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Adolf Hitler 1933 – 1945
Nomi Sherwin
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Rise
FELT CHEATED BY TREATY OF VERSAILLES
 War guilt clause (Article 231) – Germany totally responsible for WWI
 Breaking of Wilson’s promise that there will be “peace without victory”
 Germany forced to pay heavy reparation payments (Britain and France)
 Complete disarmament, no conscription laws, no airforce, cap at 100 000 troops
 Loss of all colonies, some contiguous sovereign territory (eg Alsace Lorrain, Poland,
Czechoslovakia)
 Patents and assets seized (German U-boat)
ECONOMIC SITUATION
 Great Depression
 Significant unemployment (~40%)
 Established public works programs to give work, printed more money to pay workers
 inflation
 Wiped out savings  run on banks
 Increased home foreclosures, homelessness
 Sharp decrease in international trade by increased tariffs (thought that this would
force people to buy domestic goods)
HOW POWER GAINED (METHODS)
 LEGAL!!!
 Used SA / strom troopers / brown shirts to intimidate/accost/murder perceived
enemies
 Mein Kamph written while Hilter in power. Money from sales gave to Nazis, made
Hitler more acceptable to the elites as he was a rich published author. Free publicity
 Propaganda (Joseph Goebbels)
 Used Jews as scapegoats for germany’s power; Jews signed treaty of Versailles,
Blamed Jews for Great Depression because unemployment lower for Jews.
 Blamed Communists - advocating armed overthrow of monarchy then Weimer
Republic with Jews; blamed for bad end to WWI, antinationalistic; took direct orders
from Moscow
 Democracy/Weimer republic – in power with GD and war hit, though it would lead to
unenlightened leaders.
 Anticatholic – very liberal, had many political parties, religious minority, loyal to the
pope/Vatican
 Antimasonic – secretive, question of allegiance
HOW POLITICAL POWER GAINED LEGALLY
 1932 – parliamentary elections, Nazis won 37% of the vote.
 Jan 1933 Hitler appointed chancellor, appoints lower level advisors and sets up
agenda for Reichstag. (Hindenburg = president, controlled Hitler to some extent)
 1934 – Hindenburg died  Nazis combined title of president and chancellor
Adolf Hitler 1933 – 1945
Nomi Sherwin
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Reichstag fire 1933  enabling act = temporary dictatorial powers to chancellor’s
cabinet  Hitler dictator allows Hitler to circumvent constitution.
Article 48 – suspension of all civil liberties
Rule
SECRET POLICE / MILITARY GROUPS
 SS (Storm troopers) = brown shirts. Paramilitary group. Had 100 000 people in it
 Later SA = Hitler’s special more trusted military group. Swore allegiance to Hitler,
not to Germany or Nazi party.
 Gestapo = secret police. Were to find people opposed to Hitler/Nazis. 1936 given
carte blanche to do whatever they wanted without judicial oversight.
PROPAGANDA
 SS- marching in formation. Shows power, organization. Intimidates
 Use of radio, loudspeaker, posters, talks in beer gardens.
 Making speeches seem religious, Nazi = religion of the state.
 1938 Purge of SA – some “working with communists”, some were “homosexuals”.
Consolidated Hitler’s power, gave Hitler support of military generals in German army
 Kristallnacht (1938) – b/c hew killed German ambassador to France. Wanted to see
how far Germans would go. Fire trucks deployed before calls got in, made sure fire
didn’t spread, gov seized insurance money “to pay debt”
OTHER “GOVERNING BODIES”
 None, everything Hitler
ECONOMIC POLICIES
 Rearmament – allowed people to join SS and get paid for being in military. Also
reopened various factories stimulating the economy.
 Withdraws from League of Nations (allowing him to do above)
 1933 - Hereditary agricultural estates: since many family farms were foreclosed on in
GD, used stop foreclosures.
 1934 - Private labor groups brought under gov control to make sure interest of
country is before interest of capitalists.
 1935 – passed laws outlawing strikes, mandated compulsory labor
ANTISEMETIC POLICIES (partially also propaganda)
 Burning of books that were ‘antivolk” (Jewish, socialist, homosexual, etc)
 1933 – no state jobs for Jews (except people who fought on front in WWI)
 1934 – Law for protection of hereditary health – allowed for Eugenics/sterilization
 1935 – Nuremburg Laws. Couldn’t have interfaith marriages, Jews not citizens of
reich, tightened jobs available for Jews (no docs, lawyers, farmers, actors, teaching,
journalism)
Adolf Hitler 1933 – 1945
Nomi Sherwin
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1938 – decree on Jewish owned property: any prop valued over 5000 Dutch marks
had to be registered with Nazi party officials.
FOREIGN POLICY
 1933 – withdrawal for disarmament conference (everyone else was, Germany realized
it was behind militarily; withdrew from league of nations (manifestation of treaty of
Versailles, enforcing treaty)
 1935- announces rearmament policies (preparing for war)
 1936 – signs pact of steel with Italy (wanted to make sure germany not threatened by
invasion of Ethiopia) (+ later Japan); Occupation of Rhineland (demilitarized zone,
specific violation of Versailles, but no one did anything.)
 1938 – Invasion of Austria (wanted to annex and rejoin, but politicians said no. vote
would prob be no, so germany took it, no fighting); Munich conference  annexation
of Sudetenland  agreement that Hitler had no more territorial ambitions so no war.
 1939 – broke munich promise, blitzkrieg attack on Czechoslovakia, showed that war
was around the corner; signed nonaggression pact with soviets b/c wanted to take
Poland but didn’t want to fight 2 front war. Germans took 2/3 Poland, Soviets 1/3.
(Poland put up fight, bloodiest invasion but quick!)
DOWNFALL
 Committed suicide as the Americans invaded and it was clear that he had lost the war.