Download HITLER and the Nazis

Rise and Rule of Single
Party State in Germany
1918 – 1945:
HITLER and the Nazis
Paper 2 Review
Everything you could ever want to know
about Hitler for Paper 2, and then some!
Hitler Historical Issues
 How and Why were the Nazi’s able to gain power?
 Why was it possible to create and maintain a regime of such
brutality?
 What exactly is Nazism and what does it represent
 Intentionalist School
 Hitler Factor? The great man, albeit an evil one in this case, influences
History through his actions
 Holds to a Hitler centered interpretation of the 3rd Reich
 Problem is it conveniently shifts all blame to the dead Hitler
 Structuralist School
 Hitler’s role is over-stated
 Focus on the apparatus of the Party and the State
 Decisions are complex
 Fascist/Totalitarian Analysis (Political Scientist focus)
 Germany is example of common mid-2oth Century political movement
Hitler Historical Issues
 Fascist/Totalitarian Analysis con’t (Political Scientist focus)
 Left-wing political analysis
 Generic view of Fascism
 Brought about by economic forces, and class issues in capitalist
states
 Nazism scene as a mere variety of Fascism
 Roots are not Germanic or Hitlerian
 Liberal Interpretation
 Prefer a totalitarian analysis
 Look for similarities of left and right
 Compare Mussolini, Franco, Stalin (can’t be studied in isolation)
 Problem
 Confirmation bias, force Nazi’s into pre-determined model
 Ignore particular circumstances in Germany
 Racial/Foreign Policy Interpretation
 Unique racial focus of Nazi’s used to justify expansion and brutality
 Mass murder requires analysis and questions the nature of man
Hitler Historical Issues

The Question of the Third Reich as Revolutionary
 Is it an abhorrent revolution that alters Germany’s path?
 Is it a natural culmination of German development since the 1850’s?
 Kaisereich is authoritatarian
 Kaiser appoints Chancellor, controls army and foreign policy
 William II unsuited to rule
 Industrial revolution upsets class structure (Mittlestand and workers)
 Army props up Monarchy
 Weimar a product of defeat and democratic parties blamed for it
 Preserve traditional interests but implements democracy
 Stable Period 1924-29 is a façade
 Hinderburg (President) is anti-democratic
 Article 48 allows semi dictatorship
 Is the Third Reich based on continuity of military state structure of 1871
or a break with the Past???
Germany Preconditions
 Germany as a single, unified state was created in 1871
 Prussia had been its largest state
 Power was wielded by the Kaiser (emperor)
 There was an elected Parliament (Reichstag), but the country
was authoritarian
 Kaiser appoints PM, Bundesrat (Prus. Has 17 of 58 B-rat
votes) approves all laws
 Germany underwent rapid industrialization in the late 1800s
(even surpassing GB)
 Germany had Europe’s largest and best army
 Kaiser Wilhelm II (1888-1918) pursued an aggressive foreign
policy
 Food and fuel crisis 1916-17, Inflation 100%, Spanish Flu
Germany Preconditions cont
 WWI
 Germany was certainly partially to blame for the militarism, alliance
system, imperialism and other causes of WWI
 Germany thought WWI would be short by using Schlieffen Plan to
defeat France and Russia
 But WWI became a war of attrition on all sides
 By Sept 1918, German military commanders Ludendorf and
Hindenburg realize they cant win after Spring 1918 offensive
 accepted that Germany could not escape defeat
 Try to shift blame for defeat to new gov’t
 Germany’s citizens were unable to accept the defeat and
turned on the government
 Von Baden (Liberal) new Chancellor tries to preserve monarchy
 Military control to Reichstag, Chancellor reports to R-stag
 Strikes, riots (King Louis deposed in Bavaria, 6 Soviets set up in
Berlin etc…), and mutinies (Navy rejects suicide mission) broke out
 Angry over wasted sacrifices
Germany Preconditions cont
 Kaiser Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate on Nov 9, 1918
 Germany was declared a republic, and led by center-left (SPD)
Coalition:
 Pres.: Friedrich Ebert, Scheidemann Chancellor (Fear extreme
left)
 Problem is left is Split: SPD wants Socialist Parlimentary
Democracy, USPD want Soviets with Parliament, Sparticists
want Soviets only
 Germany signed a ceasefire to end WWI
 Provisional Gov’t until elections
 Ebert-Groener gets Army support for Gov’t and to maintain order
 Stinnes-Legien Agreement- Unions promise not to attack private property and
get legalization, 8-hour day, workers committees
 Germany held elections in January 1919
 The main political parties that supported democracy (Social
Democratic Party (SPD), Democratic Party (DDP), Centre Party
(ZP) ) received over 76% votes
Germany Preconditions cont
 Weimar Government opened in February – not in Berlin
because of the chaos and riots there
 The assembly voted in July 1919 to accept the new
constitution (Weimar Constitution)
 President 7-years
 Can dissolve R-Stag, appoints chancellor (doesn’t have to be largest
party), commands army, Article 48 rule by decree in emergency
 Reichstag 4 years, proportional representation, Reichsrat upper house only
initiate or delay legislation
 Supreme Court
 Scheidemann, from the Social Democratic Party (SPD), was the
Chancellor
Germany Preconditions cont
 Extremist right and left wing movements opposed democracy
and were committed to overthrowing the new Republic
 Civil Service, Courts, Army unreformed and right-wing
 DNVP (Nationalists), and DVP (Const. Monarchy under
Stresemann) get 15% of votes
 Key Problems
 Proportional Representation
 Splinter parties, no majorities, instability but what alternative
 President v. Reichstag: Article 48
overcompensates for fear of R-Stag tyranny?
