THE RISE OF HITLER

HOW DID HITLER COME TO POWER IN 1933?

NB: You MUST argue that there were several reasons why Hitler came to power in January 1933. You may be given a question that asks you to consider ONE factor -- you MUST ensure that you look at the factor given AND other factors.

1 -- DISLIKE FOR THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC

n       After Germany’s defeat in the First World War, a new democratic government was set up, called THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC. It had faced serious opposition from the start and there had been many problems between 1919 and 1923 : hyperinflation, French invasion of the Ruhr (Germany’s industrial heartland), attempts to seize power by both the Communists and those on the Right, such as Hitler and the Nazi Party (Munich Putsch 1923)

n       People blamed it for everything that went wrong as this was the government that had signed the surrender in 1918. The army had managed to transfer blame for defeat from itself to the politicians by claiming that the army could have won the war but had been stabbed in the back by politicians. Most Germans believed this -- they felt that Germany could have won the war if the politicians had not betrayed Germany. This was a lie but it led to many Germans hating the Weimar Republic and feeling that it had betrayed the German people.

n       By surrendering, Germany had to state that she had started the war --- this then allowed the victories countries (The Allies -- France, UK, USA) to impose harsh terms on Germany in the Treaty of Versailles. These terms included : the German army was reduced to 100,000 men (it had once been the strongest army in Europe and was now one of the smallest -- people felt humiliated); the navy was to be handed over to Britain (the Germans were so angry that they sank their navy so that Britain could not have it); they had to give away all their territory abroad (and yet other countries like Britain and France kept their territory abroad); they had to surrender part of their land to their neighbours (part of Germany was given to Poland -- known as the Polish Corridor, but this meant splitting Germany into two parts); part of Germany (the Rhineland) was to be de-militarised -- that is Germany was not allowed to place any troops in that area of Germany; Germany was told that she could never unite with Austria, even though the Austrians were of the same Germanic race; and Germany had to give £6.6 billion in reparations (compensation) to the Allies, even though the Germany economy was bankrupt. All of this humiliated Germany and many Germans were furious and wanted revenge against those countries that had imposed this treaty on them. (See pages 10-11 in the textbook for more details). Many Germans blamed their Weimar Republic government for agreeing to these terms -- they felt that the government had betrayed them once again.

n       Many Germans also felt (between 1919 and 1923) that the Weimar Republic was weak as it could not stop the collapse of law and order. There were 376 political murders between 1919 and 1922 and several attempts to overthrow the government by force. The government only survived by appealing to various groups to help them. People resented the fact that their government seemed powerless and weak.

n       Between 1919 and 1923 many Germans also saw their economy collapse and they experienced financial hardships. Again they blamed the Weimar Republic. The Weimar government printed money to try to pay the reparations but this led to hyper-inflation : in Jan 1919 there were 20 marks to the £, by November 1923 it was 1,680,800,000,000,000 marks to the £. THE German currency had become worthless and people’s savings were wiped out.

n       It looked as if the Weimar Republic was doomed and in 1923 Adolf Hitler, the leader of a small party in the German state of Bavaria, tried to seize power in the Munich Putsch. He failed, but it all added to a sense of a government in crisis.

n       Fortunately in the summer of 1923 Gustav Stresemann became Chancellor (Prime Minister) of the Weimar government and he set out to restore Germany’s fortunes : he solved the financial and political problems by introducing a new currency and by persuading the Americans to invest vast sums of money in Germany. The economy began to prosper, people became richer and support for the Weimar government rose dramatically.

n       However, the future of Germany depended on American investment and Stresemann warned Germans that they were dancing on volcanoes. In 1929 the American economy collapsed in the Wall Street Crash. American investors demanded their money back from Germany and the German economy collapsed. Stresemann died and there seemed to be no one with a solution. People lost their jobs and their hopes. All the anger against the Weimar government returned : they had betrayed Germany, they had signed a humiliating treaty, they were weak, they had destroyed the economy. People hated their government again and looked for alternatives.

