Factors Leading to the Support of the Nazi Party In the elections of May 1928 the N.S.D.A.P. polled only 2.6% and yet by September 1930 the N.S.D.A.P. became the second largest party in the Reichstag. Explain how the Nazi Party achieved this electoral breakthrough.
There are a number of important issues which demonstrate the reasons why the Nazi Party gained support and eventual power. Hitler Joined forces with the D.N.V.P. in hope of becoming more popular in a time when Germany was at its most vunerable. Hitler had strong public speaking abilities and as Germany was in a state of unrest socially,
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As a result of their work together Hitler became a household name and more Germans were aware of who he was and what the Nazi’s were promising.
Hugenberg became more extremist after the D.N.V.P.’s poor election
results in May 1928 (From 20.5% in 1924 to 14.2%in 1928) and he invited the Nazi’s to help him organise a referendum for a law which would reject
the Young Plan and force the Weimar government to stop paying reparations. Although the campaign was a failure an agreement was made to conclude payments of reparations to the sum of 3000 million marks at the Lausanne Conference in June 1932. This was never paid
The Young Plan’s content set a timescale for reparations. Germany was to make payments for the next 59 years until 1988. It was to pay 2000 million marks a years instead of the 2500 million marks as laid down by
the Dawes Plan. Responsibility for paying reparations was to be given to Germany. Payments were to increase gradually and from 1929-1932 Germany was to pay 1700 million less than it would have paid under the Dawes Plan. If Germany agreed to the plan the French promised to evacuate the Rhineland by June
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Bruning’s government survived until May 1932 but the continuing rise in
unemployment allowed Schleicher to engineer Bruning’s downfall. Schleicher persuaded Hindenburg to appoint Franz Von Papen as chancellor (May-December 1932) Papen’s government did not contain any
members of the Reichstag, it was seen as a presidential government.
Papen hoped to gain support from the Nazi’s to help maintain his government. In the Scheduled presidential election in July 1932. Hitler polled a massive 37.4% of the vote. Some said that the Nazi party should
now be incorporated in government. After His triumph in the Reichstag Hitler, with 37.4% of the vote, insisted that Hindenburg made him chancellor. Hidenburg who disliked Hitler, bluntly refused his demand.
Papen’s government continued without the support of the Reichstag, in September 1932 they voted no confidence in him 512 votes to 42. Hidenburg dissolved the Reichstag after one day. Schleicher persuaded Hidenburg to hold another election.
In the November 1932 elections the Nazi’s lost 2 million votes and 34 seats. This was because Voters had become disillusioned as
Article 232 of the treaty states “the (Allies)...require, and Germany undertakes, that she will make compensation for all the damage done to civilian population of the Allied and Associated Power and to their property during the period of the belligerency...”(Document C). The payments were to begin May 1, 1921 and they should be finished by May 1, 1951. The reduced amount Germany was required to pay was 112 billion gold marks which is equivalent to 341 billion U.S. dollars. The original reparation was 132 billion gold marks. In the 1920’s, the Germans were angry and didn’t pay any. in 1929, they paid only 2 billion marks, Then finally in 1933 the payments stopped when Hitler took power (Document
As Ian Kershaw explains, the Weimar Republic was failing: "the survival chances of Weimar democracy might be regarded as fairly poor by the end of 1929, very low by the end of 1930, remote by the middle of 1931 and as good as zero by Spring 1932." In a period of Depression and when unity and firm government was essential, Müller's Grand Coalition broke up in March 1930. Logically, there were several political alternatives other than Hitler and the Nazis.
In late 1923 and early 1924 the German economy seemed to experience a mild period of economic stabilisation and "prosperity". In November, the government issued a new currency and ensured that tight restrictions were imposed. The economy was further stimulated by loans principally from the USA. However despite all this there simultaneously, was increasing numbers of unemployed persons. A well cited example of this is the coal mining industry where the introduction of more efficient machinery meant that one in four miners lost their jobs. No doubt that increased unemployment meant that the German population grew increasingly discontent with the Weimar government and this is the beginnings of the swing towards more radical political voting. Hitler knew that he had to have attractive political policies in order to attract a greater pool of voters, looking for alternative parties, and he recognized a possible solution to this was to attract the attention of the farming and rural community. The Nazi Party took this opportunity quickly and campaigned hard to win over the votes of the farmers and rural workers by promising tax reductions, cheaper electricity and a promise to rebuild the farming industry. "The peasants, the Nazis said, were of true German blood and their life was the true German life. They had shamefully been neglected by the Weimar Republic." Hitler told the people of the land that under a Nazi Government, rural people would be the most important people in Germany. The rural Germans were on the brink of bankruptcy, constituting approximately 11 Billion marks by 1932. The Nazi's promise of a return to rural prosperity was too good for them to resist. Yet this adoption of the rural Germans also proved useful in another sense because it allowed the Nazi party to use the Jewish people as a scapegoat towards the problems faced by the rural Germans.
