Hitler

Hitlers Rise to Power

Background of Interwar Years Problems of Weimar Govt (1918-23) Ineffective constitution Versailles Treaty Ruhr Hyperinflation

Stresemann (1924-28) New currency FR out of Ruhr Locarno Treaty of Berlin League of Nations

Crash and Great Depression (1929-33) Unemployment Dependent on US loans No genuine support for govt Extreme poverty Agriculture struggling

Hitler The Nazi Party (after 1924) 3 main tactics in Mein Kampf o Violent tactics would have to be abandoned to win electoral support o Strict organization and larger membership o Fuhrers dominates completely makes Nazi seem united Flexible promises to voters o Adapt Nazi Party to win voters o Would change 25 points to appeal to voters o Becomes more extremist later Offers better jobs Offers more $$ Help middle class (in particular) Idea: make GE great again Believed in national community 25 points kept very vague Propaganda: o All leaders highly trained in propaganda o Goebbels (in charge) o SA enforces it o Modern technology used movies, news Target certain people in community o Mayor o Teacher o Priest Got them to be Nazi (influential people) Had massive rallies Tried to gain support of big business Mein Kampf best seller

Hitler Breakdown of Nazi Voters Young people supported Nazis o Brainwashed since young Voted for them as they were anti-Marxist/anti-communist o Hated left-winged At the beginning, men gave more support but eventually, gained many women voters More rural areas voted for them More in north More protestants More middle class

May 1924 32 seats in Reichstag elections 1928 12 seats (H becoming extremist) Remember o SA protect Party o SS protect Hitler

Stock Market Crash led to unemployment

July 1932 o Nazis did best ever o One of largest party (37%) o Not majority o Hitler then expected to have all power President of WR (Hindenburg) was supposed to give Hitler the title of Chancellor but he hates Hitler Put him in charge of the post office. Thats the best job hell ever have. Puts Franz von Papen as Chancellor & Hitler as Vice-chancellor Nov 1932 o Papens govt falls, lack of support o Re-elections and got 33% of seats (largest party in parliament) o Caused low morale in Nazi Party o The future looks dark and gloomy Goebbel Schleicher made new Chancellor Papen + Hitler angry! Jan 1933 o Schleichers govt falls o Nazis got 44% of seats o Hitler convinced Papen to get Hitler to become Chancellor 3

Hitler Papen would be vice-chancellor But Hitler would be like a puppet of Papen Hindenburg reluctantly agrees H underestimated

Adolf Hitler Commitment Tremendous energy Remarkable willpower Single-minded fanatic Great orator Hypnotic effect on audience Gift for exploiting anxiety Powerful, dominating personaly

Basic Ideas SA Own private army Former members of freikorps Anti-semitism Social Darwinism Anti-communism Pan-Germanism Anti-democracy

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Summary of Hitlers Rise to Power

Long term bitterness o deep anger about WW1 and TOV o lost most territory o had to pay reparations o blame Jews for losing the war Ineffective Constitution o Weakness in the constitution crippled the govt o Many people wanted to return to dictatopship o Too many small parties in GE Money o Financial support of wealthy businessmen gave Hitler the money to run his propaganda and election campaigns The Great Depression o GE economy crashed after world war reparations o Many unemployed in GE o Factories and stores closed o People starved on streets o In the crisis, people wanted someone to blame and looked to extreme solutions Hitler offered these Germans turned to Nazism out of desperation Number of Nazi seats rose from 12 to 230 by 1932 Hitler as a Speaker o Great orator o Eyes had peculiar power over people o He believed God had called upon him to be the dictator of Germany and the world o This persuaded him to go on and his self belief caused others to believe in him too Reichstag Fire o New elections in march 1933, Hitler determined for Nazis winning o Most historians believe Hitler might have arranged for the fire o Gained authority since he was given permission to kill all communist o H ensured that he killed all influential communists to reduce competition Propaganda o Use modern technology o Most Germans had radios o Speeches done on loud speakers o Movies about Nazism o Books from past idea burnt and replaced with Nazi books o Mein Kampf best seller 5

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3 phases of Hitlers Rise to Power

Phase 1: Problems (1919-23) o Disappointed troops joined right-winged o Left-winged Soviet-style revolution in Munich Crushed by Freikorps Most leaders were jews o Hitler and Nazis tried to take power in Munich WR lowest point, 1923 Ruhr/Inflation But failed Phase 2: Prosperity/Golden Years (1924-1928) o During these golden years, the Nazis built their strength o Borrowed $$ from America o One of Hs key ideas were natural selection but still unpopular Phase 3: Collapse (1929-33) o Depression 5 major GE banks crashed in 1931 o Voters rushed to the extremes after bank collapse Rees o Hitler used modern propaganda Visited 20 cities in 29 days Helped in to power o Businessmen wrote to Hinderburg supporting the appointment of H as chancellor o Middle class feared communism more than Nazism