n       The Weimar government tried to carry on, but the parties argued amongst themselves and seemed to have no solutions. Soon it found it hard to pass laws in the German parliament (the Reichstag) and so relied on the President to pass laws by decree. Laws were now being passed without any reference to the parliament -- democracy was breaking down. There was soon became a political crisis as there were 3 Chancellors in 2 years, none of whom could solve the problems of Germany (Bruning ,Schleicher, Von Papen)

n        Hitler made sure that the Weimar Republic was blamed for everything so that people would turn against it and turn to people like him. The workers were desperate for jobs and the middle classes wanted their businesses protected and feared that Germany might fall into the hands of the communists -- people wanted someone to solve the problems and save Germany from communism. Disastrous for Germany - 6 million unemployed. Many were persuaded by Nazi propaganda that Hitler was their last hope of escaping this bleak future.

n       So -- FACTOR 1 -- After the collapse of the American economy in 1929, the world entered a depression, which hit Germany very hard -- unemployment shot up to 6 million (40% of the workforce). People once again turned against the Weimar Republic and remembered all bad things from the past. This was the second major economic catastrophe for the Weimar Republic.

2 -- THE IMPACT OF THE DEPRESSION

n       As mentioned above, Germany was hit very hard when the American economy collapsed in 1929. Germany saw 40% of its workforce lose their jobs and banks and businesses collapsed.

n       The Weimar government now had less money and so was forced to reduce social services, unemployment benefit, and the salaries and pensions of government officials, and stopped reparations payments. High tariffs were introduced to keep out foreign foodstuffs and thus help German farmers, while the government bought shares in factories hit by the slump. However, these measures did not produce quick results : unemployment continued to grow :

UNEMPLOYMENT IN GERMANY, 1928 - 33

SEPTEMBER 1928           650 000

SEPTEMBER 1929        1 320 000

SEPTEMBER 1930        3 000 000

SEPTEMBER 1931        4 350 000

SEPTEMBER 1932        5 102 000

JANUARY 1933             6 100 000

The government came under criticism from almost all groups in society, especially industrialists and the working class who demanded more decisive action. Not only factory workers but clerks, teachers and other middle-class Germans lost their jobs. The loss of working-class support because of increasing unemployment and the reduction in unemployment was a serious blow to the republic. It has been estimated that by 1932 twenty-three million people in Germany were directly affected by unemployment -- either through being out of work, by being related to an unemployed person, by being unable to sell products as a result of the lack of consumer spending, etc. The Depression affected even those who were still in work.  Apart from the dread of losing their jobs, millions of German workers had to put up with low wages, short-time working and worsening conditions of work. After losing their jobs, German workers were paid unemployment benefit by the government for 26 weeks. After that they had to live on "crisis payments" from the government. Many of the jobless could not afford to pay rent and thus became homeless. In Berlin, thousands of homeless families camped in woods just outside the city.

n       People turned against the Weimar government. Hitler promised to solve the economic problems, whilst the Weimar Republic seemed to offer nothing. Before 1929, the Nazis had made little impact. In 1928 they only won 12 seats. However, the depression changed everything. People lost faith in democracy and the Weimar government and turned to extreme parties like the Nazis and the Communists. In 1930 the Nazis won 107 seats and became the second largest party in the Reichstag; by July 1932 they won 230 seats and they were the largest party in the Reichstag. The Depression certainly helped win support for the Nazis and it is unlikely that Hitler would have come to power without the Depression. However, there were lots of parties in Germany, but it was the Nazis who benefited most from the Depression, which suggests that there were things about the Nazi Party that attracted people to their cause, rather than to other parties.

n       The German government now had less money and so was forced to reduce social services, unemployment benefit, and the salaries and pensions of government officials, and stopped reparations payments. High tariffs were introduced to keep out foreign foodstuffs and thus help German farmers, while the government bought shares in factories hit by the slump. However, these measures did not produce quick results : unemployment continued to grow :

UNEMPLOYMENT IN GERMANY, 1928 - 33

SEPTEMBER 1928 650 000

SEPTEMBER 1929 1 320 000

SEPTEMBER 1930 3 000 000

SEPTEMBER 1931 4 350 000

SEPTEMBER 1932 5 102 000

JANUARY 1933 6 100 000

The government came under criticism from almost all groups in society, especially industrialists and the working class who demanded more decisive action. Not only factory workers but clerks, teachers and other middle-class Germans lost their jobs. The loss of working-class support because of increasing unemployment and the reduction in unemployment was a serious blow to the republic. It has been estimated that by 1932 twenty-three million people in Germany were directly affected by unemployment -- either through being out of work, by being related to an unemployed person, by being unable to sell products as a result of the lack of consumer spending, etc. The Depression affected even those who were still in work.

