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Mitchell Venator
Professor Thomas
15 March 2015
UWRT 1102-064
Hitler

The Rise and Fall of the third Reich, is a massive work by William Shirer that deals in
great detail with Hitlers Germany. For this paper I have used it to learn how Adolph Hitler was
able to gain popularity in Germany.
Shirer shows how Hitler and the Nazis were a relatively insignificant party until the
world wide depression hit Germany at the end of the 1920s. One line struck me as very
instructive, Like most revolutionaries he could thrive only in evil times, at first when the masses
were unemployed, hungry and desperate, and later when they were intoxicated by war. Yet in
one respect he was unique among historys revolutionaries: He intended to make his revolution
after achieving political power. Hitler was determined to come to power by constitutional
means to give himself legitimacy in the eyes of the public and the international community. The
economic crisis of the late 20s and early 30s gave him his chance. In the Reichstag
(Parliament) elections of 1930 Hitler promised a desperate German population that he would
make Germany strong again by refusing to pay reparations from WW I, stamp out corruption,
make the rich pay their fair share, and ensure that every German who wanted one would get a
job. That election took the Nazi Party from the 9th smallest party in the Reichstag to the 2nd
largest.
With a legitimate seat in the German government and control of the 2nd largest political
party Hitler was able to implement a massive works program building roads, bridges, dams,

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canals etc This put German people back to work. He was also staunchly proud of Germany
and gave the German people a sense of pride in themselves. He was able to secure the 1936
Olympics for Berlin, something that made the average German was very proud... He encouraged
strong family and social values, of course these applied to True Germans only. But in the
beginning the average German did not know that. He improved working conditions for the
average German, and crime decreased under Hitlers rule.
Of course we know all the terrible things Hitler did, but before 1930-41 the average German
didnt. Its easy for us to say they should have known, but we have to remember
communications were not what they are now. Also Germany, like the rest of the world was
coming out of a devastating depression, Hitler promised jobs, and they got jobs. He promised a
stronger and prouder Germany, and the people saw a stronger and prouder Germany. By the time
the general German public understood Hitlers evil, he had become so powerful nothing could be
done.