 G Craig argues the Article 48 Anomaly lets Hitler rise (however
it does work well in 1923)
 Civil institutions anti-democratic
 Even universities are rightist
 Is the constitution bad or is it the political
environment???? Fatally Flawed????
Germany Preconditions cont
 Weimar government faced serious problems from the beginning:
 Anger and resentment over the Versailles Treaty
 Diktat, Weimar Gov’t blamed for Treaty “Stab in the Back”
Theory
 Germans assumed fair peace, true terms shocking
 Loss of territory, no Self Determination
 War Guilt Article 231
 Reparations 6,600 million pounds (Ger. Ultimately chooses
to monetize debt)
 Saar to Lof N, Rheinland demilitarized
 Restricted military, no Anschluss
 Germany banned from Lof N
 Revisionist view : Of course allies protect empires
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USSR threat, multiple states involved not just Germany
Clemenceau gives up extreme demands
Many lost areas are ethnically mixed, Austria, Sudeten Land never Ger.
Much less punitive than Brest-Litovsk
Germany Preconditions cont
 Was Versailles that big a deal?
 Economic problems of Weimar not purely from Versailles
 Dawes and Young Plans gives Germany more loans than the amount of
reparations they pay
 Germany not destroyed like A/H, Russian or Ottoman Empires
 Does create power vacuum Germany can exploit in Central
Europe
 Public opinion does blame Versailles however
 Creates Stab in the back myth
 Wartime nationalism expands
 Weimar blamed for WWI results even though olg Gov’t started the war
Germany Preconditions cont
 Political Problems of Weimar
 Threats from the LEFT:
 Background:
 Extreme left-wing socialist movement known as the
Sparticists set up the German Communist Party
(KPD)
 KPD wanted a Bolshevik-style government
 KPD contested many elections in the 1920s and
consistently received 10-15% of the vote
 The KPD and the SPD would not work together
(except in the case of the German October, 1923)
and made it easier for Hitler to come to power in
1933
Germany Background cont
 The Sparticist Uprising – January 1919
 Staged in Berlin by the Sparticists (left wing Socialists)
 Occupy public buildings, 100 killed
 Leaders Rosa Luxembourg and Liebknecht murdered in Police
custody
 Put down by the freikorps (extreme right-wing ex-soldiers)
 March 1919 Bavaria declared Soviet Republic crushed by Freikorps
 Communist Uprising in the Ruhr – March 1920
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Set up their own gov’t at Essen and in April briefly took over Munich
German army intervened and killed hundreds of communists
50,000 Workers Army (Crushed by Army and Freikorps)
March 1921 Merseburg/Holle KPD strikes crushed by Police
 “German October” – 1923
 The German Communist Party (KPD) organized strikes and demonstrations, and
joined with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) to win control of local
governments
 Berlin used the army to arrest KPD ministers and dissolve the disturbances
Germany Background cont
 Threats from the RIGHT:
 Background:
 Anti-Marxist, Anti-Democratic, Nationalist
 Stab in the Back, November Criminals (pacifists,
Socialists, democrats, Jews part of Weimar conspiracy)
 Many German nationalists never accepted the Weimar
Republic because it had accepted the Treaty of
Versailles
 Many conservative elites (large landowners, big
industrialists, senior army officers, judges and civil
servants) only sort of, kind of supported the new gov’t –
often they were actually hostile
 Many wanted restoration of the monarchy or some
authoritarian alternative
Germany Background cont
 Threats from the RIGHT:
 Background:
 Organizations
 DNVP- German Nat’l Proples Party
 Old conservatives, racists, extremists
 Volkisch Nationalism
 70 splinter parties DAP later NSDAP (NAZI) is one
 Freikorps
 Consul Organization
 Right wing assassins (of 376 Weimar political murders 354 are
committed by the right)
Germany Background cont
 The Kapp Putsch – March 1920
 Wolfgang Kapp and General von Luttwitz attempted to overthrow the
gov’t
 Thousands of unemployed soldiers joined the Freikorps units to
seize control of Berlin
 Regular army (Reichswehr) was ordered to attack the former
soldiers, but they refused
 “Troops don’t shoot at troops”
 Trade unions in Berlin went on strike paralyzing the city
 After 4 days, Kapp realized he could not succeed and he fled the
country
 Not really a Weimar success
 Army is unreliable “state within a state”
 Kapp dies before trial, only 1 0f 705 found guilty
Germany Background cont
 The “White Terror’ – 1920-22
 Many political murders and high level assassinations
 Freikorps was mainly responsible
 Erzeberger (ZP) and Rathenau (ZP) killed
 Only 24 of 354 right wing assassins found guilty no death penalties
 10 of 22 left wing assassins guilty all executed
 The Beerhall Putsch – November 8, 1923
 Hitler and his SA took over a govt meeting in Bavaria
 The local leader (Kahr) escaped and warned the police and army
 Nov 9 the Nazis marched on Munich, but the army was ready and
arrested many Nazis
 Hitler was tried, convicted and sentenced to 5 years, but only spent 9
months in jail – used trial as a bully pulpit and won over many new
supporters
 In jail he wrote Mein Kampf and decided to work from within the system
rather than against it
Germany Background cont
 Outcome of Political Instability of Weimar
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Success v. left and right disguises weaknesses
1920 Elections Democratic vote (SPD, DDP, ZP) drops to 48% from 76%
DNVP up to 15%
KPD up to 20% from 7%
What was wrong with the
Weimar Constitution?