Apart from the dread of losing their jobs, millions of German workers had to put up with low wages, short-time working and worsening conditions of work. After losing their jobs, German workers were paid unemployment benefit by the government for 26 weeks. After that they had to live on "crisis payments" from the government. Many of the jobless could not afford to pay rent and thus became homeless. In Berlin, thousands of homeless families camped in woods just outside the city.

In 1930, in protest against reductions in unemployment benefit, the Socialists withdrew from the coalition which had governed Germany for the last two years. This meant that the government did not have a majority in the Reichstag. To try to solve this problem, elections were called in September 1930, but this did nothing to solve the country's political crisis. In fact the situation got worse as the Nazis and Communists increased their share of the vote. The government -- under the Chancellor Bruning -- still did not have a majority of seats in the Reichstag and had to rely on President Hindenburg's support under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution which gave the President special powers in an emergency. Long before Hitler took power in Germany the Reichstag had ceased to be the centre of political control.

n        

3-- THE USE OF PROPAGANDA

n       The Nazis had been effective at the use of propaganda from the start. However, they had lacked money and access to the media. When Hitler approached rich industrialists for help he was told that his economic policies (profit-sharing, nationalisation of trusts) were too left-wing. In an attempt to obtain financial contributions from industrialists Hitler wrote a pamphlet in 1927 entitled The Road to Resurgence. Only a small number were printed and they were only meant for the eyes of the top industrialists in Germany. The reason that the pamphlet was kept secret was that it contained information that would have upset Hitler's working-class supporters. In The Road to Resurgence Hitler implied that the anti-capitalist measures included in the original twenty-five points of the Nazi party programme would not be implemented if he gained power. Businessmen in Germany were extremely hostile to socialism. As Socialist was included in the party's name, businessmen were reluctant to support Hitler. The Nazis tried to solve this problem by claiming that there was a difference between Jewish socialism and national socialism. Jewish socialism was concerned with achieving equality; national socialism was opposed to equality. Hitler argued that "Capitalists had worked their way to the top through their capacity, and on the basis of this selection ... they have the right to lead". Hitler claimed that national socialism meant all people doing their best for society and posed no threat to the wealth of the rich. Some prosperous industrialists were convinced by these arguments and gave donations to the Nazi Party. However, the vast majority continued to support other parties, especially the right-wing Nationalist party.

n       After 1929 that all changed : many rich Germans saw the Nazis as the only party that could save Germany from the depression and from the Communists. Leading German industrialists like Bosch gave huge financial support to Hitler. Hitler also won support from Alfred Hugenberg, a newspaper tycoon who owned many newspapers and radio stations in Germany.

n       The Nazis were fortunate in having among their midst a man who was a genius when it came to propaganda. He was Josef Goebbels. Goebbels knew how to get his message across. He ensured that the Nazi message was simple and repeated again and again so it filtered its way into people’s minds. He also wanted the Nazi party to stand out. If people were criticising the Weimar Republic for being weak, he needed to portray the Nazis as strong and Hitler as the strong man who would save Germany. So huge rallies were held, especially at Nuremberg in Bavaria, the heart of Nazi support. Germany was covered in Nazi posters, 120 newspapers pressed home Nazi messages, and the Nazis had effective control of the radio network.

n       The propaganda was used to stir up resentment against the Weimar Republic, against Jews and Communists and to turn people against democracy. It also had a positive message -- Hitler was Germany’s last hope, he was the Saviour, he would feed the starving people, give jobs to the unemployed, restore Germany’s military might, smash the enemies of Germany -- the Jews and the Communists, and bring in an era of German might and prosperity.

