The Wall Street Crash and the Recession in Germany Were the Salvation of the Nazi Party

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The Wall Street Crash and the Recession in Germany Were the Salvation of the Nazi Party

Around the time of the Munich putsch the nazi party was extremely

disorganised, basically a group of racist thugs who believed they

could overthrow the democratic Weimar republic using violence. The

nazi party however, had already built up a significant following, from

all social classes due to the ‘betrayal’ of the people by the signing

of the treaty of Versailles by the Weimar republic. People also turned

to the nazi party because of hyperinflation that occurred due to the

huge reparation payments demanded by the allies as a result of Germany

losing World War One.

Hitler was imprisoned because of his involvement in the Munich putsch,

and it seemed the Nazis were doomed, by the time of his release nazi

votes had fallen by fifty percent. The German economy had managed to

pull itself from disaster because of the work of Streseman and the set

up of the Dawes plan which consisting of America investing millions in

Germany, which enabled them to restore much industry, which meant

employment levels increased, the people were happy as standards of

living rose, the economy was healthy and Germany was able to pay

reparations.

However it turned out that the time Hitler had spent in jail, gave him

time to gather his thoughts and put everything into perspective, he

realised violence would not work against democracy, and so he set

about reforming and organising the party. This included Hitler himself

appointing all party officials, the party been organised in 34 gaue,

each section run by a gauleiter, the creation of the SS, a more elite

form of the SA.

The Nazis now had to gain support from all sections of society if they

were to achieve Hitler’s new goal of defeating democracy with

democracy. The Nazis did this by creating associated organisations for

different groups within society, for example the Hitler Youth was set

up to attract the younger generations, and separate organisations

existed for students, farmers etc.

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