The Nazi Seizure of Power by William Sheridan Allen

920 Words2 Pages

In The Nazi Seizure of Power by William Sheridan Allen, the author is able to show the reader the support building strategy used by the Nazi party in Northeim and surrounding areas. Allen's thesis is that Nazi party was able to succeed the village of Northeim and else where because they were able to reach out the lower and middle class. Since these classes held the majority of the population, the Nazi party discovered what they wanted from government officials and then used that to persuade these classes to vote for them. To give you a background of the village of Northeim is vital to the understanding of how this party could have come in and take over the political scene so quickly.

Northeim was a small town that was placed in the valley of the Leine River. The concept that you could stand at one end of town and see the other side of town gave the citizens a sense of protection and security. It was a semi-medieval town with actual walls still surrounding the inner core of the city. The dominate religion in the city was Lutheran but the Catholics would begin to emerge in the late 1800s. The city was made up of people from mostly the working class. Because of the emergence of more technical academies and college preparatory schools there was the arrival of teachers, artisans, more government officials, and railroad personnel.

The class structure is built around four different categories of citizens. The lower class, which is made up of the unskilled and semiskilled workers, made up for one-third of the population. The lower middle class, who were the skilled workers, white-collar workers, farmers, and pensioners, made up another third of the Northeim population. The upper middle class that included the craft masters, civil servants, and businessmen made up a little over a fourth of the population. Finally the upper class, which was made up of businessmen, self-employed, and professionals made up barely four percent of the population. Though there was not much difference in the sizes of three of the classes, there were still large differences in the incomes of these classes. From the class breakdown you could see how the Nazi party could be so successful. With the classes set you then begin to see the emergence of the political parties.

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Hitler's Secret By William Osborne

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Reich was a dominant regime under the control of the infamous Hitler. Its rampant delinquencies of subjugating an entire race took nearly the entire world to impede. Hitler’s Secret is a novel by William Osborne that derives its setting from the World War II era in Bavaria. It encompasses two teenagers assigned to kidnap a girl who has proven influential to the Nazis. The teenage agents, Leni and Otto, confront numerous obstacles in their efforts to securely transfer the girl to Britain’s possession. Hitler’s Secret is an A grade book because it utilizes authentic historical content, ensures a balance of suspense and relief, and contains emotional characters.

    Read More

  • The Changing Political fortunes of the Nazi Party

    1529 Words  | 4 Pages

    The main political changes that the Nazi Party or the NSDAP endured during the period of November, 1923 until January 1933 was its rise from a small extreme right party to a major political force. It is vitally important that the reasons behind this rise to power also be examined, to explain why the NSDAP was able to rise to the top. However first a perspective on the Nazi party itself is necessary to account for the changing political fortunes of the Nazi Party.

    Read More

  • Who Voted For the Nazis?

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    2. Read the extracts below, which are taken from a variety of historians' views. What are their answers? To what extent do they agree? The answers, which are given by these extracts, tend to be along the same line. All of them seem to agree that the Nazis were very successful in protestant rural and middle class Germany. They also agree that it was big businesses, the young and the well off that were most likely to be in favour of the NSDAP.

    Read More

  • Harrison Bergeon Vs. 1984

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    thought. The middle working class, or the “regular'; party, did all the work that the inner party wanted to be done, in order to keep the population, including themselves, in control of everyone. The third, and lowest, class is the proles. The party does not even watch or

    Read More

  • Life and Death in the Third Reich, by Peter Fritzsche

    1140 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the Holocaust, around six million Jews were murdered due to Hitler’s plan to rid Germany of “heterogeneous people” in Germany, as stated in the novel, Life and Death in the Third Reich by Peter Fritzsche. Shortly following a period of suffering, Hitler began leading Germany in 1930 to start the period of his rule, the Third Reich. Over time, his power and support from the country increased until he had full control over his people. Starting from saying “Heil Hitler!” the people of the German empire were cleverly forced into following Hitler through terror and threat. He had a group of leaders, the SS, who were Nazis that willingly took any task given, including the mass murder of millions of Jews due to his belief that they were enemies to Germany. German citizens were talked into participating or believing in the most extreme of things, like violent pogroms, deportations, attacks, and executions. Through the novel’s perspicacity of the Third Reich, readers can see how Hitler’s reign was a controversial time period summed up by courage, extremity, and most important of all, loyalty.

    Read More

  • Different Perspectives of The Jewish Holocaust

    1631 Words  | 4 Pages

    The National Socialist German Workers' Party, commonly known as the Nazi party, originated during the 1920s. Formerly, the Nazi Party’s main purpose was to abolish communism. However, ...