4 -- ANTI-SEMITISM

n       There was a long tradition of anti-semitism in Germany well before Hitler, and Hitler played on this to gain support.

n       The Jews were accused of being communists seeking to destroy Germany (Marx and Trotsky were Jews after all)

n       The Jews were also rich, fat capitalists, who were exploiting the German people for their own greed -- they were responsible for the economic collapse that had ruined Germany

n       The Jews were the politicians who had betrayed Germany at the end of the First World War and who had agreed to the Treaty of Versailles -- Germany’s misfortunes were the result of the Jews.

n       The Jews were determined to control the world -- there was an International Jewish Conspiracy -- to destroy and enslave the world under Jewish control. Much of Hitler's time in prison was spent dictating Mein Kampf ( My Struggle ), in which he described his ideas about history, politics, race and the future of Germany. He argued that the Aryan's superiority was being threatened by intermarriage. The Aryan race had a duty to control the world by force. He believed that Aryan superiority was being threatened particularly by the Jewish race who, he argued, were lazy and had contributed little to world civilisation. According to Hitler, Jews were responsible for everything he did not like, including modern art, pornography and prostitution. Hitler also alleged that the Jews had been responsible for losing the First World War. Hitler also claimed that Jews, who were only about 1% of the population, were slowly taking over the country. Hitler believed that the Jews were involved with the Communists in a joint conspiracy to take-over the world. Like Henry Ford, Hitler claimed that 75% of all communists were Jews and Marxists had already been successful in Russia and now threatened the rest of Europe.

n       There were many in Germany who had always hated the Jews -- now they were being told that their failure was not due to them but to the Jews -- it sounded good and they were being told that they would get revenge against those who had caused them such misery.

5 -- THE ROLE OF HITLER

n       Hitler was an Austrian who had moved to Munich (in the German state of Bavaria) before the First World War. He had joined the German army and won awards for bravery. He had felt that Germany had been betrayed in 1918 and was one of those who called for revenge and the restoration of German might.

n       After the war, he had joined a small party, the German Workers’ Party. He soon became leader of this Party and recalled it the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi). He quickly gave it a series of ideas, a symbol (the swastika) and a newspaper.

n       His oratory soon attracted others to the Party. Hitler developed the techniques that made him into such a persuasive orator. Hitler always arrived late which helped to develop tension and a sense of expectation. He took the stage, stood to attention and waited until there was complete silence before he started his speech. For the first few minutes Hitler appeared nervous and spoke haltingly. Slowly he would begin to relax and his style of delivery would change. He would start to rock from side to side and began to gesticulate with his hands. His voice would get louder and become more passionate. Sweat poured off him, his face turned white, his eyes bulged and his voice cracked with emotion. He ranted and raved about the injustices done to Germany and played on the audience's emotions of hatred and envy. By the end of the speech the audience would be in a state of near hysteria and were willing to do whatever Hitler suggested. As soon as his speech finished Hitler would quickly leave the stage and disappear from view. Refusing to be photographed, Hitler's aim was to create an air of mystery about himself, hoping that it would encourage others to come and hear the man who was now being described as "the new Messiah". One historian, Z.A.B. Zeman, has worked out that the frequency of his normal speaking voice was 228 vibrations per second, compared with 200 per second in the voice of an average man speaking in anger. This meant that "the onslaught on the eardrums of the audience was tremendous". It also meant that he could get his message across without microphones.

n       Hitler established an elite force to protect him and to disrupt the meetings of his opponents -- in 1921 this group became known as the Sturmabteilung (SA). As they wore brown shirts, they were usually called the Brownshirts.

n       Membership continued to rise under Hitler : 1100 in 1920 to 55,000 in 1923. However, support for the Nazis was confined to Bavaria only.

n       In 1923 the problems facing the Weimar Republic were so intense that Hitler decided to try to exploit this unpopularity to seize power. He planned to seize power in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, and then to march on Berlin and overthrow the Weimar Republic. This event is known as the Munich Putsch.

n       The attempt failed and Hitler was arrested and sent to prison. However, the trial made Hitler a household name across Germany as he attacked the government. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released after 9 months.

n       Hitler found that Germany had changed : Stresemann had turned the country around and nobody was interested in extreme parties any more.