 Background:
 All men and women over 20 could vote
 Reichstag had great power
 Ministers were accountable to Reichstag rather
than the President
 Weaknesses:
 Voting system was proportional representation
 Small parties could get seats in govt – factionalism
slows govt – no party could get a majority
 1919-23 saw 8 different coalition governments
 Very instable
What was wrong with the
Weimar Constitution?
 Weaknesses cont:
 Article 48 of Constitution gave President
extensive emergency powers
 Could suspend civil liberties in emergencies
 Hindenburg used this frequently to bypass the
stalemates in the Reichstag 1930-32
 Hindenburg also used it in 1933 after the
Reichstag Fire:
 Hitler was then able to arrest many communist and
socialist opponents and close down their
newspapers
 This was an important step toward his creation of a
single party state
Economic Problems 1919-23
 High unemployment and low industrial output
 WWI soldiers couldn’t find work
 Destruction from WWI
 Germany lost valuable resources from TofV
 Poland and France both received mineral rich land from Germany for
15 years
 Exports collapse as other countries rebuild
 Inflation was serious since start of WWI
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War bonds debt massive as short war had been anticipated
Debt 5 bi. 1915, 144bi. 1919 84% of war borrowed
Erzeberger decides on deficit spending
Maintain demand, solve demobilization, pay for welfare state
Deficit and inflation will lower real rate of debt (Reparations hurt, but
not the real cause)
 Government continued to print more money to make it even worse
 Reparations added to the situation
 1914: 20 marks = 1 £ 1923: 16,000,000,000,000 = 1 £
Hyper-Inflation of 1923
 January 1923 Germany failed to pay reparations ask for third
Holiday on Reparations and declared in default
 France and Belgium sent 60,000 troops into the Ruhr
 German workers in the region strike – passive resistance
 Clashes killed about 150 Germans
 French seal Ruhr off from the rest of Germany
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Ruhr produced 80% of Germany’s steel and 70% of its coal
No taxes collected and finances collapse
Devastating impact on Germany’s economy
German unemployment went from 2% to 23%
 Consequences
 Traditional: Middle class destroyed
 Revisionist: Winners: Debtors (mortgages, loans, homes paid
off, borrow cheaply, buy land/factories), exporters, The State
(pays off debts)
 Losers: savers, investors, bond holders, fixed incomes,
pensioners, landlords, welfare
Hyper-Inflation of 1923
 Stresemann became chancellor in Aug 1923:
 Led a brief coalition in government of DVP, DDP ZP, SPD
 Brought in Schacht (banker) to help with currency crisis
 Cuts spending, 700,000 Gov’t workers fired
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Ordered Ruhr workers to cooperate with the French
Resumed reparations payments
Introduced new currency (Rentenmark)
1 rentenmark = 10,000,000,000,000 marks
 Leads to Dawes Plan
 Left and Right threats recede
 1924 Rentenmark was replaced with Reichsmark which
continued until 1945
Hyper-Inflation of 1923
 Why doesn’t Weimar collapse???
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People more angry at France than Weimar
Inflation doesn’t hurt workers and helps many businesses
Employers choose not to lay off workers
No real alternative
 Strengths of Weimar economy
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Heavy industry back to 1913 levels by 1928
Huge banks, cartels
Exports up 40% wages up 5-10%
Social welfare: unemployment, sick pay, education, sports
 Weaknesses
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Growth uneven and declines after 1926
Trade deficit every year
Average 2 mi. unemployed, world conditions stop exports
Agri, income down 50%
Inflation discourages savings and investment
Welfare state requires more and more debt
Long-term effects of Hyper-Inflation
 Many in the middle class who lost their
savings in hyper-inflation were permanently
alienated from Weimar Republic
 Germany had a shortage of domestic
business investment – needed for future
increases in GDP
 Germany was increasingly dependent on
loans from USA (Dawes Plan). The Dawes
Plan helped the situation in 1924-28, but
when the economy in US tumbled in 1929,
the US called back many of its loans
compounding the bad situation in Germany
The Good Years 1924-29
 Some historians believe the prosperity would
not have lasted in Germany even without the
Great Depression
 Some historians believe the issues in the US
really caused the collapse of the German
economy in 1929
Evidence of Progress 1924-29
 Economic
 Dawes Plan inserted needed $ into economy
 By 1928, industry exceeded its 1913 numbers
 Foreign exports increased 40% from 1925-29
 Social
 Workers’ wages rose 21% in 1927-28 alone, making them
the highest paid in Europe
 Government spending on health, education and social
services was huge
 1913 – 37% of govt spending
 1932 – 68% of govt spending
 New universities in Hamburg and Cologne
 Unemployment insurance issued for 17 million workers in
1927
Evidence of Progress 1924-29
 Cultural
 Germany (esp. Berlin) became a vibrant cultural
center
 Architecture – Bauhaus design movement
 Literature – Thomas Mann, Nobel Prize 1929
 Political
 There were no further attempts to seize power by
the extreme Left or Right
 1928 elections – both KPD (Communists) and
DNVP (Nationalists) lost seats (KPD 62 to 54
seats, DNVP 95 to 73). Nazis only have 12 seats
Evidence of Progress 1924-29
 Political cont
 Moderate parties made huge gains – Social
Democrats (SPD) from 100 to 153 seats
 1928 – 1930, Grand Coalition of SPD (Social
Democrats) DDP (Democratic Party) DVP
(People’s Party) and ZP (Center Party) have
over 60% of seats in Reichstag
 KPD and DNVP (Nat’l Conservatives) decline
 Hindenburg’s election in 1925 as President was
a stabilizing factor as he was seen as a “Kaisersubstitute”
Evidence of Progress 1924-29
 Germany’s International Situation