1. Review the evidence concerning who voted for the Nazis in the elections in Germany of 1928 to 1933. Consider the different groups in society and the reasons why they may, or may not, have voted for the Nazis. Since 1928 the Nazi leaders had deliberately directed their propaganda at rural and middle class/lower middle class audiences. This therefore made it obvious that they were very likely to vote for the Nazis. Also, it has been estimated that the party attracting new voters and persuading many people who had not previously participated in elections to support their cause won nearly half of the Nazi seats.
Imagine you are a thirteen year old growing up in Germany, 1938. Some of the kids at school are talking about a new program called the Hitlerjugend (or Hitler Youth). It sounds fun and exciting with its camping trips and home meetings so you decide to join. The Hitlerjugend is just as fun and exciting as it sounded and as the years pass you gain new skills; loyalty to Hitler and German; and growing hatred for Jews, Blacks, the handicapped, and other “burdens of the state”. To you this is simply a thought but to many children in the 1930’s this was a reality. The Hitler Youth was a genius yet terrible organization.
At the end of World War One, Germany was required to pay a large sum of money to the Allies consequently resulting in the German Depression. The sum Germany had to pay was set after the Treaty of Versailles was enacted at approximately six billion, six hundred million – twenty-two billion pounds, (World War Two – Causes, Alan Hall, 2010). The large amount of reparations that Germany had to pay resulted in a depression and angered the Germans because they thought it was an excessive amount of money to pay, (World War Two – Causes) The Germans hatred of the Treaty of Versailles was of significant importance in propelling the Nazis to power. Germany could not pay their reparations and was forced into a depression, (World War II – Causes). The Treaty of Versailles deprived Germany of its economic production and its available employments, (World War II – Causes). The German Depr...
There was little opposition that was effective in resistance to the Nazis. Hitler's power was finally consolidated in 1934 when Hindenburg died in August of that year, up until this time Hitler could have been dismissed as Chancellor. However, after this time he could not legally be removed. The evidence also suggests the mass population had not many reasons to resist a new government which, seemed at the time to turn around Germany, almost abolishing unemployment and improving living conditions. Organisations that opposed the regime were in the minority, due to the threat of punishment and the power of the police state. Also the organisations were only united in one aim, the downfall of Hitler and the Nazis, and this was not enough, as they were divided on the methods to achieve this, and what should replace Nazi Germany.
The 1940’s was a time of great conflict between the United States and Europe. This led to World War II, which began on June 14th, 1940 when German troops were sent to France to occupy Paris (Nash 500). Before the United States entered World War II many conflicts erupted throughout Europe such as the advancement of German troops into various countries (Nash 501-502). The main source of these conflicts was a man by the name of Adolf Hitler. Hitler was a power hungry man who had the drive to become a political leader (Nash 492). But, the ways by which he obtained leadership were repulsive. He struck fear into the eyes of those in which opposed his teaching and killed whoever stood in his way (Nash 493). Germany faced troubling times after World War I. Hitler looked at this as the perfect opportunity to rise to power. He turned a party that consisted of a small amount of workers into the National Socialist German Workers’ party, which later became known as the Nazi party. During the 1920s, Hitler performed many speeches in order to make the Nazi party better known. In his speeches he talked about eliminating the differences between the rich and poor in order to prevent divided social classes. This made his party strong, attractive, and it quickly gained many supporters (Nash 494). By August 1934, Hitler became the Dictator of Germany and began mass takeover of Europe and World War II began (Nash 495). It was at this point when he began mass takeover of Europe and World War II began (Nash 500). He sent Nazi troops to take over nearby land, which made neighboring countries nervous. One of these countries, Russia, made a non-aggression pact with Hitler as a way to try to protect their country. Even though H...
“On 2 August 1934, President Hindenburg died. Within an hour of his death Hitler announced that the offices of chancellor and president were to be combined and that he was the new head of state. Hitler’s adolescent dream of becoming Fuhrer of the German people had been realized” President Hindenburg’s death marked the official end of the Weimar Republic, a democratic ‘experiment’ that had lasted since 1918. The causes of the dissolution of the Republic are wide ranging and numerous, as was explained in the articles of both Richard Bessel, and John McKenzie. The two author’s agree on the sequence of events which led to the dissolution of the Republic, however, they disagree on what exactly caused the transition from Weimar to the Third Reich. The author’s disagreement stem from a differing view of the fundamental cause, political structure versus political leadership.
