Chapter 10 - the appeal of nazism and communism Flashcards
1
Q
The experience of the Nazis up until the 1928 election
A
- On the 12th of September 1919, Adolf Hitler attended a meeting of the German Worker’s Party (DAP) in the Sterneckerbrau in Munich and joined the party as its 55th member. In less than a week, Hitler received a postcard stating that he had officially been accepted as a party member
- On the 24th of February 1920, the DAP changed its named to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP)
- On the 28th of July 1921, Adolf Hitler was elected as chairman of the NSDAP with only one dissenting vote. The executive committee of the party was dissolved. Hitler soon began to refer to himself as “Der Fuhrer” (The Leader)
- Prototype versions of the Hitler youth were formed in January 1922
- On 12th January 1922, Hitler was sentenced to 3 months for disturbance of 14th September 1921
- On 8th November 1923, Hitler and Ludendorff launched the Beer Hall (Munich) Putsch
- On 1st April 1924, Hitler was sentenced to 5 years at Landsberg Prison. From here, hitler wrote Mein Kampf with the assistance of Rudolf Hess
- On the 20th of December 1924, Hitler was released from prison
- On 24th February 1925, the NSDAP was re-founded
- On 9th March 1925, Bavaria banned Hitler from public speaking
- On 18th July 1925, Vol. 1 of Hitler’s Mein Kampf was released
- On 5th March 1927, Hitler’s speaking ban was lifted by Bavaria
- On 20th March 1928, the NSDAP gained 2.6% of the vote in the Reichstag election
- On 28th September 1928, Prussia lifted Hitler’s speaking ban
2
Q
Electoral support for Nazism and communism up to 1932
A
- The Nazis (NSDAP) and the communists (KPD) gained electoral support during the depression years, but the Nazis were far more successful than the communists in broadening their appeal
- Before 1929, the Nazis’ core support came from the lower-middle class, the Mittlestand
- Their support among this group (white collar workers, small shopkeepers and independent craftsmen) increased after the wall street crash, but their main gains were among the broader middleclass and farmers
- The Nazis were very adept at exploiting the widespread discontent among farmers by promising higher prices and protection against imports
- Their success with farmers is shown by the results in some rural constituencies in 1930, where they secured 68% of the vote in one district in Northwest Germany
- The Nazis also attracted increasing support from the middle class, who were worried by the perceived threat of a communist revolution and were disillusioned with established middle-class parties such as the DVP and DNVP
- The Nazis also had socialist in their party name in an attempt to try and sell themselves to socialists (left wing)
- The Nazis also did well amongst young voters and women
- In geographical terms, the Nazis were strongest in the Protestant north, east and centre of Germany but were less successful in the catholic south and west
- Hindenburg had been elected President in 1925 and his 7-year term of office ended in 1932, by which time he was 84 years old
- He was reluctant to stand for election again but was persuaded to do so
- As in 1925, his main opponent on the left was Thalmann of the KPD
- Hitler was reluctant to stand against such a conservative icon as Hindenburg but eventually he decided to do so
- There was another right-wing candidate, Theodor Duesterberg
- In the first ballot, Hindenburg fell just short of 50% of the vote needed for outright victory
- This triggered a second ballot in which Duesterberg was no longer a candidate
- Hitler rented an aeroplane and flew all over Germany, presenting himself as a national saviour
- Although Hindenburg won in the end, with 53% of the vote, Hitler received nearly 37% of the vote in the second ballot
- In some rural areas, Hitler received more votes than Hindenburg
- Soon after the presidential election, there were state elections in many areas, the results of which confirmed the Nazis’ status as the most popular party
- The working class made up nearly half of the electorate and their votes were, therefore, crucial in the electoral battle between the Nazis and the Communists
- Since 1919, most working-class voters in large industrial centres, especially trade union members, had supported either the SPD or the communists, and this pattern continued through the elections of the early 1930s
- The communists made gains at the expense of the SPD, but their support was largely confined to large cities
- The communists were strongest in the poorest areas of cities such as Berlin, especially among the unemployed
- This does not mean however, that the Nazis failed to attract working class voters
- Indeed, in the 1930 election, about 27% of Nazi voters were manual labourers