n       The failure of the putsch had taught Hitler a very important lesson. He realised it was no good trying to seize power by violent revolt. Instead he must win over German voters and persuade them to vote for the Nazi Party in elections. The Nazi Party and the S.A. had been banned after the putsch and Hitler was forbidden to make political speeches. The bans were lifted in 1925. Hitler now set out to win power by lawful means -- standing for elections for the Reichstag, holding rallies and mass meetings, putting out newspapers, posters, leaflets and all sorts of other propaganda. This could only be done if the Nazi Party was well organised with branches in all parts of Germany. Hitler accepted that attempts to seize power by force would not succeed; the attempted putsch had frightened the middle-class voters and wealthy businessmen. Hitler came to the conclusion that the best way to gain power was through the ballot box. He decided that he needed to change his image in order to win over the middle-classes and the rich industrialists. He did this by :

(i) Changing his image : thus he began to wear dark suits to make him appear as a typical, respectable middle-class German;

(ii) He surrounded himself with attractive women to make him appear attractive to women;

(iii) He used children to make him look like a kindly father figure;

(iv) Hitler used propaganda to present himself as the Saviour of Germany and to discredit his opponents -- the Nazis began a massive campaign of leaflets, posters, rallies to get their message across;

(v) Hitler used his powerful oratory to persuade people. He would sometimes make as many as ten speeches a day. He would fly around Germany addressing huge audiences;

(vi) He held mass rallies, the most famous being at Nuremberg, to demonstrate that the Nazis were a huge movement and to portray the party as fervently nationalist

HOWEVER : Despite these changes, Hitler still relied on force. Not this time to overthrow the government, but to intimidate and dispose of his opponents -- hence he used the S.A. and the S.S.

n       During the period 1924-29 the Nazis had little success in the elections. However, this period allowed Hitler to make changes to the Party that allowed it to take advantage of the situation far more effectively than any other Party when the depression hit Germany:

(a)    Hitler wrote his autobiography -- Mein Kampf (My Struggle) -- this set out Nazi ideas, policies and aims -- it talked of overturning the hated Treaty of Versailles, of eliminating the Jewish problem in Germany, of taking over other countries to give Germans more living space (lebensraum), of creating one people and one community in Germany consisting of pure Germans (Aryans), and of uniting all Germans into one country by absorbing areas where Germans now lived into a larger Germany.

(b)    Hitler reorganised the Party. He appointed 34 regional leaders (gauleiters) who would conduct the election campaigns in their own area and shape Nazi policy to suit the needs of the local population. Hitler set up Party branches in all parts of the country, and these in turn set up special organisations : the Hitler Youth, the German Girls' League, the Nazi Students' League, the Nazi Teachers' League, and many more. By the end of 1928, 108 717 Germans belonged to the Nazi Party. But the Communists were also busy organising themselves too and they won 54 seats. The Red Fighting League was the equivalent of the Nazi S.A. It paraded in front of the Communist leader Ernst Thalmann, just as the S.A. paraded in front of Hitler. It fought street battles with the Nazis, especially in Berlin, the capital.

(c)    In 1926 at the Bamberg Conference Hitler overcame opposition within the Party and established himself as the undisputed leader (the Fuhrer)

(d)    In 1928 Hitler decided that the Party could not come to power by trying to win over the workers with socialist ideas such as owning businesses etc. He abandoned socialist points in his policies and instead set out to win over the rich and the middle classes by no longer threatening their interests but by promising to protect and enhance their privileges, and to protect them from trade unions and communists. He set out to become the champion of the middle classes just as they needed a saviour as a result of the 1929 financial collapse.

(e)    He knew that German farmers were suffering and promised to protect them -- he won over large sections of the ruraal vote as a result.

All of this may not have gained the Nazis a large number of seats, but it meant that if anything went wrong and people lost faith in the government, the Nazis would be in a strong position to exploit this and make huge gains. This is exactly what happened in 1929 and the Nazis benefited as a result of the changes made in the late-1920s.

