the appeal of nazism and communism

Question 1

Which parties gained immense support during the depression years?

Answer 1

The Nazis and the Communists (KPD). The Nazis were the most successful of the two.

Question 2

Where did the Nazi’s core support come from before 1929?

Answer 2

The lower-middle class, the Mittelstand, containing white-collar workers, small shopkeepers, independent craftsmen.

Question 3

Where did Nazi make their main gains during the depression?

Answer 3

The broader middle class and the farmers.

Question 4

How did the Nazis exploit the widespread discontent among the farmers?

Answer 4

They promised higher prices and protection against imports.

Question 5

What is the Nazi’s success with the farmers shown by?

Answer 5

By the results in rural areas in 1930, they received 68% of the vote in one district in north-west Germany.

Question 6

Apart from the mittelstand and farmers, where else had the Nazis gained popularity?

Answer 6

Amongst the youth and women.

Question 7

How often was there a presidential election?

Answer 7

Every 7 years.

Question 8

When had Hindenburg’s 7 year term ended?

Answer 8

1932, but was persuaded to run again.

Question 9

Who was Hindenburg’s main opponent in the 1932 election?

Answer 9

Thalmann of the KPD.

Question 10

Who were the two right wing candidates in 1932?

Answer 10

Hitler and Theodor Duesterberg.

Question 11

What were the results of the presidential election of 1932 and what did this mean?

Answer 11

Hindenburg fell just short of the 50% of the vote needed to win majority.
This meant that another election was held, where Duesterberg was not involved.

Question 12

What did Hitler do in preparation for the 2nd presidential election in 1932?

Answer 12

Rented an aeroplane and flew all over Germany presenting himself as a national saviour.

Question 13

What were the results of the 2nd presidential election in 1932?

Answer 13

Hindenburg won with 53%, but Hitler received nearly 37% of the vote.

Question 14

Which class made up nearly half of the electorate and what did this mean?

Answer 14

The working class.
This meant that their vote were crucial in the electoral battle between the Nazis and the Communists.

Question 15

Who had most working-class voters usually supported?

Answer 15

The SPD or the Communists.

Question 16

Where were the Communists strongest?

Answer 16

The poorest areas of cities, where their support was largely confined, especially popular amongst the unemployed.

Question 17

What did Hitler present himself and the Nazis as?

Answer 17

As being a force for change in Germany.

Question 18

What image did the Nazi movement present?

Answer 18

An image of discipline and unity that would sweep opponents aside.

Question 19

What did Hitler claim there was scientific justification over?

Answer 19

His view that struggle and conflict between races was part of the natural order of things.

Question 20

What does Volksgemeinschaft mean?

Answer 20

‘People’s community’.

Question 21

Who were allowed to be citizens of Germany?

Answer 21

Aryans, all others were to be denied the rights of citizenship.

Question 22

What title did the Nazis adopt and why did they do this?

Answer 22

The National Socialist German Worker’s Party.
They did this in an attempt to gain working-class support but also to differentiate themselves from the international socialism of the Communist Party.

Question 23

What did the Nazi’s Twenty-five Point Programme call for?

Answer 23

• The confiscation of war profits
• The nationalisation of large monopoly companies
• The confiscation of land from the large estates without compensation to the landowners

Question 24

Who’s support did Hitler try to gain after 1929 and what did he assure them?

Answer 24

Wealthy businessmen, such as Hugenberg and Fritz Thyssen.
He assured that a Nazi government would not threaten their interests.

Question 25

Why did Hitler set out to destroy the Weimar Republic?

Answer 25

Because it was a parliamentary democracy, a system he saw as weak and alien to Germany’s traditional authoritarian government.

Question 26

What did Hitler believe democracy encouraged?

Answer 26

The growth of communism, which was, in his opinion, a great evil.

Question 27

What was Fuhrerprinzip?

Answer 27

The principle of leadership.
It was what the Nazi Party had been based upon, with Hitler having supreme control and the party members being his subordinates.

Question 28

What were Hitler’s three main aims as a German nationalist?

Answer 28

• To reverse the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles
• To establish a ‘Greater German Reich’
• To secure for Germany its ‘Lebensraum’ to settle its people and provide it with food and raw materials

Question 29

What did Hitler see the Jews as responsible for?

