Hitler's Rise to Power (1919-33)

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Keira

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Hitler's Early Years:
1889: Hitler was born in the town of Braunau, Austria.
1907: The mother he was devoted to, died of cancer.
1912: He had little success at school. Despite being a talented artist, he failed to get a place at art college
1913: Hitler moved to Munich, a city in a region called Bavaria in the south of Germany. He was homeless for a while.
1914: Hitler joined the army in WW1 as an effective soldier. He received the Iron Cross for bravery and wounded twice.
Hitler's Early Years:
1918: Hitler was in hospital recovering from gas poisoning. The army asked him to spy on political parties in Munich. He became interested in the meetings of the German Workers’ Party (DAP).
1918: The loss of the war and the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles had a huge impact on him. He promised that he would become a politician to return Germany to glory.
Hitler's Early Years:
1919: The DAP were tiny political party. They were led by a railway mechanic called Anton Drexler. When Hitler attended a meeting on 12th September, there were only 23 people. However, Hitler liked their ideas and so joined the party.
1920: In January 1920, Hitler was put in charge of propaganda. Hitler & Drexler also wrote the 25 Point Programme – a document which explained to everyone what the main aims of the party were.
Hitler's Ideas and Changes:
Rather than meeting in Beer Halls, Hitler set up an official permanent office in Munich. This gave the DAP a more formal political image.
Hitler was also talented at raising money for the party by meeting with the wealthy and persuading them he would help them.
Hitler's Ideas and Changes:
Hitler wanted to appeal to as many people as possible in society and so changed the name of the party to include the terms ‘nationalist’ and ‘socialist’. Including the term nationalist would attract those who wanted to make Germany strong again. The term socialist would attract the votes of the working class. Therefore, the party became known as the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP).
Hitler also began to use the swastika as the party logo to attract even more support.
The Stormtroopers (SA):
Like other political parties in Weimar Germany, Hitler believed that his party needed protection from attacks and assassination attempts. In 1921 he convinced a group of ex- soldiers to work as a private army for the party with the promise of good pay.
They were called the Stormtroopers or SA. They were nicknamed brownshirts because of their uniform.
The Stormtroopers (SA): 
They were led by Ernst Rohm but in reality, Hitler expected the SA to be loyal to him. Some of the SA were wild and difficult to control so Hitler selected the most loyal men to be part of his own personal bodyguard called the ‘Shock Troops’.
The SA controlled crowds at meetings & removed any opposition. They made the NSDAP look strong and official. They paraded the streets as a show of force. They were also sent to disrupt the meetings of other political parties, especially the Communists.
Once Hitler had been voted in as the new leader of the NSDAP in 1921, he began to bring in people to the leadership who he knew were loyal to him and who would help gain support from the public.
Popular Party Leaders:
Rudolf Hess became Hitler’s deputy. He was wealthy, intelligent and had the support of the rich.
Hermann Goering was a famous and attractive pilot from the war.
Ernst Rohm was a tough army officer who was very popular with ex-soldiers from the war.
Julius Streicher was an ex-soldier who had won the Iron Cross. He became a publisher for the DAP promoted the party more by creating a Nazi newspaper called ‘The Storm’. It sold 14,000 copies a week by 1927.
Hitler's ability to speak in public was vital in attracting support with well rehearsed, passionate and persuasive speeches. He made strong eye contact with the audience as well as using gestures and body language to attract attention.
Hitler's Public Appeal:
Hitler knew the power of propaganda. He used photographs, posters & banners that had the logo of the swastika on them.
Hitler was also a star speaker for the party.
Membership of the DAP increased from 1,000 in June 1920 to 20,000 by the end of 1923.
Hitler completing his control:
By July 1921, Hitler forced a leadership contest against Anton Drexler. The party members voted in favour of Hitler, who became the new leader of the NSDAP/the Nazi Party.
By January 1922, it was clear that Hitler had complete control of the Nazi Party when he cleverly persuaded the members of the party that there was no more need to elect their party leader. Now Hitler had total control.
The 25 Point Party Programme:
To destroy the Weimar Government and constitution as it appeared weak.
To re-introduce strong leadership to Germany.
To re-gain land lost after WW1.
To remove democracy as it made Germany look weak.
To ignore the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
To increase Germany’s armed forces.
To remove Jews from Germany (they blamed them for destroying the economy).
In 1920, Hitler and Drexler wrote the party’s 25 Point Programme. This was a clear list of the party’s aims. It intentionally aimed to give the party a broad appeal and make them popular with a range of German voters.
In November 1923, Hitler was confident enough to attempt to violently overthrow and remove the existing leaders of the Weimar Republic from the city of Munich. This event is known as by the Munich Putsch, sometimes known as the Beer Hall Putsch. A ‘putsch’ simply means a violent attempt to overthrow a government.