 Gustav Stresemann (leader of German People’s Party)
 Originally Opposed Weimar moves to Center after Rathanau,
Erzberger assassinations
 Wants to accept parts of Versailles to end its effects
 He was briefly Chancellor in 1923
 Then became Foreign Minister until his death in 1929
 Plan
 Acknowledge French security issues
 Use trade to cultivate US/GB
 Cooperate with allies but keep ties to USSR
 Policies were unpopular with the Nationalists but he made Germany
accepted again diplomatically and even won the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1926 along with Aristide Briand (French Foreign Minister) for
trying to improve Franco-German relations)
Stresemann’s Achievements
 Actions:
 Negotiated the withdrawal of French and Belgians from
Ruhr in 1924
 Helped negotiate Dawes Plan in 1924
 Stresemann’s suggestion of recognizing and
guaranteeing Western Europe’s frontiers was finalized
into Locarno Pact of 1925
 Germany was allowed in League of Nations 1926
 Negotiated a partial withdrawal of the Rhineland by the
Allies in 1928
 Negotiated the Young Plan in 1929 which reduced the
total reparations bill by almost two-thirds
 When he died he was negotiating the final withdrawal of
the Allied troops from Rhineland which happened earlier
than scheduled in 1930
 Leave early in exchage for final reparations settlement only 25%
of original size
Evidence of continuing problems under
Stresemann? Illusion of Stability???
 Political
 Coalitions unstable:
 SPD and DNVP never join coalitions 1923-1928 and
KPD is isolated
 Center-right ZP, DVP, DNVP agree on domestic but
not foreign policy
 Broad coalition SPD, DDP, DVP, ZP agree on foreign
policy but not domestic
 Minority Centrist Coalitions DDP, DVP, ZP need help
from left or right
 7 Govt’s 1923-30
 SPD never joins til 1928, ZP moves right DDP,DVP (Liberals)
support collapses
Evidence of continuing
problems under Stresemann?
 Political
 German Nationalist Party (DNVP)
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Hates Wemar but joins gov’ts to have influence after 1925
1928 becomes radical right under Alfred Hugenberg
Reverts to total opposition and works with Nazis
opposed the Young Plan because it implied Germany still
accepted war guilt.
 1928 Ebert dies and Hinderburg is President
 Surprises all by being loyal to constitution he dislikes
 Functions as a quasi-Kaiser
 Prefers DNVP and tries to exclude SPD
 Center Party also moved to the right
Evidence of continuing
problems under Stresemann?
 Political
 Overall the government doesn’t get stronger over time!!!
 One gov’t falls over which flag to fly
 Another over creating religious schools
 “Grand Coalition” was unstable as it tried to negotiate with a
range of parties from right of center to left.
 In 1930 it collapsed after the SPD argued with its Center Party
coalition partners over how to respond to the Great
Depression
 Overall Stresemann accomplishes a lot considering what he
has to work with but…
 … Fails to generate real support for Weimar
Evidence of continuing
problems under Stresemann?
 Economic
 Germany was heavily reliant on US loans
 Unemployment never went below 1.3 million and
was up to 1.9 million by 1929 Crash
 Agriculture was way behind industrial recovery in
1920s (tough competition from American and
Canadian efficiency)
 Social
 Farm workers’ wages were only just over half the
national average in 1929
Rise and Rule of Single
Party State in Germany
1918 – 1945:
HITLER Rise to Power
Paper 2 Review
Everything you could ever want to know
about Hitler for Paper 2, and then some!
The Nazi Party and Hitler
 Hitler born 1889 in Austria
 Poor student moves to Vienna 1907
 Wanted to be an architect but applications to school were
rejected by fine Arts Academy in Vienna
 6 years in Vienna, Sold scenic paintings to earn a living
 Became interested in writings of racist authors (like Lanz von
Liebenfels)
 Began to believe that Germans were superior to other nationalities of
the Austro-Hungarian Empire (mainly Slavs) and the rest of the world
 Finds Purpose in WWI
 Joins Bavarian Regt., fights bravely (Iron Cross) gassed at the end of
the war
 Forms core Ideas: Nationalis; anti democratic and anti-socialist, atisemitic
 Racial view of society with German Volk as master race
The Nazi Party and Hitler
 Psychological interpretations of Hitler are
weak
 One argues Hitler noted that many leading
Socialists and Communists were Jews (Stab in
the Back Theory)
 Another that a Jewish prostitute gave him syphilis
 He was a loner with no real friends so no one truly
knows his motivations
The Nazi Party and Hitler
 Post-war he is a gov’t spy for the Army in Bavaria
tracking left wing groups
 January 1919 Anton Drexler set up German Workers’
Party (DAP) to join working class and nationalists
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Sounds like a leftist party so Hitler investigates
Actually nationalist, anti-semitic, anti-capitalist
Hitler joins and immediately put on its Committee
Hitler was put in charge of recruitment and propaganda in
September 1919
 Helps produce the 25 Point Program
 (combined nationalist and socialist demands, a “guide book”
for Nazis)
 1. Pan-Germanism, end Versailles, Lebensraum, expel Jews,
People’s army, deport non-citizens to help employment,
community over individual, profit sharing, Political war
The Nazi Party and Hitler
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Mid 1921 is clear driving force of Party
 1921 Hitler set up the Sturmabteilung (storm-troopers, or SA)
 Rousing speeches, swastika, salute, uniforms are his idea
 Drexler tries to limit Hitler’s power
 For first time Hitler shows his skill as a politician and his willingness to gamble
everything to win
 He resigns from Nazi Party
 Nazi’s realize he is their best speaker and demand his return forcing Drexler to Resign
Hitler is now Fuhrer of the DAP
SA was originally used to protect party meetings, and made up of former Freikorps
 Fights pitched battles with communists in streets (Win the streets!)
