The Lean Years

• Hitler had been arrested following the attempted Munich Putsch
• Hitler was put on trial for treason and found guilty
• Hitler used the trial effectively as a method of getting his views out to a wider audience
• Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison but served only nine months
• While in prison, Hitler


  Rethought his strategy for the Nazi party
• While in prison, Hitler


  Dictated his ideas to Rudolf Hess, who wrote them out in the book Mein Kampf (My Struggle)
• Contents of Mein Kampf

  • Hitler's beliefs and aims for Germany
  • Extremely anti-semitic views
  • Racist theories
  • Desire to ignore the Treaty of Versailles
  • Belief in the superiority of the German race (Aryan race)
  • Desire for expansion by invading countries
  • Ideas about industry and government
  • Rejection of democracy
  • Ideas about the perfect German family
• Hitler believed that a violent uprising would be unsuccessful and a different tactic was needed
• Hitler believed he would have to be elected into the Weimar Republic in order to take it over
• Hitler reorganized the Nazi party by setting up various departments and memberships
• Hitler organized the party into 35 regions, each with their own leadership structure
• Joseph Goebbels got his break with the Nazi party as the minister for propaganda
• Reorganization of the NSDAP in the 1920s

  1. Hitler organized the party into 35 regions each with their own leadership structure

  2. Hitler relied on trusted leaders to run the party

  3. Joseph Goebbels got his break with the Nazi party and became the Minister for Propaganda

  4. Hitler got wealthy industrialists on his side to pay for changes

  5. Hitler made promises to protect big business and control trade unions

  6. Hitler reorganized and strengthened the paramilitary arms of the party

  7. Hitler expanded the SA to 400,000 men

  8. Hitler sent Ernst Röhm abroad in 1925 but he returned in 1930

  9. Hitler set up the SS to be loyal to him and protect him

  10. Heinrich Himmler was placed in charge of the SS

  11. The party was split between emphasizing the socialist or nationalist part

  12. Hitler called the national conference in Bamberg in 1926 to clarify the party's stance

  13. Hitler suggested the socialist Nazis were communists in disguise

  14. The party was cemented to highlight the nationalist view

  15. Hitler won Goebbels over to his side

  16. Despite organizational leadership and policy changes, the Nazis did not enjoy success in elections

  17. The working class abandoned support for the Nazis due to economic and foreign policy improvements by Stresemann

  18. Paul von Hindenburg becoming president further reduced support for the Nazis

  19. The Nazi party needed a catastrophe to regain support