Reasons for the Munich Putsch:
HATRED FOR THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC: Hitler thought the public would support his putsch. He believed the Germany people wanted an end to the Weimar Republic, especially with its links to the Treaty of Versailles, reparations, & weakening Germany.
GROWING PUBLIC SUPPORT: Since 1919, the NSDAP had been gaining public support in Munich. By 1923, the NSDAP had 50,000 members
Reasons for the Munich Putsch:
GROWING POLITICAL SUPPORT: The town of Munich was located in the German region of Bavaria. The Nazis gained the support of the Bavarian government leader Gustav Von Kahr. Kahr was happy to ignore the violence of the SA as a way to help Hitler gain more support. No members of the SA had been stopped or arrested for their violence.
Reasons for the Munich Putsch:
INFLUENCE FROM ITALY: Hitler was inspired by another far-right party in Italy, led by Mussolini. In 1922, Mussolini led his own party on a ‘march on Rome’ and forced the Italian government to accept him as their new leader. Hitler was inspired to do the same.
Reasons for the Munich Putsch:
HITLER EXPLOITED GERMANY’S PROBLEMS: It was 1923 and there was hyperinflation, the French occupied the Ruhr, people had lost their savings and the German people could see how weak the Weimar Government was. Hitler took the opportunity to attempt the Munich Putsch at a time when people were most likely to support another form of government.
Events of the Munich Putsch:
On the evening of the 8th November 1923, the Bavarian government were meeting in a famous beer hall in Munich. The meeting included the three main leaders of Bavaria:
Gustav von Kahr - the Bavarian government leader
Von Seisser - the Head of the Bavarian police
Von Lossow - the Head of the German Army.
Events of the Munich Putsch:
Hitler with 600 SA, as well as a famous army general called Ludendorff stormed into the meeting.
Hitler shot his revolver in the air and told the leaders he was taking over Bavaria and from there he would march on Berlin to overthrow the Weimar Republic.
Overpowered by Hitler, the SA and Ludendorff, the Bavarian leaders agreed with Hitler’s demands and shook hands in agreement.
Meanwhile, the head of the SA (Ernst Rohm) and the SA took control of the local police station as well as the army headquarters.
Events of the Munich Putsch:
On 9th November 1923, Hitler marched into Munich with 1,000 SA along with 2,000 ‘volunteer’ supporters. The Nazis had also robbed two Jewish banks to pay the volunteers with stolen money.
Hitler, Ludendorff, Goering, Rohm and Streicher marched to the town centre to declare Hitler the President of Germany.
According to police reports, Hitler’s men aimed pistols at policemen’s chests and spat on them. Then someone opened fire.
Events of the Munich Putsch:
A bodyguard threw himself in front of Hitler, and was wounded by several bullets. Hitler was dragged to the ground by his other bodyguards with such force that his left arm was broken. 14 of Hitler’s supporters and four policemen were shot dead.
Most of Hitler’s men ran away, looking for somewhere to hide (one group entered a girls school and hid under the beds). Hitler fled the scene in a car, the hid at the house of a friend 10 miles away. He was found on 11th November hiding in his friend’s wardrobe.
Positive consequences of the Munich Putsch:
Hitler learned that he could not gain power by force/violence. Instead, he needed to get Germans to vote for him.
The Nazis were only banned until 1925.
Hitler used his trial to get more publicity.
While in prison, Hitler wrote a book (Mein Kampf) which gave him a chance set out all of his ideas. This was later published and sold millions of copies.
Negative consequences of the Munich Putsch:
Hitler was defeated and humiliated.
Hitler and the other leaders were put on trial for treason.
The judge (who supported the putsch) found Ludendorff not guilty.
Hitler was found guilty and sent to prison for 5 years – a very short time for the crime of treason. He was released after 9 months.
The NSDAP (Nazi Party) was banned.
Why did the Munich Putsch fail?
The army HQ had been taken over by Rohm and the SA, but the main army barracks which contained most of the loyal soldiers of the Weimar Republic was not.
Hitler thought that he would have the support of the local people but most of them didn’t really care about what Hitler was doing and stayed loyal to the Weimar government. This made the Munich putsch look weak and Hitler’s men were outnumbered.
Why did the Munich Putsch fail?
When Hitler went on to march on the streets of Munich to make the ‘putsch’ public, he left Kahr, Seisser and Lossow, under control of the army general von Ludendorff.
Unfortunately, Ludendorff released the three men after they had promised to keep to the agreement. They simply told him that they wanted to see their wives.
However, at 5am the following morning, with Hitler ready to march on the streets on Munich, it was clear that the three Bavarian leaders had not kept their promise. They had called up the Bavarian army to stop Hitler.
Hitler was released from prison in Dec. 1924 after just under 9 months of a 5 year sentence. This short sentence was proof of how much support Hitler still had – especially from judges in Germany. Conditions were relaxed with Hitler able to have visitors, receive gifts from supporters, and continue his work with other members of the NSDAP. Hitler recorded many of his ideas in his book, Mein Kampf (My Struggle).