 People’s Observer Newspaper set up
 1922 Brings in Streicher form N. Bavaria adds his newspaper
 Goering joins in 1922, war hero, landowner = Social Contacts
Party was renamed National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) in 1921
Hitler and Nazis aimed to seize power by force, modeled on Mussolini’s March on Rome in
Oct 1922
Led to the Munich Putsch (Beer Hall Putsch) which failed and Hitler sentenced to jail
What did Hitler learn from
the failed Beer Hall Putsch?
 He changed his tactics – used legal method rather
than revolution
 Party needed to broaden appeal beyond workingclass. He moved away from socialist ideas in the 25
Points toward more nationalist elements of the
middle-class
 Successfully reorganized the fractured Nazi Party
after his stay in prison
 SA were reorganized and given greater responsibility
over propaganda
 Founded SS (Shutzstaffel – bodyguards) and the
Hitler youth in 1926
 Party membership remained low – 35,000 in 1926
and only 12 seats in Reichstag in 1928 (3% of vote)
The Wall Street Crash of 1929
 Effect on German Economy:
 US investors withdrew money from Germany
 German businesses went bankrupt and banks
collapsed
 Unemployment soared
 Late 1920s – just under 2 million
 1930 – 3.5 million
 1931 – 4.4 million
 1932 – 6 million
 Prices fell – lower profit margins forced more
businesses to go bankrupt
 Value of German exports fell more than 50%
The Wall Street Crash of 1929
 Impact on German Politics:
 Revived violent and unstable politics of 1918-23
 Large-scale street violence
 Each political party had its own paramilitary
 Nazi SA
 Communist Red Front
 Extremists grew in number and power
 Chancellor Brüning (1930-32) was traditional and
cautious
 Kept government spending and taxes down
 Waited for economy to improve
 The unemployed were furious and turned to extremist
political parties
 1930 - Nazis won 107 seats, Communists won 89
Nazis Membership Grows
 Hitler was looked to as a ‘messiah’ to ‘save’ Germany
 As unemployment skyrockets, so does Nazi party
membership (Nazis promised job creation)
 Weak leadership in government made Hitler look
even better (Hitler even got 13 million votes to
Hindenburg’s 18 million in April 1932 showing how
strong a following he had)
 Many were worried about a communist revolution and
the 700,000 strong SA seemed to be able to provide
security
 Appealed to small farmers and peasants struggling
under debt and falling food prices (they were
promised subsidies)
Nazi Membership Grows
 Nazis got support from lower middle-class
(teachers, civil servants, etc) fearing they
would become unemployed
 SA was predominantly working-class, but
Nazis had little support from this group overall
 Nazis received financial backing from some
leading industrialists who were worried about
the socialists
 Presented an image of dynamism and youth
 Campaign tactics were more modern
 Mass rallies created sense of belonging
Nazi Membership Grows
 Nazi Propaganda (Goebbels) used different
messages for different groups
 Subsidies to peasants
 Law and order and return to traditional values to middle
class
 Jobs for unemployed
 Defense against communist revolution and revival of
Germany as great power to conservative nationalists
 At the same time promised to unite all Germans
 Jews, democratic system, Communists, and WWI
victors were provided as scapegoats for Germany’s
problems
Nazi Membership Grows
 None of this was new, so why were these
messages more effective in the 1930s than
in the 1920s?
