Hitlers rise to power 1919-33

• Hitlers early life 


  Born in 1989, Adolf Hitler grew up in Austria. He moved to Munich in Germany when he was 24 years old. Hitler fought for Germany during WW1 and was shocked by the nations defeat and wanted to do something about it
• Hitler enters politics 


  Hitler was angered by the Treaty of Versailles and being stabbed in the back (Dolchstoss) by the November criminals

  In response, Hitler joined the German Worker's Party (DAP) in September 1919
• The Nazi Party's beginnings

  By 1920, Hitler had entered the party's leadership and refashioned the DAP into the National Socialist German Worker's Party (NDSAP), shortened to the Nazi Party

  Through this new name, Hitler tried to appeal to as many people as possible

  By July 1921, Hitler Became the leader of the Nazi party
• The 25-point programme 


  Hitler and the founder of the Nazi party, Anton Drexler wrote the 25-point programme in 1920.

  The programme had three main aims:

  To overturn the Treaty of Versailles (TOV)

  To stop democracy as a political system

  To rid Germany of the Jews who harmed the economy
• Nationalist elements of the 25-point Programme 


  Some points of the programme were nationalist

  The nationalist points included

  • Nullifying the Treaty of Versailles
  • Lebensraum
  • Building up the strength of the German Military
  • Only allowing Aryans to be German citizens
• Socialist elements of the 25-point Programme

  Other parts were more socialist

  The socialist points included

  • Nationalising industries
  • Giving every man employment
  • Giving all citizens equal rights
  • Giving support for mothers and children
• Composition of the SA (Sturmabteilung)

  The SA (Storm Detachment), Known as the SA, was largely made up of former German soldiers who hated the Weimar Republic

  They asserted Nazi power through fighting and intimidating political opponents, mostly the Communists
• Nazi Party and the SA


  The Nazi Party got stronger through the violence of the SA

  Ernst Rohm led this group

  They were nicknamed the 'Brownshirts' because of their brown uniforms

  Between 1930 and 1934, the SA grew from 400,000 to 3 million
• Munich Putsch overview 


  In 1923, the Nazis had built up some support and tried to seize control of Germany. In November, Hitler tried to take control of the local branch of the Weimar Republic, the Bavarian Government (the Munich Putsch)
• Long-term causes of the Munich Putsch

  Resentment against TOV and its clauses

  Hatred of being stabbed in the back

  They thought that the Weimar Republic was fundamentally weak
• Medium-term causes of the Munich Putsch

  Hitler wanted to copy the example of Mussolini in Italy

  In 1922, Mussolini led the right-wing Fascist Party in overthrowing democracy and setting up a dictatorship
• Immediate Causes of the Munich Putsch

  • The Nazis were angered by the French occupation of the Ruhr in 1924. The putsch was triggered by Stresemann calling off passive resistance
  • Rohm had introduced Hitler and Ludendorff and this helped to trigger the Putsch
  • Because of this and the fragility of the Weimar Republic in 1923, Hitler assumed the German people would support his Putsch
• Events of the putsch, 8th November 1923 


  On the 8th of November 1923, Hitler and 600 SA troops entered a meeting of the Bavarian government in Munich

  Threatening the government leaders, Hitler forced the government to support him

  The head of the SA, Rohm, took control of the local police and army headquarters

  But Lundendorff secretly let the government leaders go
• Events of the Putsch, 9th-11th November 1923


  On the 9th November 1923, Hitler marched on Munich with 1000 SA troops and 2,000 volunteers

  Hitler wanted to make himself the President of Germany

  State police met the Nazis. Shots were fired. 3 policemen and 16 Nazis were killed. Ludendorff and Rohm were arrested

  Hitler fled and hid at a friend's house

  On 11th November 1923, Hitler was discovered and arrested for high treason (crime of betraying one's country)
• Short-term consequences of the Putsch

  In the short term it looked like the Nazis had failed

  Hitler was sentenced to prison for five years in Landsberg prison

  The Nazi Party was banned and Hitler was not allowed to speak in public until 1927
• Long-term consequences of the Putsch

  In the long term, Hitler successfully used events to his advantage

  Hitler used his trial to give the Nazis publicity

  As the newspaper reporters would quote his defence speech, Hitler gave exposure to Nazi ideas
• Mein Kampf 


  In prison, he wrote his bestseller, Mein Kampf, which outlines his political objectives

  Most importantly, the need to destroy democracy, the need for Lebensraum, and his beliefs about the 'inferiority' of the Jews

  Hitler realised he needed to reorganise the Nazi party to gain success
• The Nazis in the mid-1920s

  The Nazis suffered because the Weimar Republic was succeeding

  Germany was politically stable and had no need for the extremism of the Nazis

  In order for the Nazis to achieve success, they would have to participate in the Weimar Republics democratic elections
• Nazis and the democratic system 


  In participating in legal elections, Hitler said that the Nazi Party would have to 'hold their noses'. This shows how much he despised the democratic system he was forced to be part of

  But the Nazis only had 32 seats in the Reichstag in 1924 and this dropped to 12 seats in 1928

  Despite this, membership for the Nazis increased from 27,000 in 1925 to 130,000 in 1929
• Nazi reorganisation 


  Hitler wanted to reorganise the Nazi Party to maximise support

  Hitler made himself the centre of the Nazi party

  This meant that the appeal of the Nazis largely rested on him as a charismatic leader
• Expansion of the party and the SA

