Who was Hitler?

• Germany’s responsibility admission for the war guilt caused many nationalists and veterans to see it as humiliation

  • believed the war could’ve been won if the army wasn’t betrayed by politicians and protesters
  • views became Hitler’s obsession
• Hitler blamed the Jewish for war loss

  • many Jews had moved into Germany but many Germans still perceieved them as outsiders
  • Jews accused of subversion (undermined the power of the authority) and war profiteering by many Germans which Hitler utilised - born out of fear, anger and bigotry
• 1919 - Hitler joined the German Workers’ Party and used his manipulative public speaking to give him leadership

  • was put in charge of propaganda and political ideas at the start
  • 1920 - announced its 25 point programme and renames as the Nazis
  • 1921 - removed the leader of the party and became the new leader
  • attracted increasingly larger crowds
  • Nazi party was not initially popular
  • 1923 - still a minority party
• Most important points of the 25 point programme

  • abolition of the TOV
  • union of Germany and Ausrtia
  • only true Germans were allowed to live in Germany - Jews in particular were excluded
  • large industries and businesses to be nationalised
  • generous old age pension
  • strong central govt
• Hitler stirred nationalist passions

  • gave them scapegoats to blame for the problems - allies, TOV, ‘November Criminals’, communists and the jews
  • Hitler combined anti-Semitism with populist (relating to the public) resentment
  • Nazis denounced both Communism and Capitalism as Jewish conspiracies to destroy Germany
  • 1921 - set up the storm troopers who were thugs that protected his meetings from being disrupted by opponents and also disrupted the meetings of other parties
• 1929 - Great depression - American banks withdrew their loans from Germany

  • German economy collapsed overnight
  • Hitler took advantage of the people's anger, offering them convenient scapegoats and promise to restore Germany's former greatness.
  • Mainstream parties proved unable to handle the crisis - left-wing opposition had too much internal conflicts
  • Frustrated public flocked to the Nazis - increasing their parliamentary votes from under 3% to over 18% in just two years
• 1932 - Hitler ran for president

  • lost the election to decorated war hero General von Hindenburg
  • had 36% of the vote - demonstrated the extent of his support
  • advisors and business leaders convinced Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor, hoping to use his popularity for their own goals.
• Chancellor was only the administrative head of parliament, Hitler expanded the power of his position

  • his supporters formed paramilitary (unofficial) groups and fought protestors in streets
  • Hitler raised fears of a Communist uprising and argued that only he could restore law and order
• 1933 - a young worker was convicted of setting fire to the parliament building

  • used the event to convince the government to grant him emergency powers
• Within months:

  • freedom of the press was abolished
  • other parties were disbanded
  • anti-Jewish laws were passed
  • Hitler's early radical supporters were arrested and executed, along with potential rivals
• August 1934 - President Hindenburg dies

  • it was clear there would be no new election
• Many of Hitler's early measures didn't require mass repression - his speeches exploited people's fear to drive their support behind him and the Nazi party

  • businessmen and intellectuals who want to be on the right side of public opinion, endorsed Hitler - assured themselves and each other that his more extreme rhetoric was only for show
• Hitler’s rise remains a warning of how fragile democratic institutions can be in the face of angry crowds and a leader willing to feed their anger and exploit their fear