 Widespread disillusionment with the Weimar
Republic and democratic parties was far greater,
as was the scale of Germany’s economic
problems
 Hitler had created a more respectable image for
the Nazis after his release from prison and was
therefore able to win more middle class support
Breakdown of Democratic
Government (1930-32)
 No political party could command a majority
in Reichstag
 Article 48 of Weimar constitution gave
president authority to declare state of
emergency and govern by decree without
consulting parliament
 Hindenburg (President)
 Didn’t like the Weimar Republic
 Was a Nationalist
 Thought the Nazis were thugs, but hated Social
Democrats and Communists even more
Breakdown of Democratic
Government (1930-32)
 1930 Hindenburg dismissed Chancellor Müller’s
government and appointed Brüning (Center Party)
to Chancellor
 Brüning had little support in Reichstag but was able
to rule because of Hindenburg’s use of emergency
powers to pass laws
 Hindenburg grew tired of having to support Brüning
so he replaced him with conservative von Papen
(but he had even less support)
 Hindenburg agreed to call a general election in July
1932
 Nazis triumphantly won 230 seats in Parliament (largest
single party in Parliament, but not yet a majority – still
needed to form a coalition)
Breakdown of Democratic
Government (1930-32)
 Hindenburg asked Hitler to join a coalition, but
Hitler refused unless he could be Chancellor
 Hindenburg refused (hated Hitler and feared
SA) and called a second general election in
November 1932
 Nazis lost seats (down to 196) but was still largest
single party
 Hindenburg fired von Papen for not being able
to form a coalition and replaced him with
General Kurt von Schleicher
Breakdown of Democratic
Government (1930-32)
 Nazi morale was low
 Lost seats in second election
 Low on money from two campaigns
 Some in party were becoming impatient and
were calling for an armed rising
 Von Schleicher tried to take advantage and
split the Nazi party by getting support of the
‘left-wing’ Nazis, but this did not work
 Hitler quickly reasserted his control over the
Nazis
Why was Hitler appointed
Chancellor on Jan 30, 1933?
 Hindenburg decided it was the only way
to achieve a majority coalition
 Hindenburg actually didn’t mind offering it
to him (he wasn’t worried) since the
Nazi’s position was a bit weaker than it
had been in November
 Only 3 of the 11 Cabinet ministers were
Nazi
From Chancellor to Dictator in
1.5 years
 1933
 January
 February
Hitler appointed Chancellor
Reichstag fire
 Communists and union leaders arrested
 March
Reichstag elections
 Nazis won 44%, Nationalists only 8%
 March
Enabling Act
 Hitler could then bypass the Reichstag to make laws
 March
 State parliaments are Nazi majority
 (all state parliaments abolished in 1934)
From Chancellor to Dictator
in 1.5 years
 1933 cont
 April
 Hitler replaced all 18 state governors with Nazis
 May
 Trade unions banned and replaced by the German Labour Front
 June
 All parties except Nazis banned
 July
 Law passed making the Nazi Party the sole legal party
From Chancellor to Dictator
in 1.5 years
 1934
 June
Night of the Long Knives
 Ernst Rohm and other SA leaders arrested or killed
 Hitler claimed they had been planning a putsch
 SA absorbed into the military
 August
President Hindenburg died
 Hitler made himself Fuhrer, combining positions of
President and Chancellor
 Army swore an oath of loyalty to Hitler
Hitler’s Ideology
This is not clearly defined, although his
reasoning is set forth in Mein Kampf. It was
different from Mussolini’s fascism in that
Hitler had a unique racial and anti-Semitic
program not present in Italy. The Nazi’s 25
Points of 1920 were a strange mix of
nationalist and socialist elements. It became
clear though that Hitler was not committed to
the socialist element.
Hitler’s Ideology
 Elements that Predate Hitler




Racial Superiority: Herrenvolk, and goal to unite all Germans
Anti-Semitism: de Gobineau, von Gerder, Langbehn,
German elites anti-semitic
Leader Cult: Fuehrerprincip: Superior indivuals to lead lower orders who are
unthinking and easily swayed
 Social Darwinism: Herbert Spencer; instinctive fight for survival
 Nationalism/
 Volksgemeinschaft: Corporatism: anti-democratic, compromise evil, state is all
 Hitler in 1920’s




Anti-feminism
War Ideology
Lebenraum
Racial unity and anti-semitism defined (Big Capitalists or Communists, stab in the
back)
 Pan-Germanism
 End Versailles
 Anti-Marxism
How Important was Hitler’s Ideology
to His Rule?

25 Point Program is refined throughout the ‘20’s
 Anti-Marxism becomes a dominant theme
 Nazi’s claim only they are strong enough to fight Marxists
 Jewish/Communist link


Nationalism overwhelms socialist elements of 25 Points
Ideology Important?
 Attracts & inspires followers
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vezr3dW4J5s&bpctr=1389965548
 Bases many policies on Ideology
 Gleichshaltung: eliminate unions, political parties, Church Organizations
(all dissenting voices)
 Nationalism: end Versailles
 Hitler Youth = Volksgemeinschaft
 Nationalism = Krystallnacht, final solution
 Inconsistent on anti-feminism (ebbs and flows as a result of WWII
 Avoids war for 6 years
 No aid to agriculture
Hitler’s Ideology cont
The Volk community was everything to Hitler,
the individual was nothing. His aim was to
create a society in which every individual
saw the purpose of their life as contributing
to the greater good of the German volk. He
attacked individual rights and his
Volksgemeinschaft had no room for asocials,
disabled, or non-Aryans
Policy toward asocials
 1936 “asocial colony” of Hashude
 For chronic alcoholics
 Late 1930s they were sent to
concentration camps
 10,000 tramps were sent to concentration
camps
 25,000 gypsies (Germany had about 30,000)
died in camps in WWII
Policy towards the disabled
 1932 the Prussian Health Council proposed
voluntary sterilization for certain hereditary
diseases
 July 1933 Nazi Sterilization Law made it
compulsory (320,000 were sterilized)
 Euthanasia 1939-41
 Physically and mentally handicapped (72,000)
Anti-Semitic policies
 May 1933
SA organized one day boycott of
Jewish businesses
 Shortly after Hitler in power, Jewish civil servants are
fired
 1935 Nuremberg Laws deprive Jews of German
citizenship
 1938 Kristallnacht




Attack on Jewish properties and synagogues
20,000 Jews arrested
Jews made to pay for cleanup
Jewish doctors and lawyers were forbidden to work for
Aryans
 Jewish children had to attend separate schools
 1942 Wansee Conference
 Final Solution (extermination of Jews) was decided
Hitler’s System of Government
 Single party Dictatorship?
