rise of nazis 1920s-30s

• july 1921 = hitler replaced drexler as leader of nazi party
• august 1921 = hitler founded the SA (brown shirts)

  • generally right-wing ex-soldiers
  • unemployed & disliked ToV for removing jobs = therefore joined extremist groups & parties
• main aims of nazis;

  • union of all german-speaking peoples under one reich / greater germany
  • create lebensraum (living space)
  • destruction of ToV
  • destroy communism / weimar
  • formation of strong central government
• munich putsch occured in november 1923 & aimed to overthrow the weimar government and replace it with a nazi govt

  • it occurred following the calling off of passive resistance & the fact that reparations were resumed = many saw this as giving into the french & viewed weimar as weak, humiliating germany
• why did hitler believe the putsch would be successful?

  • weimar govt was unpopular = passive resistance; hyperinflation at its height; reparations; looked to be tolerating left-wing governments in saxony & thuringia
  • hitler believed his collaborator, general ludendorff would use influence to persuade army to join putsch
  • hitler was sure the leading members of bavarian state govt would be persuaded to join him as they disliked weimar & were right-wing
• 8 november 1923?

  hitler & 600 SA forced way into meeting between bavarian prime minister, gustav kahr, and approx 3000 local businessmen in beer hall

  • kahr persuaded at gunpoint to announce support of revolution
  • hitler let kahr go & next day kahr went back on promise to support hitler
• 9 november 1923?

  hitler staged a march through munich streets in order to gain public support

  • armed police brought march to an end; 16 nazis killed & hitler dislocated soldier
  • hitler & ludendorff arrested
• munich putsch failure?

  army remained loyal to weimar govt = as weimar had taken action to depose left-wing state govts present

  • this won support of army, which was majority anti-communist & right-wing
  • also helped determine the loyalty of leading bavarian politicians
  • nazi party was also small = 3000 members approx
• the munich putsch failed in the short term however it gave hitler & the nazis publicity

  • hitler's trial given national coverage & he spoke with strong national feeling, portraying weimar as traitors
  • judge was sympathetic to right-wing & influenced by hitler = he was sentenced to 5 years however only served 9 months
• following the putsch, hitler decided the nazis had to achieve power by constitutional & legal means

  • working through democratic process, building up power base in reichstag to destroy democracy from within
  • therefore the nazi party had to be organised & developed in order to appeal to all & build up support
• in 1928 = nazis had 12 seats in the reichstag
• the workers were predominantly doing well under weimar in 1924-29, and therefore while nazi anti-semitic policies had support, they failed to win over the workers
• mein kampf was written by hitler whilst he was in prison

  • he set out his aims & plans on nazi policies for germany
  • anti semitism; anti-communism; intention to build up germany & destroy ToV; strong leadership & fuhrer; social darwinism & idea of the aryan race
• how did hitler reorganise the nazi party 1924-29?

  • strengthen SA
  • propaganda
  • gaining support from german people
  • public meetings
• strengthen SA?

  1925 = SA were enlarged & run by ernst rohm

  • about 55% of SA came from ranks of unemployed, many were ex-servicemen from war
  • hitler established SS = essentially personal bodyguard; similar to SA but were fanatically loyal to hitler personally
  • membership of party rose to over 100,000 by 1928
• propaganda?

  hitler appointed josef goebbels as head of nazi propaganda

  • he & hitler believed the best way to appeal to the masses was to appeal to emotion rather than logical reasoning
  • goebbels produced posters, leaflets, films & radio broadcasts; organised rallies; set up 'photo opportunities'
• support from working class?

  nazis worked running public meetings & attempting to win support of working classes throughout late 1920s

  • discovered anti-semitic message had most support & increased this = as hitler was providing scapegoats & nationalist passions for german issues
  • however most workers supported left-wing or communist parties = ultimately failed to win over workers as were doing well under weimar
• support from middle class?

