Germany - topic 3 - Rise of Hitler and the Nazis

The Early Nazi Party

1919

- Anton Drexler was the leader

- Believed democracy was weak

- Jews were to blame for making Germany weak

- Communists and socialists brought about the fall of the kaiser

- TofV was a betrayal of Germany

- Hitler joined in 1919, became head of propaganda in 1920

- Hitler and Drexler wrote the 25 point programme of Nazi beliefs

- Hitler became party leader in 1921

Hitler's role 1920

- He was a talented speaker

- Appealed to the critics of the Weimar Republic

- Controlled the NSDAP like a military leader

- Introduced the emblem of the swastika

- Used to party newspaper (Volkischer Beobachter) to spread propaganda

- Surrounded himself with loyal individuals like Rohm, Goering, and Hess

- Developed friendships with powerful Germans like General Ludendorff

The SA

- Many ex-soldiers were attracted to Hitler's ideas

- In 1921 Hitler set up the SA (Sturmabteilung)

- They were provided with uniforms, meals, and accommodation

- Their role was to disrupt the meetings of opposing political parties, and control crowds at Nazi meetings

- Often violent

- They would parade through the streets to show Hitler's strength

Intro to The Munich Putsch

1923

- Hitler led to Munich Putsch in attempt to overthrow the Weimer Republic

- Took place during an era of weakness in the gov

- Hitler had 20,000 supporters and the SA so he thought he could take over

People involved in the Munich Putsch

1923

Otto von Lossow - Head of the German army in Bavaria, fled during the putsch to join the opposition against Hitler

Gustav von Kahr - Bavarian prime minister, supported Hitler's aims

Erich Ludendorff - With Hitler, sought Kahr's support in the Putsch. Led the putsch along side Hitler and was arrested

Events of the Munich Putsch

1923

Nov 8th, right wing meeting held in beer hall:

- Hitler and his SA supporters stormed the bavarian beer hall

- Hitler forced Har and Lossow to support his plan to march on Berlin and install Ludendorff as Germany's new leader

- Members of the SA used violence against the Bavarian state gov

- Lossow and Kahr swore loyalty to the putsch

Nov 9th:

- Ebert declared a state of emergency and Lossow was told to crush the uprising

- Lossow and Kahr announced opposition to putsch

- Ludendorff believed soldiers would support him and persuaded Hitter to continue

- 2000 Nazis and their supporters marched into Munich

- Armed police and soldiers confronted the Nazis

- 14 Nazis killed

11th Nov

- Hitler and Ludendorff arrested

Results of the Munich Putsch

1924

- Hitler, Ludendorff, Rohm and other Nazi leaders were put on trial

- Hitler used this as an opportunity and made speeches attacking the Weimar gov

- News spread and his popularity grew

- Hitler was sentenced to 5 years in jail

- But, he only ended up serving 9 months

- Nazi party was banned

- Yet, the putsch wasn't a complete failure:

- It showed there was still powerful forces in Germany who wanted the Weimar republic destroyed

- During his imprisonment, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf

Key Ideas of Mein Kampf (Hitler's views)

- The German race is superior and will rule the world

- Jews want to weaken the Aryan race

- The TofV needs to be undone

- Lebensraum (living space) is needed so the Aryan population can expand

- Communism needs to end

- Democracy is week

Reorganisation of the Nazi party

1924-28

- Hitler relaunched the party in 1925

- He created national headquarters in Munich

- in 1926, the first Nazi rally was held

- Hitler encouraged you people to join the SA and set up Hitler Youth

- Hitler established a new private guard - SS

- Goebbels was in charge of propaganda

- Nazis established various organisations like the Nazi Women's League

- They wanted the support of farmers

Limited support for the Nazis

- By 1929 the party was well organised and had a membership of over 100.000

- Yet, they struggled getting seats in the Reichstag: in 1924 they gained 32 seats but in 1928 they only gained 12

- This was due to high support of Stresemann

- Hindenburg gained popularity too so Germans were happy with the gov

The Great Depression

1929

- Stresemann dies

- Wallstreet crash in the USA leads to world-wide economic crisis

- USA recalled loans to Germany, but Germany didn't have the money to repay, leading to a financial crisis in Germany

- Unemployment increased rapidly, and the gov needed more money to pay unemployment benefits to they raised taxes

Effects of the Great Depression on German People

- Unemployment increases rapidly

- The gov decided to cut unemployment benefits which declined the demand on manufactured products

Young people - in 1933, more than 50% of people aged 16-30 were unemployed.

Factory workers - 4/10 couldn't get a job, and also suffered from the cut of unemployment benefits.

Farmers - since the mid 1920s prices of good were falling so many were in debt. Nazis took advantage of these economic problems.

Businessmen - those who managed to keep their businesses open struggled because people had less money to spend

Effects of the Great Depression on the Weimer Republic

- The SDP and Centre party fell out

- Bruning (centre party leader) wanted to make further cuts to welfare benefits but Muller (SDP leader) refused to accept this

- Muller resigned and Bruning became chancellor in 1930

- From 1930, Hindenburg activated Article 48 and took full control; Germany was no longer a democracy

- This increased suffering from the German people, so they turned to more extremist parties for solutions

- Nazis gave the people scapegoats i.e. the Jews, communists etc...

- In the 1930 elections the Nazis gained 107 seats in the Reichstag

The Appeal of the Nazi party

- In election campaigns 1930-32 Hitler was presented as the strong powerful leader Germany needed

- He was made to look almost superhuman

- These messages were popular among those who wanted to see Germany strong again

- powerful businesses were willing to provide financial support

The role of the SA

1930

- The SA had 400.000 members

- Their presence made Nazis look strong

- They disrupted meetings of opposing political parties

- During the elections in 1930-32, they used violence to threaten people

Nazi election propaganda

- Trained local groups in propaganda skills

- The Nazis wanted to use new tech so Hitler was flown around Germany to make speeches

- Parades and marches were organised

- The Nazis owned 8 different newspapers

- Posters were designed to target different groups in Germany

1932 Elections

- Nazis were the biggest party with 230 seats in the Reichstag

- Hitler gained 13million votes in the presidential election but was beaten by Hindenburg

- Bruning tried to use presidential decree to ban the SA and SS

- But, army general von Schleicher removed him and replaced him with a coalition

- von Schleicher tried to persuade Hindenburg to sack Bruning as Chancellor

Hitler becomes Chancellor

1933

- Many wanted Hitler as chancellor but Hindenburg refused

- von Schliecher was made chancellor instead

- von Schliecher asked Hindenburg to suspend the constitution this made him lose the support of the Reichstag

- Von Papen wanted power and thought he could control Hitler, so he persuaded Hindenburg to make him vice chancellor and Hitler chancellor

Hitler became chancellor on 30th Jan 1933