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Consolidation of Power
January 1933 Hitler becomes Chancellor Still has possibility to be fired by Hindenburg or the government falling Nazi didnt have 2/3 of constitution H stays under radar Consolidate power for about 2 years

How did Hitler consolidate power and become Fuhrer? Reichstag Fire o Feb 1933 o Mysteriously govt building burnt down o Communists blamed o H uses this as an excuse to be against Communist Huge communist conspiracy Goes to houses of other communists to find evidence of involvement 4000 Communist arrested Communist started losing seats Thus, strengthened Nazis position in Reichstag Decree for Protection of People and state o Suspend all GE liberties of citizens o GE in chaos think Communist trying to overthrow govt o Led to destruction of communist party General Elections o Tried to get 2/3 of majority o 44% of votes they got o Sent SA and SS to parliament meeting and 81 communist arrested Continued making coalitions with centre and right-winged parties Finally got 2/3 of party majority! Enabling Act o March 1933 o Chancellor (Hitler) given power to make laws without president or Reichstag approval Ruled by decree o WR voted to destroy itself = stops existing o Reichstag rarely met Thus, got rid of Parliament Gestapo o Secret police 7

Hitler o o GE became a police state They spied on people, ensuring citizens followed rules strictly Thus, no personal freedom Nazi breathing on their backs all the time

Bans o

Trade union Replaced by GE labour front Controlled workers o Other political parties Only Nazi Party existed Bureaucracy o Got Nazis in charge o State parliaments dissolved Thus, had control of everything EXCEPT Army personally loyal to president Church SA o 1934 growing bigger & getting harder to control o More violent & chaotic o Leader = Ernst Rohm Wanted to merge with army Would break TOV Rohm = threat Night of the Long Knives o Rohm and SA leaders arrested and killed o Sent for a meeting in countryside o Hitler arrives with SS, protecting him o All leaders shot Hitler took full responsibility for death Said SA was going to overthrow govt He said he saved them Made him incredibly popular o Excellent propaganda for H and SS Death of Hindenburg o Merges Chancellor + President = Fuhrer o Army swore loyalty to him o From plebiscites, 90% were okay with it

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Social Policies
Propaganda o Goebbels (in charge_ o All artists had to enrol to become one under REICH CHAMBER OF CULTURE Under this, they Had to be checked on Had to Nazis Were controlled

Types of Propaganda

Radio
o o o o o Everyone unified under radio system Everyone could afford it 70% had radios Loudspeakers in town Reached 56/70 million of GE (very effective) Everything had to be approved before publishing All newspapers were owned by Nazis Had to accept papers Controlled for content before shown Had subtle political messages 10-15minutes before movie, there would be a documentary of Nazi Party Not allowed to be late Goebbels approved 1000 movies during his time H had an official photographer All photos were carefully staged Hs photos were produced everywhere! Mass rallies would transform a person from a little worm into a dragon G Encouraged extremism Rallies were equivalent to pop concerts nowadays Replaced all denigrated art with proper Aryan Nazi art Supposed to be clear and direct Emphasised on superiority of Aryan race, glory of war and wise leader, H 9

Press
o o o

Film
o o o o

Photographs
o o o

Mass rallies
o o o

Art
o

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Architecture
o o o words in stone Hitler Massive building projects made of marble and stone to make it last H hoped the 3rd Reich would last for 1000 years Redesigned Berlin Germania Hoped it would be capital of GE No modern music Traditional folk music Encouraged to burn non-Nazi books Only wanted books on GE nationalism or peasant stories mein kampf = best seller (highways) Unified for transportation and communication Propaganda posters Gave people jobs Good for morale, economy and propaganda Govt coordinated all sports super human race H himself obsessed with health Vegan Didnt drink Showed superiority of Aryan race Most GE Christians Under 1% of Jews Hitler and Churches Phase 1: tries to gain control of churches Groups all churches together = reich church o Didnt work o Churches dont want to be under one H signed CONCORDAT with pope o Promised not to interfere politics and church o Didnt work Phase 2: tries to weaken churches People pressured to go to public schools Pushes non-religious youth groups 10

Music
o o

Literature
o

Autobahns
o o o o o

Sport
o o o

Religions
o o o

Hitler Religion not taught in school Priests arrested Church property destroyed o This was faced with MIX SUCCESS o Some people were still religious Phase 3: creates new religion = GE faith movement Pagan religion Worship the sun Attempts were half-hearted o Nazi leaders influenced how successful this was

