IB History Hitler

1

Hitler’s Rise to Power

Background of Interwar Years

Problems of Weimar Govt (1918-23)  Ineffective constitution  Versailles Treaty  Ruhr  Hyperinflation Stresemann (1924-28)  New currency  FR out of Ruhr  Locarno  Treaty of Berlin  League of Nations

Crash and Great Depression (1929-33)  Unemployment

 Dependent on US loans  No genuine support for govt  Extreme poverty

2 The Nazi Party (after 1924)

 3 main tactics in Mein Kampf

o Violent tactics would have to be abandoned to win electoral support o Strict organization and larger membership

o Fuhrer’s dominates completely – makes Nazi seem united  Flexible promises to voters

o Adapt Nazi Party to win voters

o Would change 25 points to appeal to voters o Becomes more extremist later

 Offers better jobs  Offers more $$

 Help middle class (in particular)  Idea: make GE great again  Believed in national community  25 points kept very vague  Propaganda:

o All leaders highly trained in propaganda o Goebbels (in charge)

o SA enforces it

o Modern technology used – movies, news  Target certain people in community

o Mayor o Teacher o Priest

 Got them to be Nazi (influential people)  Had massive rallies

 Tried to gain support of big business  Mein Kampf – best seller

3 Breakdown of Nazi Voters

 Young people supported Nazis o Brainwashed since young

 Voted for them as they were anti-Marxist/anti-communist o Hated left-winged

 At the beginning, men gave more support but eventually, gained many women voters  More rural areas voted for them

 More in north  More protestants  More middle class

May 1924 – 32 seats in Reichstag elections 1928 – 12 seats (H becoming extremist)

 Remember

o SA – protect Party o SS – protect Hitler

Stock Market Crash  led to unemployment

 July 1932

o Nazis did best ever o One of largest party (37%) o Not majority

o Hitler then expected to have all power

 President of WR (Hindenburg) was supposed to give Hitler the title of Chancellor but he hates Hitler

 “Put him in charge of the post office. That’s the best job he’ll ever have.”  Puts Franz von Papen as Chancellor & Hitler as Vice-chancellor

 Nov 1932

o Papen’s govt falls, lack of support

o Re-elections and got 33% of seats (largest party in parliament) o Caused low morale in Nazi Party

o “The future looks dark and gloomy” –Goebbel  Schleicher made new Chancellor  Papen + Hitler angry!

 Jan 1933

o Schleicher’s govt falls o Nazis got 44% of seats

4  Papen would be vice-chancellor

 But Hitler would be like a puppet of Papen  Hindenburg reluctantly agrees

o H underestimated Adolf Hitler  Commitment  Tremendous energy  Remarkable willpower  Single-minded fanatic  Great orator

 Hypnotic effect on audience  Gift for exploiting anxiety  Powerful, dominating personaly Basic Ideas  Anti-semitism  Social Darwinism  Anti-communism  Pan-Germanism  Anti-democracy SA

 Own private army

5

Summary of Hitler’s Rise to Power

 Long term bitterness

o deep anger about WW1 and TOV o lost most territory

o had to pay reparations o blame Jews for losing the war  Ineffective Constitution

o Weakness in the constitution crippled the govt o Many people wanted to return to dictatopship o Too many small parties in GE

 Money

o Financial support of wealthy businessmen gave Hitler the money to run his propaganda and election campaigns

 The Great Depression

o GE economy crashed after world war reparations o Many unemployed in GE

o Factories and stores closed o People starved on streets

o In the crisis, people wanted someone to blame and looked to extreme solutions  Hitler offered these

 Germans turned to Nazism out of desperation  Number of Nazi seats rose from 12 to 230 by 1932  Hitler as a Speaker

o Great orator

o Eyes had peculiar power over people

o He believed God had called upon him to be the dictator of Germany and the world o This persuaded him to go on and his self belief caused others to believe in him too  Reichstag Fire

o New elections in march 1933, Hitler determined for Nazi’s winning o Most historians believe Hitler might have arranged for the fire o Gained authority since he was given permission to kill all communist o H ensured that he killed all influential communists to reduce competition  Propaganda

o Use modern technology o Most Germans had radios o Speeches done on loud speakers o Movies – about Nazism

o Books from past idea burnt and replaced with Nazi books o Mein Kampf best seller

6

3 phases of Hitler’s Rise to Power

 Phase 1: Problems (1919-23)

o Disappointed troops joined right-winged o Left-winged

 Soviet-style revolution in Munich  Crushed by Freikorps

 Most leaders were jews

o Hitler and Nazis tried to take power in Munich  WR lowest point, 1923 – Ruhr/Inflation  But failed

 Phase 2: Prosperity/Golden Years (1924-1928)

o During these golden years, the Nazis built their strength o Borrowed $$ from America

o One of H’s key ideas were “natural selection” but still unpopular  Phase 3: Collapse (1929-33)

o Depression

 5 major GE banks crashed in 1931

o “Voters rushed to the extremes after bank collapse” –Rees o Hitler used modern propaganda

 Visited 20 cities in 29 days  “Helped in to power”

o Businessmen wrote to Hinderburg supporting the appointment of H as chancellor o Middle class feared communism more than Nazism

7

Consolidation of Power

January 1933

 Hitler becomes Chancellor

 Still has possibility to be fired by Hindenburg or the government falling  Nazi didn’t have 2/3 of constitution

 H stays under radar

 Consolidate power for about 2 years

How did Hitler consolidate power and become Fuhrer?