 Control at the center
 Hermann Goering brought in 50;000 extra police (mainly sA)
and purged many policemen
 Reichstag Fire led to suspension of civil liberties
 Destruction of the Communist party
 Enabling Act, by which Hitler : bypass the Reichstag
 No opposition groups




Trade unions were banned replaced by the German Labour Front
SPD was banned
one party state
State parliaments were abolished and state governments made
subordinate to the Reich
 army's oath of allegiance to Hitler
Hitler’s System of Government
 Was Nazi control fully in place?
 Reichsrat and state parliaments abolished but rest of Weimar
Constitution remains
 Civil Service purged but not all Nazi’s til 1939
 Reich Ministers not all Nazi’s til 1937
 Himmler does control police by 1936
 Army remains quasi-independent
 SA “People’s Army” Scrapped by Hitler to appease Regular Army
 Army Nationalist but fears rapid re-armament, Waffen – SS and Hitler’s
goal of expansion in Russia
 Purge begins 1938 with dismissal of War Minister and the Army
Commander in Chief for “sex scandals” (false)
 Keitel becomes head of High Command (OKW) but he is Hitler’s stooge
 16 Generals resign, 44 transferred, Hitler now controls Army
Hitler’s System of Government
 Was full control ever established?
 Hitler undermines order appoints several people to essentially the
same job
 Have to compete for Hitler’s attention
 Adds new institutions rather than eliminating any
 Example: Four Year Plan Office, Road and Defense Building Dept. and
Economics Ministry all have overlapping functions
 Sets up Nazi Party Reich Authorities that have same jobs as regular
Government Ministries
 Cabinet Gov’t ceases
 Meets 72 times 1933, 4 times 1936, never again after 1938
 Hitler is notoriously lazy and uninterested in day to day governance
particularly economics
 Question is whether chaos was deliberate
 to force all ministries to come to him (Strong Dictator theory Trevor-Roper,
Bracher, Bullock)
 … or an accident of 1933-34 power seizure (Weak Dictator theory
(Mommsen, Broszat)
The Use of FEAR
 Decree for the Protection of People and State
 Feb 1933 allowed for indefinite detention w/o trial
 Dachau
 1st concentration camp opened in March 1933
 Never fewer than 10,000 prisoners
 Overall about 225,000 imprisoned for political
reasons (far fewer than Stalin)
 Hermann Goering set up Gestapo in 1933
 Heinrich Himmler took over
 In some cases over 50% of all charges were
brought to the police by citizens
The Use of FEAR cont
 SS created in 1925 (Himmler in control after
1929)




Immense power after Night of the Long Knives
200,000 members by 1935
Ran the concentration camps
Enforced racial policies
 SD set up in 1931 by Himmler
 Gathered intelligence and monitored public opinion
 After 1933, Civil Sevice Law: Judges could be
removed for political beliefs
 Judges ordered to interpret the law according to
‘the will of the Fuhrer’
Control of the Media
 Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and
Propaganda
 March 1933
 Josef Goebbels
 Reich Radio Company brought all broadcasting
under Nazi control
 Volksefpfanger (cheap radio) mass-produced
 In 1932 only 25% of households had a radio
 By 1939 more than 70% had a radio
 In 1933 there were 4700 daily newspapers
 By 1944 there were only 1000 newspapers
 Eher Verlag (Nazi publishing house) controlled
66% of the press by 1939
Control of the Media
 Ministry for Popular Enlightenment and
Propaganda
 Movies used, Swastikas everywhere
 Constant meetings, rallies, festivals
 SUCCESS???
 More successful in reinforcing already held views
than changing peoples minds
 Does work with the young and inexperienced.
Nazi policies toward women
 Kinder, Kirche, Kuche
 Employment was restricted
 Excluded from civil service
 Marriage encouraged
 From 1933, women who left work to marry were
given an interest free marriage loan (amount to be
repaid fell 25% with each child born)
 Women’s Enterprise (DFW) trained women in
domestic skills
 By 1935 3.5 million women taken courses
Nazi policies toward women
 European birth rate was low, but especially
in Germany, so…
 Medals for prolific mommies
 Bronze 4-5 kids
 Silver 6-7
 Gold for 8 or more
 Divorce was made easy for childless marriages
 Results
 990,000 born in 1932
 1.28 million born in 1937
 By 1936, women were needed due to labor
shortages (1943 they were conscripted)
Youth in Nazi Germany
 Hitler Jugend was set up in 1925
 By 1933 there were only 55,000
 Other youth groups totaled 5-6 million
 1933 all other youth groups closed, except those
run by Catholic Church, and absorbed into the HJ
 By 1939 82% of 11-18 year-olds in the HJ or the
League of German Maidens (for girls)
 1939 membership was compulsory, but
attendance was far from perfect
 Boys were trained for war and girls for
motherhood
Education
 Main aim was to develop loyalty to the regime
 No emphasis on the individual
 1933 Law for Restoration of a Professional
Civil Service led to a purge of teachers
 History and Biology lessons especially
became politicized
 Emphasis on physical education
 Eugenics (idea of selective breeding) was
introduced and taught
Nazis and Religion
 Catholic Church:
 1933 Concordat with the Pope
 Bishops had to take oath of loyalty to
Nazi state
 Nazis broke the agreement in 1936 by
closing down Catholic youth groups and
monasteries
 Pope denounced the Nazi regime in 1937
‘With Burning Concern’
 The Catholic press was closed down in
1941
Nazis and Religion
 Protestant Churches
 Nazis tried to control from within
 1933 Nazis won 75% of votes in Church
elections and their leader, Ludwig Muller, was
made Reich Bishop
 Church leaders opposed and established the
‘Confessional Church’
 Its leaders were imprisoned
German Economy
 By 1933, Hitler knew he needed to tackle
economic problems (esp unemployment)
 Hitler ignored socialist elements of the
Twenty-Five Points and rejected SA calls for
nationalization of industry (industrialists
obviously liked this)
 1936 New Plan
 Govt control of foreign exchange and trade
agreements
 Peasant farmers protected by tariffs and helped
by cheap loans and tax exemptions
German Economy cont
 What did Hitler do to solve unemployment?