Women and family

Women took a conservative traditional role Kinder, Kirche und Kuche = children, church and cooking Hs main interest of women = increase Aryan population o Have as maaany kids as possible o Birth rate fell greatly in 1920s o Needed more people in increase strength Women who had many kids were prized o Gold = 8 kids Women were asked to stay at home o Give jobs to men to solve unemployment problem o Only allowed part-time jobs Women had to marry Aryan men Every time an Aryan is born, govt give $$ Contraception and abortion made illegal If women were married but either one could not have kids, they had to divorce Thus, birth rate increased but many died in WWII

Hitler Youth (HJ)

Aware that younger generation was his fan base Makes sure he indoctrinate them well Creates Hitler Youth Start of WWII, 82% of all teens were part of club o Forced to join o Popular o Prepared them for future roles Ladies = mother Men soldier Some groups avoided HJ o Underground groups = alternatives 11

Hitler o Some got caught for not joining HJ and hung!

Education
All teachers were strictly Nazis No one were to stand out o Loyalty o Obedience o Group mentality Curriculum set by govt

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THE GREAT TERROR

o o Believes in Aryan race. Otherwise, eliminated Believes Darwinism (survival of the fittest) Strong had rights of getting rid of weak Weak = burden on society

i)

Hereditary Defects
E.g. deafness, mental/physical problems, blindness Started off with STERILIZATION (cant have kids) o Compulsory law Moved on to EUTHANASIA (mercy killing) o Felt like they were doing them a favour o Kept secret o Went for treatment and died (made it look like an accident) o Propaganda on how great euthanasia is Back lashed on them o Nazi lost support people lost the ones they love under them o Stopped this campaign Lastly, sent to CONCENTRATION CAMPS

ii)

Asocials
People who did not fit into GE community E.g. o Beggars/homeless o Prostitute/criminals o Homosexual (most targeted) Not contributing to society Rounded up + re-educated+ forced to work o Some could be fixed o Those who could not be changed were sent to concentration camps

iii)

Political Opponents
Eliminated on the spot anti-Nazi and anti-Hitler Some sent to concentration camps

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iv)

Different Races
Jewish, gypsies, blacks, non-Christians o Jewish most targeted o 6 million of them o Hitlers pathological hatred for them due to past greedy & ruin economy Had good positions (took jobs from Aryan) Very few survived

Persecution of Jews
1935 Nuremburg Laws Hitler announces at mass rallies to people about the laws hes made to protect GE people o Law for Protection of GE blood and honour Not to mix other blood Jews and Aryans cannot marty o Reich Citizenship Law Takes away Jews GE citizenship Less protected Immigrants in their own country cant vote, no pension o Law for Protection of genetic health of GE people Had to confirm one was Aryan Certificate to find job, get married

1936-37: Quiet Year Olympics happening in Berlin Economy : BR helps Berlin Foreign relations had to be kept well Toned it down to lessen bad publicity H refused to give medals to other races o People realise hes racist

1938: Serious Persecution begins As a Jew, one had to register and show them all your property to Nazis o Nazis would confiscate them later ID card had big J and had to wear a star o They stood out greatly Jews were soon pushed out of business Excluded from public places schools, cinemas, shops

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Hitler 1938: Kristallnacht (The Night of the Broken Glass) A Jew assassinated a GE diplomat Goebbels seized opportunity to take revenge on Jews o A series of attacks against Jews o Well-coordinated 7500 businesses destroyed, 400 Jewish churches burnt down, 91 killed The rest sent to CC

Most GE Jews got out. 1939-45: Final Solution H feels he can be more radical and violet to Jews as people were more concerned about war H invades Poland at the beginning of war o A lot of Jews there Jews isolated into ghettos o Transported them to CC o Became slave labourers o 6 million Jews died Israel created so that Jews had a place to go

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Political Control
Role of Hitler o Hitler was a dictator tolitarian state o No illusion of democracy o No cabinet o Hitler Suffered from insomnia Slept during day Effective in afternoon Indecisive and insecure o Focused on foreign policy, military/war and building projects Rebuilds Berlin o As a result of his behaviour, hes very detached. o People thought he worked 24/7 So generous Working for free Brave soldier Loved children Thus, people trust him unconditionally Whatever he wanted, happened Role of Top Nazi Leaders o Very effective o Hitler gives them big idea, they made it happened Took ideas from mein kampf and made it a reality Desperate to get closer to H Everybody wanted to be his successor Positions overlapped/changed constantly Led to competition so that they couldnt get to the top, rising above Fuhrer Role of NSDAP Party o Many joined as it was a good job Made sure family protected Everyone wanted to be in party o Feudal system If in Nazi Party, you had a lot of power Old-fashioned Polycratic 16

Hitler A lot of different bodied is govt, overlapping and working together Chaotic Didnt know who had what responsibility No restriction more extremist

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