  1928 = nazis realised they were getting nowhere amongst working class appeals

  • nazis gained most new members from peasant farmers & middle classes = focused message on that area of society
  • anti-communist message emphasised to assure economic stability to the middle classes
  • reassured all businesses & homes would be safe and income stable
• support from farmers?


  nazis highlighted importance of farmers as future of nazi germany & as 'racially pure' germans in order to win support

  • there was a strong opposition to weimar culture within these groups as was viewed to be immoral = nazis supported this view & advertised policies as return to traditional german life
  • propaganda contrasted supposedly clean, pure, simple lives of peasant farmers with dirty, immoral living of weimar cities
• however despite nazi reorganisation in 1920s, their aims were mostly irrelevant to the german masses = there was no need for extremist alternatives as weimar was in a period of relative stability

  • in 1928 still only had 12 seats = remained a fringe minority party with only less than 3% of population support
• nazis often used public meetings to advertise aims & policies

  • they were prepared to adjust their policies to what proved most popular amongst masses
• three points that explain hitler's rise:

  • nazi strengths
  • weimar weaknesses
  • great depression
• 1929 = wall street crash & great depression

  • german businesses & banks collapse, can no longer pay reparations
  • millions of germans lost jobs = germany no longer afford pensions, unemployment benefit etc
• the great depression created the political environment needed for nazi ideas to become relevant amongst germans

  • also allowed them to use tactics such as weimar criticism to their advantage
  • if had not occured = nazi ideas would not have become as suddenly popular & weimar would arguably have remained stable
• rise in unemployment caused weimar to raise taxes, cut wages & reduce unemployment benefit whilst unemployment was high

  • caused huge problems & outrage for all people
  • therefore weimar lost a great deal of support = especially from working & middle classes as wages fallen by 40% from 1929
  • this caused further disillusionment with democracy & turning towards extremist alternatives
• rise in unemployment & high taxes following depression caused german people to lose faith in democracy & turn towards extremist groups for alternative solutions

  • many germans became homeless & weimar did little to help them
  • by 1932 = 6M germans were unemployed & blamed weimar for failing to tackle this effectively
• weimar weaknesses?

  unpopular economic policies = weimar were uncertain; decided to introduce new policies such as raised taxes, cutting wages & reducing benefits to save money, making them unpopular

  • presidential rule = govt collapsed as could not agree; bruning was appointed & began to pass laws individually by article 48 in order to survive
  • however this completely undermined democracy & weakened power of reichstag = made govt look as if it was a failing power
• hitler was portrayed as a strong leader who was able to solve the problems of germany

  • this contrasted to a weak weimar = presented a strong central government with hitler as the solution, hitler as ultimate leader of germany
  • he was also highly charismatic & appealed to the german people
• working classes began to support communism following the depression = this frightened the upper classes, farmers & middle classes as feared losing money & land

  • rich businessmen therefore began to financially support the nazis due to fear of communist revolution = paid for propaganda, rallies etc
  • nazis hated communism & promised to destroy the party
• the SA were employed to increase political violence against communism & assure those that feared communism that they were able to crush it
• all extremist parties claimed they could solve germany's political problems = their aims had not changed, however they now had a willing audience to listen due to the need for extremist alternatives
• as extremism increased = so did political violence
• propaganda following depression?

  all social groups told what they want to hear

  • powerful propaganda = rallies, parades, mass meetings, marches, new technology etc
  • provided scapegoats for german issues
  • portrayed themselves as strong, decisive leaders in contrast to weimar who were weak & ineffective
  • propaganda campaign was hugely effective in winning people over = targeted different social groups with different slogans & policies to win support
• three main themes of propaganda:

  • fuhrer cult = hitler portrayed as germany's saviour
  • volksgemeinschaft (people's community) = idea that nazis create one german community to unite all german people
  • scapegoating the jews = portrayed as sub-human, a threat to racial purity & economic stability of germany
• SA contributed to rising nazi popularity:

  • intimidating political opponents = turned up at meetings & attacking
  • providing opportunities for young, unemployed men to join the party = helped nazis in promise to tackle unemployment
  • protecting hitler & other key nazis
• however the nazi vote fell in 1932 = due to rise in SA violence & thuggery

  • fell in november 1932 to 230 reichstag seats (33%)
• the opposition to the nazis was weak = underestimated nazis hugely & quarrelled amongst themselves instead of taking action
• nazi ideas appealed to:

  • wealthy businessmen = fear of communism drove them to financially support nazis
  • middle class = alarmed by failure in democracy, driven towards extremist alternatives & decided germany needed a strong govt; also affected by unemployment
  • nationalists = blamed legacy of ToV & reparations for causing depression and so supported nazis
  • rural areas = strong amongst middle class shopkeepers, artisans, farmers & agricultural labourers
• nazi messages were overly simplistic to appeal to all people, including the lesser educated
• rising nazi support:

  • 1930 = 107 seats
  • july 1932 = 230 seats
  • november = 196 seats