6 -- HITLER’S PROMISES

n       Hitler knew that he could only win power by attracting lots of voters. He had to be able to portray himself as the man best placed to serve their interests, whether they be bankers, farmers, shopkeepers, workers, military men or unemployed.

n       He set out to portray himself as the man who was totally dedicated to Germany -- he had no private interests as his whole being was spent on Germany. He was presented as a man who had served his country in war, as an ordinary man who had come from the masses, as a superhuman man sent by God to save his people etc. His private life with his mistresses etc was kept totally secret.

n       Hitler’s greatest strength was his charisma. He charmed people and had hypnotic like eyes that made people feel he was talking directly to them even in an audience of thousands.

n       Hitler also knew that he could get away with making any promise he liked : the newspapers and radio stations were on his side. So he promised people what they wanted : Hitler made promises that appealed to particular groups, albeit that sometimes they were contradictory, e.g. promising the workers better conditions whilst at the same time promising the bosses that the workers would be kept in their place. This won him financial backing from the rich industrialists, who feared the spread of communism and trade unions and saw him as someone who could stop the spread.

n       Yet certain promises had a powerful impact : destroy Versailles, make Germany powerful, give people jobs, destroy the communists, protect farmers and businessmen from foreign competition etc

7 -- THE ELECTION CAMPAIGNS

n       In the 1928 election, the Nazis had achieved only 12 seats and seemed insignificant. However, the party was well organised and membership had grown from 27,000 in 1925 to 108,000 in 1928.

n       As unemployment soared so people lost faith in the Weimar Republic and democracy -- they turned to parties that seemed to offer them hope

n       The Nazis played on their fears -- fears of communists, fears of violence, fears of political chaos, fears of Jewish conspiracies, etc -- and presented Hitler as the man who could save them from their fears

n       The use of propaganda, rallies, speeches, posters etc, combined with the control of newspapers and radios, gave Hitler access to the millions of people across Germany as never before.

n       Hitler also set out to cause problems and to increase people’s fears. He set his SA troops to attack communists and to create violence in the streets. He then claimed that the violence was out of hand and that only he could restore law and order; he also claimed that only he and his SA troops were willing to defend Germany against the Communists. Many Germans were fooled by this.

n       He also decided that he needed to win power legally -- he had tried to seize power by force in 1923 in the Munich Putsch and had failed; now he would win people over, gain votes, be elected into power democratically and then destroy democracy.

n       By April 1932 the Nazis were determined to gain power. They knew that the President, Hindenburg, was standing for re-election. the Constitution gave the President enormous powers : if Hitler became President, he could use these powers to destroy democracy and to take over. He decided to run for President. The Nazis launched a massive campaign : Hitler used an aeroplane to fly across Germany making speeches, huge rallies were held, posters flooded Germany and the newspapers and radios were used. By contrast Hindenburg made one speech. Hitler lost the election, but had gained huge publicity, which allowed the Nazis to gain more seats in the Reichstag in July. The Nazis were now the biggest party, but they did not have a majority. Hitler was not in a position to seize power; however, he did expect that he would be appointed Chancellor (Prime Minister) and he could then use that position to plot the destruction of German democracy.

n       To Hitler’s annoyance, the President, Hindenburg, refused to appoint Hitler, whom he despised, and insisted that Von Papen remain Chancellor, even though he had less supporters in the Reichstag than Hitler. The Nazis set out to disrupt the Reichstag to prevent Von Papen from being able to govern Germany. They created political chaos.

n       Von Papen knew that the economy was beginning to improve and so asked for elections in November 1932 -- he calculated that as the economy was improving, support for the Nazis would fall. He was right : the Nazis went from 230 seats to 196. Yet the election had failed to solve the crisis as no party had enough seats to govern.

n       Von Papen now asked the President to allow him to govern without the Reichstag, but the Minister of Defence, Schleicher, told Hindenburg that the army would never support this and that it would lead to civil war. Von Papen was forced to resign and Schleicher became Chancellor. Schleicher tried to create a coalition government.

n       It looked as if the Nazis were finished : they were running out of money and they were losing political support. It might be possible to govern without them and they would soon disappear.

n       However, Hitler was saved. Von Papen was determined to regain power and met Hitler to suggest a deal under which Hitler would be Chancellor and Von Papen his deputy. This idea soon attracted the support of powerful politicians, businessmen, military men and landowners, who put pressure on Hindenburg. Hindenburg had doubts but Von Papen assured him that the Nazis would be controlled and that once Hitler had served his purpose, he would be discarded.

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