Download National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party)

National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party)
[A political party founded in Germany in 1919 and brought to power by Hitler in
1933.]
The Nazi Party was formed after World War I, when Germany was
humiliated and faced economic hardship. At the end of the war, Germany’s
leaders signed the Treaty of Versailles, which required Germany to give up oneeighth of its land, reduced its army to just 100,000 soldiers, imposed millions of
dollars in reparations, and placed the blame for the war on the German people.
Many Germans felt betrayed by the Treaty and never forgave the government for
signing the Treaty.
The Weimar government was set up after the war and consisted of a
president and a legislature, which was made up of numerous political parties.
Germany had multiple political parties including the Communist Party, Marxist
Party, Social Democrats, German People’s Party, Centrists, and the Nazi Party.
Founding members of the Nazi Party wanted to return Germany to a proud
and economically strong nation. Their platform was to abolish the Treaty of
Versailles, stop immigration, require German heritage for citizenship, support
urban development, and force all newspapers to be written in German and
owned by German citizens. Members of the Nazi party included extreme rightwing groups, ex-soldiers, and anti-Communists. In 1923, during the deep
hyperinflation, Adolf Hitler attempted to take over the government in a failed coup
d’état. He was put on trial for high treason, punishable by death, but received a
lenient sentence of five years due to his political popularity. Hitler served only
eight months and during his incarceration, wrote Mein Kampf. It was at this point
that the German judicial system missed a critical opportunity to put a stop to
Hitler and the Nazi Party.
Between the years 1924 and 1928 the German economy was stable and
the Nazi party almost disappeared. During the 1928 election they only received
2.6 percent of the vote. However, they gained support in northern rural Germany
and began to reorganize. They recruited key local officials, targeted special
interests, and stressed that the Nazi Party was concerned for the needs of
common folks. They organized agricultural communities and the party spread
propaganda throughout the countryside, where Farmers were suffering. They
had seen their income drop by 44 percent and as a result many embraced the
economic solutions of the Nazi party.
Germany’s government collapsed in March of 1930 and total control of the
Government was handed over to the President Paul von Hindenburg. He ran for
re-election in 1932 against Adolph Hitler and won. The Nazi party had received
the largest percent of votes, 18.3%, among all of Germany’s parties and after a
long political struggle; von Hindenburg was forced to appoint Hitler Germany’s
Chancellor. Upon the death of President von Hindenburg in 1934, Adolf Hitler
combined the offices of president and chancellor in order to create the position of
Fuhrer (Supreme Leader) and democracy in Germany came to an end.