  Hitler expanded the Nazi Party onto a national level

  Each region of Germany would be run by a gauleiter (local Nazi official) who reported to Hitler

  Hitler grew the SA so they could intimidate opponents on make the Nazis appear strong

  But the SA were difficult to control
• Bamberg Conference - Northern and Southern Groups 


  In Feb 1926, Hitler called the Bamberg Conference to resolve tension between the northern and southern groups of the Nazi party

  • The northern group stressed the socialist parts of the 25-point programme
  • The southern part stressed the nationalist points of the 25 point programme
• Bamberg conference - Rise of nationalism

  Hitler made sure everyone understood that the 25-point programme reflected the Nazi vision

  But he said that the socialist points would not actually be followed
• Bamberg conference - Fuhrerprinzip


  Hitler laid out the Fuhrerprinzip (Leadership Principle)

  This meant that he had complete authority in the Nazi Party and would not tolerate any opposition
• The nazi's popularity started to rise because of

  The Great depression

  The weaknesses of the Weimar Republic

  Strength of the Nazi party
• The wall Street crash 1929

  October 19129 - share prices began to fall on the Wall Street Stock exchange

  On Black Thursday, 24th October 1929, 13 million shares were sold. Shares worth $20,000 in the morning but $1000 by the end of the day. In a week investors lost $4000 million

  The USA could no longer afford to prop up the German economy relying on the Daws plan, Future payments suspend and loans forced to be repaid

  Many banks lost all their money and savings were lost

  Brunings plan didn't work and he was forced to use Article 48 leading to people considering extreme parties
• Impact of the great depression 


  Unemployment significantly increased. In January 1933, 6,000,000 workers were unemployed, 50% of Germans between 16-30, 40% of factor workers, 60% of uni Grads

  Savers no longer had money to fall back on if unemployed

  For workers, taxes increased and wages cut

  Homelessness increasing - theft up by 24% in Berlin

  Unemployed joining private armies of political parties

  Extremist parties thought to be the only parties that could fix the problem
• How were people affected by the great depression?

  Businessmen -businesses closed because people had less money to spend on goods

  Factory workers - 40% of all factory workers were unemployed by 1932 and the government cut employment benefits

  Farm workers - agriculture had been suffering for a number of years after wall street crash and farmers slipped further into debt

  Young people - they could not find work and in 1933 over half of all Germans between the ages of 16 and 30 were unemployed. 60% of uni grads couldn't get a job

  Middle class - lost savings and investments
• The Peoples turn to extremism 


  In the economic crisis, the German people turned to extremist parties to quickly solve unemployment

  The Communists gained increasing support from the working class

  The Nazis also gained support because they appealed to a wider group of the German population
• Hitler and intimidation - rise of the Nazis 


  The Nazis gained support because of Hitler's personality

  • Not only a strong leader, Hitler was also a mesmerising public speaker who travelled the country to give speeches

  The Nazis also grew because o intimidation tactics

  • The SA and SS fought and eliminated political opponents but also protect the Nazis showing the strength of the Nazis
• Propaganda - rise of the Nazis 


  Propaganda helped spread the Nazi's message, emphasising three things:

  • Firstly, the Hitler cult, Hitler was presented as Germany's saviour
  • Secondly, volksgemeinschaft. The Nazis wanted to restore Germany back to traditional values and focus on an Aryan community
  • Thirdly, anti-Semitism. They blamed the Jews for the Great Depression in Germany
• Hitler's flexible message - for workers 


  Hitler was so successful because his message was flexible. He could tailor it to his audience

  For businessmen, The Nazis would solve the Great Depression

  For the workers, The Nazis would give employment and food

  For Farmers, the Nazis would protect them from the communists who would seize land
• Hitler's flexible message - for other social groups

  For the middle class, the Nazis would stop Communism and return Germany t its traditional roots

  For the youth, the Nazis were an Exciting movement

  For women, the Nazis would prioritise the family and home

  Between 1928-32 Votes for the Nazis rocketed from 2.6% in 1928 to 18% on 1930 and 37% in July 1932
• great depression German situation 


  It became clear that the government could not solve the problem of unemployment

  Chancellor Müller could not improve Germanys economy and neither could Brüning

  It was a global problem. Economic growth and world trade slowed and Germany was handicapped by the terms of Versailles
• The rise of the Nazis

  Between 1928-1932, The Nazi vote grew rapidly

  2.6% in 1928

  18% in 1930

  37% in July 1932
• Article 48 


  In response to the economic crisis, Hindenburg lost faith in democracy himself and used Article 48 to bypass the Reichstag

  The significantly weakened the Weimar Republic
• DNVP-Nazi alliance 


  The DNVP was a mainstream conservative political party in Weimar Germany. They won 21% of the votes in the 1924 German election

  In 1928, Alfred Hugenberg became the leader

  Alfred was a media entrepreneur who owned Universum Film and Telegraphen Union, Giving him control of Weimar film, news and telegraph
• The convergence of the conservative nationalist movement with Hitler is shown by the fact the DNVP's traditional voter base, protestant germans, according to Jurgen Falter, the only predictive factor for someone voting for the Nazi party in the 1932 German election
• In 1932, the Nazis gained political power int he Reichstag. But the Reichstag had no stable leadership
• The chancellor May-July 1932 


  In May 1932, Chancellor Brüning resigned and was replaced by von Papen

  In July 1932, the Nazis became the largest party in the Reichstag

  Hitler demanded that he be made chancellor, but was refused