 starter activity
How will future historians be able to work out who voted New Labour? How
does this differ for historians trying to work out who voted for the Nazi Party?
Possible answers
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Opinion polls
Voting statistics
Membership records
Campaigns in the media – e.g. TV, radio &
newspapers
Individual interviews
 Your task
Copy the list of different types of Germans on p. 118
of Hite & Hinton into your notes and decide on the
basis of what you currently know whether they would
vote Nazi (+), or not (-) or you aren’t sure (?)
NSDAP voters
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Low ranking civil servant
Retired professor
Army general
Shopkeeper in northern
Germany
Female industrial worker
Junker
Catholic priest
Protestant small retailer
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Industrial worker
High-ranking civil
servant
Protestant student
Small farmer
Catholic unemployed
worker
Unemployed ex-soldier
Unemployed artist
Who voted Nazi?
Historiographical problems in finding
out about early support for the
NSDAP
How can we tell who voted Nazi
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Problems- lack of opinion polls,
secret ballots
Some states held separate ballots
for men & women (blue & pink
voting slips)
Nazis did well in certain areas, e.g.
overwhelmingly Protestant, or
farming areas
Membership records – SA & Nazi
Party
Propaganda – who they appealed
to
Autobiographies, e.g. Prof Abel,
Columbia Uni, 581 autobiogs.
What are some of the problems with
these sources of evidence?
Why have historians views changed?
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The fall of the Berlin Wall heralded
the end of Communism and the
opening of many state archives on
Nazi Germany
Decline of Marxist theory of
history – class struggle, oppression
of working classes by middle &
elite classes
More sophisticated analysis of
voting behaviour – e.g. greater
importance attached to religion &
culture
More sophisticated data analysis –
use of computerised analysis, local
studies
Collapse of Communism &
opening of state archives
 Your task
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Look at source 7.10 (p.119, Hite & Hinton).
List 2 groups that were over-represented & 2
groups that were under-represented
How did membership of the party change
between 1929 and 1933?
What does source 7.11 tell us about the nature
of Nazi support?
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Over represented = white-collar workers & selfemployed artisans
Under-represented = Peasants, workers
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Membership of workers increased from 26 to
32.5%, possibly due to rising unemployment &
economic crisis
Membership of white-collar workers decreased,
possibly due to fear at the growth in popularity
of radical movement like NSDAP
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7.11 suggests many workers were attracted to
NSDAP by promise of greater social welfare
(clothing, accommodation & board) & a feeling
that the SDP had abandoned its socialist cause.
 Your task
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Look through the different tables on p.120-1
and note where NSDAP support was strongest
in the following categories:
Religion
 Age
 Gender
 Region
 Chronology (i.e. how did historical events impact on
Nazi support)
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 Your task
Historians are divided in their analysis of who
supported the Nazis. Read through the sources
on p.122-3 and complete the table on p.122.
Why did people support the Nazis?
Can you explain the appeal of these Nazi propaganda posters? Are
they appealing to the same sorts of people?
 Your task
Copy the table below and study one of the sources. Feedback as a
class and compare your findings. (5 columns, 11 rows)
Source
Group
directed at
Their
grievances
What the
NSDAP
offered
Other
comments?
 Your task
Read p. 118-126 (Hite & Hinton) Write a CV for a
typical Nazi voter using the template on the history
website.
 Your task
You have been commissioned by the Nazi party to
produce a poster for the 1932 presidential campaign.
Before committing to print the NSDAP have asked you
to send them a design brief for the poster. Decide
which socio-economic group the poster will
focus its message on, what grievances will be
expressed and what the NSDAP will be offering to
redress the situation. Write a paragraph describing
your poster – the more adventurous may wish to
include a sketch as well.
 Your task
Read p.126-7 and list the different ways in which
historians have explained the popularity of the Nazi
Party.
Historian’s assessment – why did
Germans support the Nazis?
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Emotional appeal of
Nazis
Petty bourgeoisie under
threat from big business
and radical working class
Popular amongst
Germans from weak,
unsupportive
communities
What qualities did the Fuhrer offer that inspired such
devoted support?
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How could the construction of autobahn be
seen as a propaganda exercise?
Propaganda, mass rallies
(however, Noakes argues
NSDAP were successful
in elections where there
was little use of
propaganda)
Successful economic
policies (Brustein) –
alternative to Marxist
state planning & laissezfaire capitalism
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Anti-Communism
Anti-Semitism, racialist & homophobic policies
appealed to extremists or those with scores to settle
(however, Goldstein, argues anti-Semitism not crucial in
electoral successes
What is the message behind
this anti-Semitic Nazi
propaganda?
 Your task
Read sources 7.34 and 7.35 and explain the differences
between the two views.
How far do you agree with the explanation for Nazi
support as ‘complementary rather than competing’?