINE!!!!