Mein Kampf is a key source of information about his beliefs and aims at this time. It proves how Hitler had learned from the failed Munich Putsch. He realised that rather than using violence, he needed to gain power in a peaceful, respectful and legal way – by getting the German people to vote for him. He used his time to make his aims clear and re-organise the Nazi Party.
Hitler’s Views Included in Mein Kampf:
LEBENSRAUM: Hitler mentioned a need for Lebensraum (living space) for a bigger German population. This meant Germany getting back the land it lost from the Treaty of Versailles and invading land in eastern Europe. He promised that the land taken in Eastern Europe would be used by German farmers to feed the nation. The more land he invaded in eastern Europe, the less the threat would be from Communists.
Hitler’s Views Included in Mein Kampf:
TOTALITARIANISM: Hitler wanted to remove democracy (the voting system) in Germany. Instead he wanted to return Germany to having one powerful leader who would have ‘total’ control of Germany – like having a dictator. This appealed to those who supported Kaiser Wilhelm II.
STRONG GERMAN TRADITIONS: Hitler hated the modern changes of the Weimar Republic. He wanted a return to strong family values, strict roles for men and women and returning German culture back to its older styles of art, music & theatre.
Hitler’s Views Included in Mein Kampf:
NATIONALIST VIEWS: Nationalism is a belief that your country is better than others. Hitler wanted Germany to be a strong nation again with a strong leader and powerful army.
SUPPORT FOR THE WORKERS: Hitler wrote about using the wealth of the rich and big businesses to help the poorer workers of Germany.
RACE & ANTI-SEMITIC VIEWS: He believed that the German people were a superior race of people called the ‘Aryan’ race. He believed the Jewish people were a threat to Germany.
The ban on the NDSAP ended in 1925. This meant that Hitler could publicly start to re-organise the Nazi Party and share his ideas. In order to gain power legally, he had to make the Nazi Party far better organised.
How did Hitler Re-organise the Nazi Party?
There was an official headquarters for the Nazi Party.
There were key people in charge of departments such as finance, agriculture and education.
The party had a women’s section called the German Women’s Order.
The party created a section for young people called the Hitler Youth for 14-18 year olds.
Hitler raised money for the party from wealthy business leaders who shared his views.
How did Hitler Re-organise the Nazi Party?
Hitler lost his trust for the SA. When he was in prison, many SA had become more loyal to the SA leader Ernst Rohm rather than Hitler. They could also be thug-like and lacked discipline.
Therefore, Hitler set up a new security group called the Schutzstaffel (or Protection Squad, or SS). They were selected due to their loyalty to Hitler.
He placed Heinrich Himmler, a senior member of the Nazi Party in charge of the SS.
They were feared and respected due to their threatening black uniforms which were introduced in 1932.
The Bamberg Conference (1926) 
To make sure that all members and parts of the Nazi Party were united, Hitler called a national conference for the Nazi Party. They gathered in a town called Bamberg in Bavaria.
Hitler spoke for five hours about his views and what he wanted for the party.
It was at the Bamberg Conference where another key Nazi, Joseph Goebbels gained support from Hitler. Hitler’s control of the Nazi Party was now 100% clear.
Reasons for the limited support of the Nazi Party (1923 – 29):
From 1923 until 1929, Gustav Stresemann had agreed the Locarno Pact, Kellogg Briand Pact, and membership of the League of Nations. This gave Germany more status and power in the world. Germans felt less need to support extreme political parties like the Nazis.
In 1925, Erbert died and Paul von Hindenburg became president. He was an ex-Field Marshall and a Germany army war hero. He was highly respected by many Germans and so more Germans respected the Weimar Republic because of him. This took support from the Nazis.
Reasons for the limited support of the Nazi Party (1923 – 29):
From 1923, Gustav Stresemann’s actions improved the economy with the Rentenmark, Dawes Plan and Young Plan. This increased employment and gave the German people more money to spend as well as hope. Fewer Germans were interested in the extreme parties like the Nazi Party.
The Nazi Party won very little support from the working classes in the big cities. In the 1928 election they only won 1% of the vote in Berlin. This told Hitler that while the economy was strong, few people would vote for the Nazis.
By 1929, Germany was more stable. Fewer people supported extreme political groups like the Nazis as they were generally happy. However, in October 1929, the Wall Street Crash in the USA caused a worldwide economic depression. Germany’s economy became fragile.
In early 1929, Stresemann had said "The economic position of Germany only flourishes on the surface. Germany dances on a volcano. If anything happens to America and the American loans are called in, a large section of the economy will collapse." Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened. With Stresemann’s death in the same month, there was little Germany could do. However, Hitler and the Nazi Party took the opportunity to take advantage of this to rapidly increase their popularity with the German people.