Hitler’s Rise to Power
In the early 1930s, the mood in Germany
was grim. The worldwide economic
depression had hit the country especially
hard, and millions of people were out of
work. Still fresh in the minds of many was
Germany's humiliating defeat fifteen years
earlier during World War I, and Germans
lacked confidence in their weak government,
known as the Weimar Republic.
These conditions provided the chance for the
rise of a new leader, Adolf Hitler, and his party,
the National Socialist German Workers' Party,
or Nazi party for short
Hitler was a powerful and spellbinding
speaker who attracted a wide following of
Germans desperate for change. He
promised the disenchanted a better life and
a new and glorious Germany.
The Nazis appealed especially to the
unemployed, young people, and members of
the lower middle class (small store owners,
office employees, craftsmen, and farmers).
NSDAP PROMISES
Farmers - Higher prices for their produce - making
up for all their losses during the Depression.
Unemployed workers - Jobs building public works such as
roads and stadiums.
Middle Class - To restore the profits of small business
and the value of savings. To end the Communist threat.
The party's rise to power was rapid. Before
the economic depression struck, the Nazis
were practically unknown, winning only 3%
of the vote to the Reichstag (German
parliament) in elections in 1924. In the 1932
elections, the Nazis won 33% of the votes,
more than any other party.
In January 1933 Hitler was appointed
chancellor, the head of the German
government, and many Germans believed
that they had found a saviour for their
nation.
[Hitler's policies] were half-baked, racist claptrap... but among the jumble of hysterical ideas
Hitler showed a sure sense of how to appeal to
the lowest instincts of frightened masses.
Tony Howarth, a modern historian.
• He was holding the masses, and me with them,
under an hypnotic spell by the sheer force of
his beliefs. His words were like a whip.
When he spoke of the disgrace of Germany, I
felt ready to attack any enemy.
Karl Ludecke, an early follower of Hitler (1924).
• There were simply not enough Germans who
believed in democracy and individual freedom
to save the Weimar republic.
Written by the modern historian S Williams
In November 1932 elections the Nazis again
failed to get a majority of seats in the
Reichstag. Their share of the vote fell –
from 230 seats to only 196. Hitler
contemplated suicide. But then he was
rescued by Hindenburg
Franz von Papen (a friend of Hindenburg)
was Chancellor, but he could not get enough
support in the Reichstag. Hindenburg and
von Papen were having to govern by
emergency decree under Article 48 of the
Constitution. They offered Hitler the post of
vice-Chancellor if he promised to support
them
Hitler refused – he demanded to be made
Chancellor. So Von Papen and Hindenburg
took a risk. On 30 January 1933
Hindenburg made Hitler Chancellor. He
thought he could control Hitler – how wrong
he was.
In the end, Hitler did not TAKE power at all –
he was given it.
April 1933
• The Nazis started to take over local
governments and the police
• The Gestapo were established – ‘Secret
Police’
• “Enemies of the state” were rounded up
and placed in concentration camps
Enemies of the State
The Night of Long
Knives (1934)
• 1934 – SA membership
was 2 million
• Under the control of
Ernst Roehm
• Roehm wanted to absorb
the regular army into the
SA
• June 1934 – leading
members of the SA were
rounded up and
executed
• 77 men were killed on charges of treason
• Roehm was shot
• The SA was placed under the control of
the army and ceased to exist as a
separate entity
Herr Adolf Hitler, the German Chancellor, has
saved his country. Swiftly and with exorable
severity, he has delivered Germany from men
who had become a danger to the unity of the
German people and to the order of the state.
With lightening rapidity he has caused them
to be removed from high office, to be
arrested, and put to death. The names of the
men who have been shot by his orders are
already known. Hitler's love of Germany has
triumphed over private friendships and
fidelity to comrades who had stood shoulder
to shoulder with him in the fight for
Germany's future.
Daily Mail, July 2nd 1934
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ8ewZySQls
Which of the following was the most
important in helping Hitler to take control
over Germany? Explain your answer by
referring to (i), (ii) and (iii);
(i) The Reichstag Fire,
(ii) The Enabling Law
(iii) The Night of the Long Knives
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CFWH4Fhkak
'They salute with both hands now'
GOERING
GOEBBELS
Illustrator:
David Low
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU1LHeim_hA