Answer 29

All of Germany’s ills.

Question 30

What did Nazi propaganda present Jews as?

Answer 30

Greedy, cunning and motivated only by selfishness.
They were described as ‘a parasite in the body of other nations’.

Question 31

What were the Jews held responsible for?

Answer 31

The evils of capitalism, but at the same time the growth of communism.
It was on this basis that they were held responsible for Germany’s defeat in WWI, the Treaty of Versailles and Germany’s decline as a great power.

Question 32

What did shopkeepers and small business owners believe their problems of the Depression were caused by due to Nazi ideology?

Answer 32

‘Jewish Capitalism’, people who had previously kept their anti-Semitic views quiet were being very open now.

Question 33

Why did people’s previous disapproval of Nazi extreme propaganda start to fade?

Answer 33

They were more focused on Nazi’s promises to provide work and bread, they were in such economic hardships that they heard what they wanted to hear.

Question 34

What was chanted often by members of the SA down the streets?

Answer 34

‘Juda verrecke’, meaning ‘Down with the Jews’.

Question 35

What did SA members do to Jews in the streets?

Answer 35

Beat them up.

Question 36

How often was Anti-Semitism a main motive for becoming a member of the SA?

Answer 36

Not often, men were far more attracted to the appeal of the SA being anti-communist, or for the comradeship in the pub, or because membership guaranteed a meal.
Anti-Semitism was rarely a motive.

Question 37

What did the money from big business leaders allow Hitler to do?

Answer 37

Improve Nazi propaganda, it allowed him to hire planes and cars to make speeches in all main cities in Germany.

Question 38

Apart from public speaking, what other methods of propaganda did the NSDAP use?

Answer 38

The Nazis had their own newspaper, and they also published posters and leaflets.
They put on film shows and staged rallies were Nazis would march with their banners, songs, and bands.

Question 39

What statement did Nazi rallies make?

Answer 39

The large number of people marching made a powerful statement about the Nazi’s strength.

Question 40

How many votes did the KPD gain in the Reichstag elections between 1928 and July 1932?

Answer 40

2 million.

Question 41

What had the KPD mainly focused on before 1929 and why did they have to redirect their priority?

Answer 41

They’d focused on building a strong presence in factories and workshops where trade union membership was well established.
They had to switch their focus towards the unemployed due to the financial crash in 1929.

Question 42

What did the KPD do to aid unemployment?

Answer 42

• Set up ‘committees of the unemployed’
• Staged hunger marches
• Campaigned against benefit cuts

Question 43

What did the KPD do with the unemployed youths?

Answer 43

Appointed them as members into communist-led campaigns against the police, reform schools and labour exchanges.

Question 44

Who were the Red-Front Fighters’ League of the KPD often in battle with?

Answer 44

The Nazi SA, and with the police.

Question 45

What did the KPD present themselves as?

Answer 45

Defenders of working-class districts against the Nazis.

Question 46

What did the KPD advocate for?

Answer 46

To end cuts in unemployment benefits and wages.
The legislation of abortion.
They also advocated for the close cooperation with the USSR, the end of military spending and the establishment of a workers’ state.

Question 47

What was the KPD’s ultimate aim?

Answer 47

To overthrow the Weimar Republic.

Question 48

What did the KPD view the Depression as?

Answer 48

The end to capitalism, which would lead to a workers’ revolution, and so its priority was to replace the SPD as the leading party on the left.

Question 49

What did the KPD accuse the SPD of being?

Answer 49

As damaging to working-class interests as the Nazi Party, labelling them as ‘social-fascists’.

Question 50

What did Thalmann emphasise in his speeches?

Answer 50

Class struggle and the smashing of the capitalist system.

Question 51

What peak percentage did KPD votes reach in the Reichstag election November 1932?

Answer 51

16.9%.

Question 52

Who were worried about a potential communist revolution and what did it frighten them into doing?

Answer 52

Middle-class voters, frightening them into supporting the Nazis.
It also led business owners to give financial support to the Nazis.

Question 53

What was KPD membership turnover like?

Answer 53

It was very high, 50% of its new members in 1932 left within a few months, to be replace by new recruits.

Question 54

Why was the KPD often very short of money?

Answer 54

Most of its supporters were unemployed.