    Read More

  • The Rise and Subsequent Fall of the Third Reich

    4619 Words  | 10 Pages

    Living in the crumbled remains of Germany, or the Weimar Republic, in the 1920’s was a dismal existence. Hyperinflation was rampant and the national debt skyrocketed as a result of the punishing features of the Treaty of Versailles. During the depression, however, a mysterious Austrian emerged from the depths of the German penal system and gave the desperate German people a glimpse of hope in very dark times. He called for a return to “Fatherland” principles where greater Germany was seen as the center of their universe with zealous pride. Under Hitler’s leadership, Nazi Germany rapidly grew and expanded, continually approaching the goal of world domination and the “Thousand-Year Reich” that Hitler promised the German people. Only a few years later, Nazi Wehrmacht soldiers could be seen marching the streets from Paris to Leningrad (St. Petersburg, Russia). The German Empire, however, like all other expansive empires, had its limits and integral components such as resources, manpower, and industrial capacity began to fall in short supply further crippling the Nazi war machine. Basically, by 1944, “Nazi Germany’s fundamental problem was that she has conquered more territory than she could defend” (Ambrose, 27). Hitler conquered a vast area and vowed to defend every single inch of his empire with every last drop of blood at his disposal. As Frederick the Great warned, “He who defends everything, defends nothing” (Ambrose, 33). It is interesting to study any empire’s rise and fall because similarities are always present, even with some nations today promising to fight the evil, when it reality, it might be becoming what it vows to fight.

    Read More

  • Resistance to the Nazis: The White Rose

    1458 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Nazi Party, controlled by Adolf Hitler, ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945. In 1933, Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany and the Nazi government began to take over. Hitler became a very influential speaker and attracted new members to his party by blaming Jews for Germany’s problems and developed a concept of a “master race.” The Nazis believed that Germans were “racially superior” and that the Jewish people were a threat to the German racial community and also targeted other groups because of their “perceived racial inferiority” such as Gypsies, disabled persons, Polish people and Russians as well as many others. In 1938, Jewish people were banned from public places in Germany and many were sent to concentration camps where they were either murdered or forced to work. Many individuals and groups attempted to resist Nazism in Germany, but were unsuccessful. The White Rose, The Red Orchestra and the Kreisau Circle all advocated non-violent resistance to oppose the Nazi regime and even with the high risk of getting caught and potentially killed, the courageous members of these groups went after what they believed was right despite the serious consequences.

    Read More

  • The Success of the Nazi Party

    646 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Success of the Nazi Party I disagree with this statement, as I believe that there were many other factors that helped the Nazi party. In the background the hatred of the treaty of Versailles, desire to return to a Kaiser figure and the weakness of the Weimar government definitely helped the Nazis gain support from the German people. After the Wall Street crash when Hitler started using article 48 more was when He really started to gain power. The hatred of the treaty of Versailles was very important.

    Read More

  • Hitler and His Power

    411 Words  | 1 Pages

    Support for the Nazi party was due to the growing belief that it was a

    Read More

  • The Rise of Nazism During World War Two

    1964 Words  | 4 Pages

    To this day it remains incomprehensible to justify a sensible account for the uprising of the Nazi Movement. It goes without saying that the unexpectedness of a mass genocide carried out for that long must have advanced through brilliant tactics implemented by a strategic leader, with a promising policy. Adolf Hitler, a soldier in the First World War himself represents the intolerant dictator of the Nazi movement, and gains his triumph by arousing Germany from its devastated state following the negative ramifications of the war. Germany, “foolishly gambled away” by communists and Jews according to Hitler in his chronicle Mein Kampf, praises the Nazi Party due to its pact to provide order, racial purity, education, economic stability, and further benefits for the state (Hitler, 2.6). Albert Speer, who worked closely under Hitler reveals in his memoir Inside the Third Reich that the Führer “was tempestuously hailed by his numerous followers,” highlighting the appreciation from the German population in response to his project of rejuvenating their state (Speer, 15). The effectiveness of Hitler’s propaganda clearly served its purpose in distracting the public from suspecting the genuine intentions behind his plan, supported by Albert Camus’ insight in The Plague that the “townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves; in other words, they were humanists: they disbelieved in pestilences”(Camus, 37). In this sense “humanists” represent those who perceive all people with virtue and pureness, but the anti-humanist expression in the metaphor shows the blind-sidedness of such German citizens in identifying cruel things in the world, or Hitler. When the corruption within Nazism does receive notice, Hitler at that point given h...

    Read More

  • The German Community during the Hitler Reign

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the time leading up to and during Hitler’s reign in Germany, German citizens felt the impacts of the political as well as the economic situation of the country. These conditions in Germany led to the building of the Nazi party and to the Holocaust. The new government headed by Adolf Hitler changed the life of all Germans whether they joined the Nazi party themselves or opposed the ideas of Hitler or aided Jews to fight the persecution they suffered under this government.

    Read More

  • Power Of Adolf Hitler: The Rise To Power

    1547 Words  | 4 Pages

    “We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers’ salaries and take away their right to strike.” Sounds familiar? This quote was said by someone who was a major impact in the 20th century; this is Adolf Hitler the god of Nazi. Adolf Hitler was one of the most unyielding and destructive rulers in all history. In my opinion I think this person is one of the most important or that impacted the 20th century because before and after there was a chaos. Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. He initiated the “Holocaust” and the “World War II” and oversaw fascist policies that resulted in millions of deaths. Hitler serves as a

    Read More

  • The Totalitarian Aspects of Nazi Germany

    948 Words  | 2 Pages

    create a German Air force and in March 1935 he said that he was going

    Read More

  • Causes and Effects of the French Revolution

    2273 Words  | 5 Pages

    At this time in French history, the social classes played an important role in the lives of the people. The social structure of France was divided among three groups: the First Estate, the Second Estate, and the Third Estate.

    Read More

More about The Nazi Seizure of Power by William Sheridan Allen

Open Document