1932
1934
1937
1938
5.6%
2.3%
0.9%
0.2%
 Public works spending:
 New houses, planting forests
 Expansion of car industry:
 Removed tax on luxury cars and cut tax on gas
 Autobahn
German Economy cont
 Cash incentives to women for giving up their
jobs
 Massive re-armament program after 1935
 Re-introduced conscription in 1935 – young
men 18-20 no longer in workforce
 By 1937, there was actually a shortage of
skilled labor
 By 1938 GNP had risen to 80 billion from a
low of 44 billion in 1933
 By 1939 wages had recovered to 89% of
their 1928 level
Four Year Plan (1936)
 Germany’s balance of payments (imports
and exports) was out of whack
 Hitler could not risk cutting back on food
imports, so decided to cut industrial raw
materials imports (rubber, oil, iron)
 Planned to produce synthetics domestically
 Overall the plan was not a success, though
rubber and oil production did increase
 By 1939 Germany was still importing 19% of
its food requirements
Rearmament
 Government spending in billions of Reichsmarks




1932
1933
1935
1938
0.8
1.9
6.0
17.2
 1933 Germany had 100,000 army, no tanks, no
warplanes, limited navy
 By 1939 it had 1200 bombers, 980,000 army, navy
was three times larger
 66% of German industrial investment was devoted
to war production from 1936-1939
Historical divide:
 Most historians say that Hitler was actually
only gearing up for a limited war (series of
short blitzkrieg campaigns) that would allow
Germany to exploit economic resources of
conquered countries before moving on.
USSR spoiled this when Germany got
bogged down in a war of attrition with them.
 Some historians point to the overwhelming
percentage of spending on war preparation
as proof of total war plans, and that Hitler
miscalculated his invasion of Poland
dragging all of Europe into war.
Opposition to the Nazis
 Came from many places:




Socialists
Communists
Working class people
Church
 Both Catholic and Protestant
 There was some slight opposition from within the
army, but since rearmament policies favored
Nazi officers, it was few and far between (at least
until middle of 1944!)
 By 1945 500,000 Germans were in concentration
camps for opposition
Why was opposition limited?
 Over the years the Nazis became fairly
popular due to:
 Propaganda
 Their results on unemployment and in foreign
policy
 Organized opposition was eliminated
 1933 political parties, trade unions, etc
 Opposition was illegal and the SS and
Gestapo inspired fear and terror
Foreign Policy
Goals:
 Lebensraum – living space
 Priority was to “fix” the injustices of the
Versailles Treaty (TOV)
 Commitment to the creation of a Greater
German Reich (or Third Reich…what were
the first two?) and rid the country of
untermenschen (sub-humans)
Foreign Policy
Revision of TOV Achievements in 1935:
 Saar region becomes part of Germany again
 Hitler reintroduces conscription and announces
rearmament
Opposition to Germany breaks down (known as
Stresa Front):
 Italy, Britain and France
 Britain signed Anglo-German Naval agreement in
June 1935 pissed off Italy and France
 Mussolini attacked Abyssinia (modern Somalia) in
Oct 1935 pissing off Britain and France
Foreign Policy
Appeasement:
 France and Britain
 Why?
 Many felt harshness of TOV was unjust
 Bitter memories of WWI slaughter
 Britain more worried about Japanese expansion
threatening British interests in Far East
 French leaders felt France was too weak to fight again
without British help
 Many in France were more worried about Communist
expansion
 Economic problems of the Great Depression were more
important
 Britain and France knew they needed USA help in
confronting Germany, but US was practicing isolationism
Foreign Policy
Alliances:
 Hitler and Mussolini send troops to Spain to
help Franco in Spanish Civil War 1936-39
 Germany continued trading with Italy during
Abyssinian Crisis 1935-36 even though
League imposed sanctions on Italy
 Rome-Berlin Axis friendship treaty Oct 1936
 Hitler realized Japanese hated USSR as
much as he did and signed the AntiComintern Pact in Nov 1936
Anschluss
 Union with Austria (had been forbidden in
TOV)
 Achieved by March 1938
 Hitler was actually Austrian
 Austrians “voted” (supervised by Nazis) with
99% in favor of union
Sudeten Crisis Sept 1938