Download Hitlers Rise to Power_Vocabulary

Reichstag: The German parliament.
1. Ideology, Propaganda, Violence
KPD: The Communist Part of Germany was a major political party in Germany between
1918 - 1933, founded by socialists after WWI whom opposed the war. They directed their
attacks on the Social Democratic Party of Germany, and was banned after Hitler won the
elections.
1. Ideology, Propaganda, Violence
NSDAP: The National Socialist German Worker’s Party, or the Nazi Party was a political
party in Germany between 1920 - 1945 that practised Nazism. The party emerged from
the German nationalist, racist, and populist Freikorps paramilitary culture, which fought
against the communist uprisings in post-WWI Germany.
1. Ideology
SS: The Schutzstaffel or Defense corps, beginning in 1923, was a major paramilitary
organisation under Hitler and the Nazi Party. It began as a small guard unit and later
reformed and became responsible for many crimes against humanity during WWII.
1. Violence
SA: The Sturmabteilung, or Brownshirts, was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi
Party. It played a key role in Hitler’s rise to power in providing protection for Nazi rallies
and assemblies, disrupting the meetings of the opposing parties.
1. Violence
The Beer Hall Putsch (1923): The French invasion of the Ruhr led to an intensified
nationalistic feeling in the country. Hitler and his nazis attempted to seize power but
failed
1. Ideology, Violence
Mein Kampf: A book written by Adolf Hitler while in prison discussing the need for
racial purity and acquire living space, lebensraum.
1. Ideology, Propaganda
Paul von Hindenburg: A Prussian-German field marshal and politician who enjoyed a
longer career in the Prussian Army, but after retirement was elected to be served as the
second President of Germany from 1925 - 1934. Hindenburg appointed Nazi Party leader
Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany. He opposed Hitler but due to the increasing
political instability in the Weimar Republic, he played an important role for their rise to
power. He issued the Reichstag Fire Decree and signed the Enabling Act.
1. Ideology
Ernst Rohm: A soldier who fought in WWI and provided Hitler with useful army
contacts in the early years of the Nazi Party. He was one of the early followers of Hitler
and was put in charge of the SA. When he wanted to merge the SA with the army for
himself and this organization, Hitler refused and resulted in Rohm’s death to avoid
potential rivalry.
1. Violence
Hermann Goebbels: the center of the propaganda nervous system of the Nazi
Party. Fiercely loyal to Hitler, and to the party platform of unity through power,
Goebbels was an ironic choice for the position of “Reich Propaganda Director”: he
was deformed, he was an intellectual, and he had been educated by a Jewish
academic. Thus, he stands as testament to the nationalism Hitler inspired, despite
rampant hypocrisy.
1. Propaganda
Hermann Goering: a perfect example of the frustration of German veterans postWWI, Goering went in 1918 from the heroism of a successful war pilot to the
unemployment of the average German civilian. However, after joining the Nazi
Party, he quickly gained Hitler’s favor, participating in the Beer Hall Putsch,
championing the Four-Year Plan, becoming Prime Minister of Prussia and
Commander-in-Chief of the air force, and growing to symbolize the extravagance of
Nazi power. Yet, despite these achievements, he was also an example of Hitler’s
mercurial leadership: by 1945, he was a pariah in the Nazi Party, soon to be expelled
from its ranks.
1. Ideology
Heinrich Himmler: the “Commissar for the Consolidation of German Nationhood,”
Himmler was in charge both of the SS and SA—which formed the majority of the
domestic German police force—and the campaign of racial cleansing that was to
remove Germany of most of its Jews, handicapped peoples, and ethnic minorities.
1. Violence
Jugenbund: an offshoot of the SA, the “Sturm Abtleilung” or “Storm Troopers”
(Brown Shirts), of the Nazi Party, the Jugenbund served as a youth organization with
subtly paramilitary intent, occasionally joining the SA in minor street skirmishes.
This eventually dissolved into the Hitler Youth, following Hitler’s return to political
action in 1924, after serving 10 months in jail as a result of the failed Beer Hall
Putsch.
1. Propaganda
Rotfront: ultimately the parallel of Hitler’s SA, the Rotfront—or RFB—was an
organization sanctioned by the KPD for action with paramilitary intent.
1. Violence
German Referendum of 1929: the first real showing of NAZI power, this vote led
to the attainment of over 100,000 new members of the NAZI party. In particular, the
referendum concerned the acceptance of the newly formed “Young Plan,” which
aimed at fixing the broken system of reparation payments, effectively an extension
of the “Dawes Plan” of 1924. Ultimately, despite the failure of the NAZI party to
succeed in opposing the new economic policy, it was successful in gaining the
support of the wealthy media magnate, Alfred Hugenberg. This would influence the
success of NAZI propaganda for the subsequent years of Hitler’s rise to power.
1. Ideology, Propaganda
1930 Elections: Following the 1929 Wall Street Stock Market Crash, and thus in the
first year of the ensuing Great Global Depression, this election in 1930 was a
massive success for the NAZI party, raising its representation in the Reichstag to
18%. It was by this wave of new power that Hitler was carried to the chancellorship
in 1933, following the special elections that year.
1. Ideology, Propaganda
The Reichstag Fire: Blamed on communists, “brown shirts” set it on fire to blame it on
communists, as they were the group with the most political threat. Hitler rebuilt army and
opened weapons, factories, stopped reparation payments which resulted in an improve of
the economy.
1. Violence
The Enabling Acts: A 1933 amendment to the Weimar Constitution, which gave Hitler
the power to enact laws without the involvement of the Reichstag. It followed the
Reichstag Fire Decree, which abolished most civil liberties and transferred state powers
to the Reich government. This assisted in transforming Hitler’s government into a de
facto legal dictatorship.
1. Ideology
The Night of Long Knives: A purge that took place in 1934, when the Nazi regime
carried out a series of political murders. Leading figures of the left-wing Strasserist
faction of the Nazi Party, conservative anti-Nazis (Some of which had suppressed
Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch in 1923), leaders of SA, the paramilitary Brownshirts were
murdered.
1. Violence