Nazi Party

He just became leader because he wanted it. He told Dreschler that he wanted power and that if he didn't get it, then he'd form his own party. Hitler's philosophy was if you want something take it, Don't ask!

Answer

Well, because Hitler was released, Nazis were happy!Also because Hitler wrote a book in prison called Mein Kampf (My Struggle) to show what he has been through to get this far!

After WW1, Germany was a mess - at certain points, their money was literally not worth the paper it was printed on. That's a very scary thing to have happen, because you're never sure if you'll get food or clothing or medicine if you get sick. And when things are going that badly and people are scared, they often look for someone to blame or something to do, because then they are less scared. They also look for a leader, because they need someone to protect them.

Hitler was a very charismatic speaker, who filled the role of leader really well. And he picked the Jews as the people to blame, along with Communists, intellectuals, homosexuals, etc. He also gave the German people a vision of themselves as perfect and ideal, with a higher calling that could only be fulfilled if they got rid of undesireables. All those things are very, very inviting ideas if you are starving and frightened, and it worked.

It's also true that orthodox Jewish religious doctrine encourages Jews to think of themselves as "God's Chosen People" and a cut above the rest of us.

Put that together with certain behaviors that set them apart (distinctive clothing and hair styles among the Chasidim, for example) and it's not hard for unscrupulous people in power to take the heat off themselves by pointing at the "foreigners", the ones who aren't "real" Germans/English/Americans/whatever.

The same scapegoating is currently underway in the US, with Muslim Americans and Arab-Americans as the victims.

During WW2 it was Japanese-Americans, and in WW1 the German-Americans. We're not currently rounding up the Muslims or Arabs and putting them in concentration camps, the way we did the Japanese-Americans in WW2, but what will happen next year?

1. Many of the points in the second contribution are not well informed and are based on inaccurate and irrelevant stereotypes and guesswork.

2. Germany was one of leading bastions of Reform Judaism, and by c.1880 most Jews were highly integrated in German society. Many made a point of avoiding conspicuous difference, and some went out of their way to be thoroughly German. (Only a minority were Othodox and they were certainly not Chassidic!) It has sometimes been said that the level of integration was a double edged thing and made it easy for the Nazis to talk about 'secret' Jews 'lurking' in all kinds of unlikely places close to the levers of power. In reality the Jews were in a 'no-win' situation.

3. Similarly, most German Jews downplayed or simply didn't talk about being 'God's chosen people'. (Incidentally, it's not unknown for born again Christians to talk in rather similar terms).

I think one must look for other answers to this question. Key points include these:

1. German nationalists found the defeat of Germany in World War 1 unbearable - much more unbearable than the Treaty of Versailles - and retreated into denial of the defeat and a deep-seated yearning for a 're-run' of World War 1.
2. The German nationalists therefore claimed that Germany had not be defeated on the battlefield but had been stabbed in the back by subversives on the home front.
3. The more extreme Nationalists demonized "the Jews" as Communists and subversives and as part of a worldwide Bolshevik conspiracy.
4. In the immediate aftermath of World War 1 and in the 1920s Germany was war weary and views 1-3 appealed only to a minority of the German electorate. From 1930 on, the devastating effects of the Great Depression caused immense frustration and anger, and changed the situation.
5. The Nazi leadership did not, of course, publicize the Holocaust or its various other atrocities. Most ordinary Germans didn't want to know these things. The German population was not informed about the Holocaust and it certainly was not something that was discussed in public. The number of Germans actively involved was relatively small.

Weimar and Nazi Germany

The Weimar Constitution

The impact of the Treaty of Versailles

1919 -1923: years of crisis?

The Munich Putsch

The Origins of the Nazi Party

Mein Kampf

1924 - 1929: A Golden era?

Gustav Stresemann

German Foreign Policy 1919 to 1933

Germany in the Depression

The Rise of the Nazi party

- Why did people vote for Hitler?

From Chancellor to Fuhrer

The failures of Weimar

Creating a totalitarian state

Nazi methods of control

- Organisation of the Nazi Party

- Obedience to the Fuhrer

Opposition to the Nazi's

Propaganda

- Nazi Ideology

The Economy under the Nazi's

- Schacht

- The 2nd 4 Year Plan

- Evaluation of the 4 Year Plan

- How successful was the policy of Autarky?

- German Labour Front

- Dr Robert Ley

Nazi Foreign Policy

- Did Hitler plan to have a Second World War?