Opposition To Hitler 1933-45 Hitler suffered opposition during his time in power however it is likely there would have been more outspoken and meaningful opposition if he had not created so many laws to ban it. It is difficult to measure the amount of public opposition to Hitler as the majority took place behind closed doors and could not be spoken in the public domain or recorded as it was against the law. Many people who spoke out were punished through jail or violence by the Nazi’s, the Nazi’s would find out about these people and their thoughts by being tipped off by other members of the public. This led to less outspoken anti Nazi views, this reduced outspoken opposition however in many instances it would not have changed the individuals beliefs it may well have prevented them from preaching to others about their beliefs and acting upon them. Hitler suffered his political opposition from socialists, communists, Trade Unionists and just about every left wing thinker.
“The Nazis also mobilized support from among the civil service elite by making good on electoral promises to tear up the Versailles Treaty, restore Germany to the ranks of the Great Powers, bring the nation out of the depression, take back the streets from criminals and subversives, crush the communist threat, destroy the Marxist ideology, and open career opportunities for young professionals (ushmm.com).” In addition, he was ruthless and aggressive and exiled those who did not agree with his beliefs. Germans were desperate for change and most believed Hitler’s racist ideas that made them a superior race over their
“Hitler joined the party the year it was founded ,and became its leader in 1921” (“Holocaust Timeline: The Rise of the Nazi Party”).After World War I, the German people were humiliated.. The Nazi party gained more people and they ruled Germany. because they blamed at the Jews for Germany losing World War I and promised they would lead Germany to power again. The Nazis were also responsible for laws being made against foreigners and Jews. For example, they believed you had to have German blood for German rights "Under the leadership of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or Nazi Party, grew into a mass movement and ruled Germany through totalitarian means from 1933 to 1945”. (“The Nazi Party Platform”). This explains how Adolf Hitler’s choices influenced history. Hitler made choices to become a dictator, instead of a democratic president and he was able to influence people to follow
In November 11th of 1918 World War I was finally over. The war left many countries in ruin, all but Germany. Although there was no physical damage done to the country, an economic crisis was about to sweep away almost all of the country’s hope. America called in all their foreign loans to help pay for the war, this destroyed Weimar, Germany. The population of unemployed people rose to 6 million. When people were losing their job, along with their faith, the Nazi Party began gaining support. The poor people of the country turned to communism. This act frightened the wealthy businessmen of Germany, so in return they began supporting Hitler’s campaigns. The Nazi Party started out small with only 12 seats, but by July of 1932 they had 230 seats
Hitler saw that thanks to the militia forces of the Sturmabteilung (SA) and Schutzstaffel (SS) the young and lower class people were in favor of the Nazi’s ideas, but middle class workers still were reluctant to join (Spielvogel and Redles, pages on: Nazi Members and Leaders, 1925-1930). Luckily for Hitler the Great Depression hit and with the Weimar Republic broken, it caused the workers to look for a new radical government. Hitler got their attention from the various propaganda him and Joseph Goebbels worked on, which primarily involved simplistic posters that had succinct messages. One of them saying “Work and Bread”, which directly appealed to the workers for those were the two things most important for them (Closmann, Powerpoint #3). Additionally, Hitler played a major role in making sure the workers did not join the rival party’s like the Communist party by explaining to the people that Germany needs to be united in one ideology for it to become a powerful nation again (Hitler’s Letter to Reichenau, germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/docpage.cfm?docpage_id=2439). Hitler spread this ideology more so as Heinrich Himmler, the commander of the SS made law that “the SS is a band of German men of strictly Nordic descent chosen according to certain principles.” (SS Order, germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1505). This ideology of removing foreigners from Germany like the Jews appealed to the upper class of Germans who felt their businesses were not succeeding because of Jews. Overall, Hitler used propaganda brilliantly to capture the various kinds of people in Germany ranging from the working class to the upper class. By managing to capture the heart of the nation it would not take long for them to vote for the Nazi’s in elections, thus leading them to have most of
This gave the country an opportunity to join the Britain and the United States in a democratic government system. However, multiple new parties had begun to grow during Germany’s politically vulnerable period, such as the communists, socialists, and Bavarian separatists. This also included the National Socialist German Worker’s Party. The party, more commonly known by its abbreviation, Nazi, and its previous name, German Workers’ Party, was a major core/element in the upbringing of the Third Reich. The party had spawned in about 1918, a year before Adolf had become a member, by a man named Anton Drexler. It was founded upon the idea of a nationalist party, that would appeal to middle and high class citizens, known as working classes, for major financial and general support. Any obvious motives of the party were sparse. Most notably, however, they hoped to rid of Jewish participation in their nation, and to enforce progressive reforms in health and education. According to some, it was “based more on the use of force to get its way than on any clear-cut original ideas”. All were considered to be against communism, socialism, democracy, and