- Over the course of the three elections between September 1930 and July 1932, the Nazis more than doubled their electoral support
- The communists also made gains but were unable to appeal to voters beyond their traditional core of supporters
- The Nazi party became the main party of protest by winning support amongst all classes and generations, and across different regions of the country
3
Q
The appeal of Nazism
A
- As the economic crisis in Germany deepened, society became more polarised, and the political system failed to provide governments equal to the situation
- The nazis projected an image of decisiveness and energy and offered the prospect of change
- Their appeal was based on a number of factors
4
Q
Nazi ideology
A
- Hitler and the Nazis put forward a wide-ranging but loose collection of ideas which, when assembled, might be described as an ideology
- Nazi policy was first put forward in their Twenty-five Point Programme of 1920, which was still officially the statement of their aims in 1933 even though Hitler did not agree with many of its points
- While he was in prison after the failed Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, Hitler started writing Mein Kampf, his most complete statement of his ideas and aims
- His ideas were not original, nor were they coherent or consistent, as he modified his policy statements according to the audience he was addressing
- The book was not widely ready before 1933
- It is possible, however, to identify some key themes of Nazi propaganda
5
Q
analysis of Mein Kampf
A
- Treaty of Versailles
• Mentioned 22 times
• Our nation “cannot make any technical preparations for the recovery of its freedom and independence” due to its disarmament as a result of the Treaty of Versailles
• Criticising the Treaty was deemed as an attack on the republic
• “disgraceful” - Democracy
• Mentioned 78 times
• “Realised that the Jews were the leaders of social democracy” - Communist
• Mentioned 9 times
• Marxist used instead, 144 times - Youth
• Mentioned 62 times
• “Promote education of the youth”
• “The German youth will one day create a new state founded on the racial idea” - Music
• mentioned 5 times
• Jews had no original creative work - Women
• Mentioned 13 times
• Describes them as a “passive subject” in marriage - Unemployment
• Mentioned 4 times
• “Frequent unemployment began to play havoc with the people and left discontent and embitterment behind them” - Jew
• “Mentioned 164 times
• “a jew can never be rescued from his fixed notions”
• “Only a Jew can praise an institution which is as corrupt and false as himself”
• - Munich putsch
• Not mentioned at all which is interesting as Hitler was in prison as a result of this at the time - Traditional
• Mentioned 12 times
• “There was no longer even a traditional authority” - Propaganda
• Mentioned 125 times
• Describes it as a “weapon”
6
Q
The power of the will
A
- Hitler presented himself and the Nazi movement as being a force for change in Germany
- Nazi propaganda claimed that power, strength, and determination to succeed were qualities personified by Hitler
- The Nazi movement, with its parades of stormtroopers (SA), presented an image of discipline and unity that would sweep all opponents aside
7
Q
Struggle and war
A
- Struggle, war, and violence were at the heart of Nazi thinking and actions
- Hitler defined his outlook in terms of struggle and claimed scientific justification for his view that struggle and conflict between races was part of the natural order of things
- War, he believed, would reconstruct German society, and create a new German Reich through conquest and the subjugation of other races
- Nazi propaganda, therefore, glorified the military virtues of courage, loyalty and self-sacrifice, and the SA was projected as an organisation that gave German males the chance to demonstrate their manliness
8
Q
A racial community
A
- The concept of a people’s community, or Volksgemeinschaft, was a key element of Nazi ideology
- Although it was never defined very clearly, Hitler advocated a state based racial community
- Only Aryans could be citizens of the state, all other people were to be denied the rights to citizenship and its benefits, and would be treated as mere subjects of the state
- Within the “real community of the people”, there would be no social classes and all Germans would have equal chances to find their own level in society
- All would work together for the good of the nation, thereby demonstrating commitment to common German values, and in return would benefit from access to employment and welfare benefits
- Nazism thus aimed for a cultural and social revolution in Germany
- The objective was to create a “new man” and a “new woman”, individuals who would have awareness of the importance of their race, the strength of character to work unselfishly for the common good, and the willingness to follow the leadership in pursuit of their aims
