Hitler's rise to Chancellorship

Question 1

What was the Great Depression (1929)?

Answer 1

• As a result of the Wall Street Crash in October, American investments and loans that Germany depended upon dried up which was followed by demands of repayment for those short term loans
• The crisis caused a decline in the price of food and raw materials and industrialised nations reduced their imports
• As demand for exports collapsed, world trade slumped

Question 2

What effect did the Great Depression have on unemployment in Germany?

Answer 2

-1.8 million were unemployed in 1929 but by 1932, 5.6 million were unemployed

Question 3

What effect did the Great Depression have on the value of German exports?

Answer 3

-Exports value fell by 55% from 1929-32

Question 4

What were Germany’s existing financial problems?

Answer 4

• Farmers were already in debt

- The balance of trade was in the red

Question 5

What was the Nazi’s membership numbers between 1928-9?

Answer 5

-In 1928 the Nazis were at 108,000 members but by 1929 they were at 130,000

Question 6

What was the National Opposition?

Answer 6

• After the Young Plan of 1929, a national committee was formed by Hugenberg, the leader of the DNVP, to fight it and the ‘lie’ of war guilt
• Whilst the National Opposition didn’t gain the 21 million votes they needed in their referendum, they’d stirred nationalistic feeling and Nazism gained a real national standing

Question 7

How many votes did the Nazi party get in the 1930 election?

Answer 7

-They gained 107 seats and 18.3% of the vote making them the second largest party in the Reichstag

Question 8

What were the key factors to the Nazi Party’s success in the 1930 election?

Answer 8

• Since 1928, Nazi leaders directed propaganda at rural, middle-class and lower/middle-class audiences, the Nazi’s success was at the expense of the DNVP, DVP and the DDP
• Nazis had attracted new voters, the turnout went from 75.6% to 82%

Question 9

What was the July 1932 election campaign like?

Answer 9

• Street violence took hold of large cities and 86 people died as a result in July alone
• The bloodshed gave Papen and Schleicher the opportunity to abolish the most powerful regional state government in Germany: Prussia (coalition of SPD + ZP)

Question 10

How many votes did the Nazis get in the 1932 election?

Answer 10

• 230 seats
• 37.3% of the vote
• 1st largest party in the Reichstag

Question 11

What were some causes of the Nazis’ success in the 1932 election?

Answer 11

• Inspired new voters (turnout went from 82%-84%)

- Some disgruntled workers turned to the NSDAP from the SDP

Question 12

Why did Papen get forced to resign in 1932?

Answer 12

• Papen was humiliated when in September the Reichstag passed a vote of ‘no confidence’ in his government
• Papen dissolved he Reichstag and called for another election in which the Nazis lost votes, yet Hitler stood firm: he would not join the government except as chancellor
• Hindenburg was forced to demand Papen’s resignation

Question 13

What were Schleicher’s failures?

Answer 13

• Schleicher was appointed Chancellor in December 1932
• He aimed to gain support from the left and attract the more socialist wing of the Nazi party
• Trade unions remained suspicious of his motives and broke off negotiations
• Strasser (head of socialist wing) ended up isolated and forced to resign as the party’s loyalty lay with Hitler

Question 14

What was the ‘backstairs intrigue’?

Answer 14

• Papen had not forgiven Schleicher and was determined to regain political office
• A meeting in January 1933 agreed that Hitler should lead a Nazi-Nationalist coalition with Papen as vice chancellor
• Hindenburg agreed to withdraw his support for Schleicher and appoint Hitler as Chancellor

Question 15

What was the Munich Putsch?

Answer 15

-Hitler grossly underestimated the amount of public support for a putsch and showed a real lack of planning
-Nonetheless, in November 1923, Hitler stormed into Kahr’s meeting in at one of Munich’s Beer Halls and attempted to take over
-The next day Hitler marched into Munich with 2,000 SA men but they were easily crushed by the Bavarian
police
-14 Nazis were killed and Hitler was arrested

Question 16

What were the consequences of the Munich Putsch?

Answer 16

• In many respects the putsch was greatly unsuccessful however Hitler did gain some political advantages from it
• His trial turned out to be great propaganda for him and the Nazi party and he played on his rhetoric skills to evoke admiration for his patriotism
• The leniency of his sentence five years (the minimum stipulated by the Weimar Constitution) that was actually reduced to ten months served as encouragement on the part of the judiciary
• Hitler also used this time to reassess his political strategy including writing ‘Mein Kampf’

Question 17

Who voted (or didn’t vote) for the Nazis and why?

Answer 17

• In predominantly catholic areas, there tended to be fewer votes for the Nazis as their loyalties lay with Catholicism in what’s called ‘associationism’
• Goebbels recognised the need to direct propaganda according to people’s social and economic interests
• To appeal to farmers he’d offer special benefits to offset the collapse of agricultural prices
• To appeal to the unemployed he’d aim to overcome the effects of the depression by offering ‘work’ and ‘bread’

Question 18

What kind of propaganda did the Nazis use?

Answer 18

• In April 1930, Goebbels was put in charge of propaganda
• Modern technology was exploited to serve as propaganda such as expensive cars, radio, film as well as Hitlers’ ‘Flight Over Germany’ in 1932
• The idea of ‘mass suggestion’ was encouraged at rallies where uniforms, music and salutes were all used to heighten the effect and emotion

Question 19

What did Hitler do to encourage support for the Nazis?

Answer 19

• Hitler drew upon Germany’s discontent with the conclusion of WW1 to encourage a strong feeling of German Nationalism which would be translated into support for the Nazis
• Hitler’s use of scapegoats gave his supporters someone to blame for their suffering (Jews, communists)

Question 20

How did the Nazi party affect young people?

Answer 20

• The depression hit at a time when young adults were going into work, so no matter how good their qualification were, they had little chance of finding work
• Of young adults aged 20-30 who became members of political groups, 61% joined the Nazis