Education in Nazi Germany

Women in Nazi Germany

The Holocaust

- The Jewish Problem in 1933

- Kristallnacht

- Anti-Jewish Legislation

- Policy 1933 - 1937

- Origins of Anti-Semitism

THE ORGANISATION OF THE NAZI PARTY AND THE IMPORTANCE OF HITLER

1. Hitler's Role

a. Note the sources p.112 for an idea of Hitler's skills as orator.

b. Note his charismatic leadership -

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belief in his own importance in Germany's future

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demonic willpower

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speeches - timing

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expression

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content

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"hypnotic" gaze

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identification with the people in their emotions and expectation

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his importance in holding the Party together

c. He virtually re-founded the Party in 1925, based upon the Führerprinzip. Cohesion and discipline was important in preventing the break up of the Party 1932-1933.

d. He personally designed the flag.

e. He recognised the importance of propaganda and was prepared to use every modern means available to spread the message during election campaigns.

2. Party Organisation

a. The country was divided into Gaus (areas), each headed by a Gauleiter, appointed by Hitler and subordinate to him but with considerable local freedom.

b. Associated organisations were set up for women, young people, students, lawyers, factory workers. Especially important was the "Nazi Welfare Organisation" which ran soup kitchens for people in distress.

c. Central propaganda machine under Goebbels.

d. Stress on local contacts. Nazis targeted key individuals in local communities, hoping they would influence others. (Note the example of Northeim)

e. Growing membership allowed for door-to-door campaigning and leafleting. Distribution of posters was widespread.

f. Considerable effort was made to train speakers. Over 6,000 had been trained by 1933. Speakers were licensed by the Party to ensure quality and were provided with booklets on policies and techniques. (Note the sources on p.115 SHP)

g. Use of a variety of strategies and modern technology:

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mass rallies; marches in uniform; music; lighting; disciplined enthusiasm; loudspeakers; film; slides; plans. Once in power they had access to radio and films. Their newspaper was the "Völkischer Beobachter".

h. They had a powerful message:

- volksgemeinschaft

- an end to economic ills

- Germany first

- strong leadership

- smash Communism and Jewish interests

- end Versailles

- secure lebensraum

i. An alliance with Alfred Hugenberg (DNVP) over opposition to the 1929 Young Plan, gave Hitler access to Hugenberg's vast media empire and to funds, enabling the Party to compete more effectively in elections. Through this, Hitler won apparent respectability, campaigning side by side with an established political party on a popular issue.

j. Most Party funds came from ordinary members and charges made for attending meetings. Some industrialists provided money, notably Thyssen, but this was not a major factor in success. Efficient cash collections made the Nazis better off than less well organised parties of the right.

k. The Nazis organised special sections to appeal to particular interest groups - students, lawyers, doctors, teachers, self-employed craftsmen and small businessmen. They also made a concerted effort to win farming votes. Walther Darré drew up an agrarian programme in 1930. The Nazis told the farmers what they wanted to hear: that their way of life was morally superior to urban life and should be preserved. The Nazi Party was therefore quick to take advantage of local grievances and to respond to national and regional issues.

3. The Role of the SA

Formed as the Sportabteilung 1920 (sports department) intended primarily to protect Nazi speakers, it was re-named Sturm-Abteilung 1921. By 1933, membership was 500,000. Brown shirts came from cheap, surplus German army tropical shirts, which were used after 1924.

- Röhm led them

"Since I am an immature and wicked man, war and unrest appeal to me more than good bourgeois order."

· over half came from the working class

· many were ruffians and bullies

· distributed pamphlets

· protected meetings

· used violence against Communists

· Brüning banned them in 1932. (They paraded instead without shirts)

· Papen allowed them back in an attempt to win Nazis support in June 1932

· many died as a result in street battles, nearly 100 in July1932 alone

· the SA focused attention on Hitler's determination to ban Communism: it appeared that he at least was doing something about it

· the SA created the impression of discipline and firm government

· fear of the SA persuaded some in power to bring Hitler into government, so that he would control the SA

4. Conclusion

Nazi success at the polls lay in combination of charismatic leadership; detailed Party organisation at a local level; impressive displays of unity and discipline; their powerful message of future national unity and pride, and terror tactics employed to intimidate the opposition and to coerce support. The example of Northeim gives a good indication of how these different factors could be employed. It must be remembered, however, that only 37% of Germans ever voted for Hitler. Many remained unpersuaded. Hitler's appeal was not universal nor was it inevitable that the tide of public support would bring him to power, as he later claimed