- Yet, this revolutionary ideology was essentially backward-looking
- When the Nazis talked of a people’s community, they wanted to return to a romanticised, mythical German past before the race had become “polluted” with alien blood and before industrialisation had divided society among class lines
- The Volksgmeinschaft would be based on “blood and soil” meaning it would be based on the German peasants who they believed had retained their purity and their traditional values more than city dwellers
9
Q
A national socialism
A
- The Nazis adopted the title National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) in an attempt to gain working-class support, but at the same time to differentiate themselves from the international socialism of the Communist Party
- The points laid out in the Twenty-Five Point Programme were economically radical and were similar to many of the anti-capitalist policies of the communists and socialists
- They called for, for example, the confiscation of war profits, the nationalisation of large monopoly companies and the confiscation of land from the large estates without compensation to the landowners
- Hitler, however, never fully committed to these radical aims and modified his message according to the audience he was addressing
- Increasingly, after 1929, Hitler sought the support of wealthy businessmen such as Hugenberg and Fritz Thyssen, and was at pains to reassure them that a Nazi government would not threaten their interests
- Hitler used the word “socialism” loosely, in a way that might appeal to working class voters
- In his view, socialism and the Volksgmeinschaft were one and the same thing: “to be national means to act with a boundless, all-embracing love for people and, if necessary, even to die for it”
- And similarly, to be social means to build up the state and the community of the people as that every individual acts in the interests of the people
10
Q
The Fuhrerprinzip
A
- Hitler set out to destroy the Weimar republic because it was a parliamentary democracy, a system he viewed as weak, ineffective, and alien to Germany’s traditions of a strong, authoritarian government
- He also believed that parliamentary democracy encouraged the growth of communism, in his opinion an even greater evil
- He argued in a speech in April 1922 that “democracy is fundamentally not German, it is Jewish. This Jewish democracy, with its majority decisions, has always been only a means towards the destruction of any existing Aryan leadership”
- Weimar democracy, established at the end of the first world war, was regarded by the Nazis as being based on a betrayal in which the November Criminals has stabbed the German army in the back
- As such, it should be destroyed and replaced by a dictatorship, a one-party state run on the basis of Fuhrerprinzip (the principle of leadership)
- The Fuhrerprinzip was the basis on which the Nazi party had been run since 1925
- Within the party, Hitler had supreme control over policy and strategy, and party members became subordinated to Hitler’s will
11
Q
Aggressive nationalism
A
- As a German nationalist, Hitler had 3 main aims:
• To reverse the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles, which he described as an instrument of unlimited blackmail and shameful humiliation, and restore to Germany those lands taken from it
• To establish a Greater German Reich in which all Germans would live within the borders of the state
• To secure for Germany its Lebensraum (living space) to settle its people and provide it with the food and raw materials needed to sustain its status as a great power, since “only adequately large space on this earth assures a nation its freedom of existence” - This was an aggressive form of nationalism
- Hitler did not want merely to restore Germany to its borders of 1914 but also to expand the territory of the Reich
- This would involve a war of conquest to secure Germany’s living space in the east, which was justified by Hitler’s racial theories and his belief in the necessity of struggle
12
Q
Anti-Semitism
A
- Hitler saw the Jews as responsible for all of Germany’s ills
- Jews were represented in Nazi propaganda as greedy, cunning and motivated by only selfish motives
- They were described as “a parasite in the body of other nations”, having no state of their own and working through a worldwide Jewish conspiracy to establish their dominance over other races
- On that basis, they were held responsible for Germany’s defeat in the first world war, the hated Treaty of Versailles and Germany’s decline as a great power, together with the political weaknesses of the democratic system of the Weimar Republic
- Above all, Hitler regarded communism as a Jewish creed that had undermined the political and social cohesion of Germany and should be eradicated
13
Q
The importance of Hitler to Nazi success
A
- By 1929, Hitler had established undisputed control over the Nazi party and a leadership cult had been created around him
- His political skills and qualities were therefore of crucial importance to the party
- For many, although certainly not all Germans, he possessed great charisma and unparalleled oratorical skills
- His speeches often went on for hours and contained a lot of repetition and outright lies, but he had a hypnotic effect
- He knew how to play on people’s emotions and fears, and to convince them that he had the answers
- He was an opportunist who could tailor his message to his audience
- His mass appeal was therefore vital to the success of the Nazi’s in winning votes
14
Q
The role of anti-Semitism in Nazi electoral success
A
- The Nazis used the Jews as scapegoats in their propaganda, portraying them as responsible for Germany’s economic and political problems
- During the depression, many shopkeepers and small business owners were receptive to the idea that their problems were caused by Jewish capitalism
- People who had previously kept their anti-Semitic views quiet were now willing to express then more freely
- However, although many ordinary German were still unwilling to go along with openly anti-Semitic propaganda, they were so preoccupied with immediate economic hardships that they heard the messages they wanted to hear
- Their previous disapproval of Nazi extremism faded as they focused on Nazi promises to provide work and bread
- Many people who voted Nazi in 1932 did so in spite of Nazis’ anti-Semitism, not because of it
- Nazi propaganda was frequently adapted according to local circumstances
- In January 1932, for example, when Hitler addressed 650 businessmen at the Industry Club in Dusseldorf, he did not make even a single mention of Jews in the whole 2 and a half hour speech
- At the same time, there were many other meetings where Nazi speakers openly encouraged hostility against Jews by accusing them of being the cause of the audience’s economic troubles the rapid expansion of the SA also encouraged radical anti-Semitism. “judda verrecke” (down with the Jews) was a favourite chant of the SA, who often beat up Jews in the street
- On the other hand, many men were attracted into the SA because it was anti-communist, or for comradeship in the pub, or because membership was a meal ticket
- Anti-Semitism was rarely the main motive for joining the SA
- Widening the support for Nazism meant winning over people the Nazis had not previously targeted
- This meant emphasising issues the Nazis had previously neglected
- Most nazi propaganda in 1932 had little or nothing to do with anti-Semitism
- In January 1932, for example, there was a coordinated sequence of 16 mass meetings, all on the issue of unemployment
- Reaching a judgement about the political appeal of anti-Semitism is extremely difficult
- Millions of people voted for the NSDAP (Nazi party) who had never done so before
- It is likely that only a small minority of these voters had anti-Semitism as a main motive or were influenced by it in any way at all
- A statistical analysis of Nazi propaganda in 1931-32 shows an overwhelming concentration on economic issues with little emphasis on anti-Semitism
15
Q
The role of propaganda in Nazi electoral success
A
- The Nazis were very skilled in propaganda techniques and this played an important part in their success in winning votes
- Hitler understood the importance of propaganda and Joseph Goebbels, his Reich Propaganda Chief from 1928, was a master of the medium
- With the money provided by big business leaders such as Hugenberg and Thyssen, Hitler was able to travel by air and car to make speeches in all the main cities in Germany
- The Nazis had their own newspaper
- They also published many posters and leaflets, put on film shows and staged rallies
- Nazi marches and rallies, with their banners, songs, bands, and the sheer force of numbers, made a powerful statement about Nazi strength
- Nazi propaganda skilfully targeted different groups in the population and adapted the Nazi message to particular target audiences
- Nazi speakers were well trained in oratorical techniques and in the party’s ideology
- Anti-Semitic slogans were used with some audiences but not with others, depending on how useful the Nazis judged them to be
- For the most part, the Nazis concentrated on their simple message that Weimar democracy was responsible for economic depression, national humiliation, and internal divisions
- In its place, they offered a vague but powerful vision of a prosperous and united Germany, restored to its rightful position among the great powers of Europe