 Reichstag Fire

o Feb 1933

o Mysteriously govt building burnt down o Communists blamed

o H uses this as an excuse to be against Communist  Huge communist conspiracy

 Goes to houses of other communists to find evidence of involvement  4000 Communist arrested

 Communist started losing seats

 Thus, strengthened Nazi’s position in Reichstag  Decree for Protection of People and state

o Suspend all GE liberties of citizens

o GE in chaos – think Communist trying to overthrow govt o Led to destruction of communist party

 General Elections

o Tried to get 2/3 of majority o 44% of votes they got

o Sent SA and SS to parliament meeting and 81 communist arrested

 Continued making coalitions with centre and right-winged parties  Finally got 2/3 of party majority!

 Enabling Act

o March 1933

o Chancellor (Hitler) given power to make laws without president or Reichstag approval  Ruled by decree

o WR voted to destroy itself = stops existing o Reichstag rarely met

 Thus, got rid of Parliament  Gestapo

8 o GE became a police state

o They spied on people, ensuring citizens followed rules strictly  Thus, no personal freedom

 Nazi breathing on their backs all the time  Bans

o Trade union

 Replaced by GE labour front  Controlled workers

o Other political parties

 Only Nazi Party existed  Bureaucracy

o Got Nazis in charge

o State parliaments dissolved

 Thus, had control of everything EXCEPT  Army – personally loyal to president  Church

 SA

o 1934 – growing bigger & getting harder to control o More violent & chaotic

o Leader = Ernst Rohm

 Wanted to merge with army  Would break TOV

 Rohm = threat  Night of the Long Knives

o Rohm and SA leaders arrested and killed o Sent for a meeting in countryside o Hitler arrives with SS, protecting him o All leaders shot

 Hitler took full responsibility for death  Said SA was going to overthrow govt  He said he ‘saved’ them

 Made him incredibly popular o Excellent propaganda for H and SS  Death of Hindenburg

o Merges Chancellor + President = Fuhrer o Army swore loyalty to him

9

Social Policies

 Propaganda

o Goebbels (in charge_

o All artists had to enrol to become one under REICH CHAMBER OF CULTURE  Under this, they

 Had to be checked on  Had to Nazis

 Were controlled

Types of Propaganda



Radio

o Everyone unified under radio system o Everyone could afford it

o 70% had radios o Loudspeakers in town

o Reached 56/70 million of GE (very effective)



Press

o Everything had to be approved before publishing o All newspapers were owned by Nazis

o Had to accept papers



Film

o Controlled for content before shown o Had subtle political messages

o 10-15minutes before movie, there would be a documentary of Nazi Party  Not allowed to be late

o Goebbels approved 1000 movies during his time



Photographs

o H had an official photographer o All photos were carefully staged

o H’s photos were produced everywhere!



Mass rallies

o “Mass rallies would transform a person from a little worm into a dragon” –G o Encouraged extremism

o Rallies were equivalent to pop concerts nowadays



Art

o Replaced all denigrated art with proper Aryan Nazi art  Supposed to be clear and direct

10



Architecture

o ‘words in stone’ – Hitler

o Massive building projects made of marble and stone – to make it last  H hoped the 3rd

Reich would last for 1000 years o Redesigned Berlin – ‘Germania’

 Hoped it would be capital of GE



Music

o No modern music o Traditional folk music 

Literature

o Encouraged to burn non-Nazi books

 Only wanted books on GE nationalism or peasant stories  ‘mein kampf’ = best seller



Autobahns

o Unified for transportation and communication o Propaganda posters

o Gave people jobs

o Good for morale, economy and propaganda



Sport

o Govt coordinated all sports o ‘super human race’

o H himself obsessed with health  Vegan

 Didn’t drink

o Showed superiority of Aryan race



Religions

o Most GE Christians o Under 1% of Jews o Hitler and Churches

 Phase 1: tries to gain control of churches

 Groups all churches together = “reich church” o Didn’t work

o Churches don’t want to be under one  H signed CONCORDAT with pope

o Promised not to interfere politics and church o Didn’t work

 Phase 2: tries to weaken churches

 People pressured to go to public schools  Pushes non-religious youth groups

11  Religion not taught in school

 Priests arrested

 Church property destroyed

o This was faced with MIX SUCCESS o Some people were still religious  Phase 3: creates new religion = “GE faith movement”

 Pagan religion  Worship the sun

 Attempts were half-hearted

o Nazi leaders influenced how successful this was

Women and family

 Women took a conservative traditional role

 ‘Kinder, Kirche und Kuche” = ‘children, church and cooking’  H’s main interest of women = increase Aryan population

o Have as maaany kids as possible o Birth rate fell greatly in 1920s

o Needed more people in increase strength  Women who had many kids were prized

o Gold = 8 kids

 Women were asked to stay at home

o Give jobs to men to solve unemployment problem o Only allowed part-time jobs

 Women had to marry Aryan men

 Every time an Aryan is born, govt give $$  Contraception and abortion made illegal

 If women were married but either one could not have kids, they had to divorce  Thus, birth rate increased but many died in WWII

Hitler Youth (HJ)

 Aware that younger generation was his ‘fan base’  Makes sure he indoctrinate them well

 Creates “Hitler Youth”

 Start of WWII, 82% of all teens were part of club o Forced to join

o Popular

o Prepared them for future roles  Ladies = mother  Men – soldier  Some groups avoided HJ

12 o Some got caught for not joining HJ and hung!

Education

 All teachers were strictly Nazis  No one were to stand out

o Loyalty o Obedience o Group mentality  Curriculum set by govt

13

THE GREAT TERROR

o Believes in Aryan race. Otherwise, eliminated o Believes Darwinism (survival of the fittest)

 Strong had rights of getting rid of weak  Weak = burden on society

i)

Hereditary Defects

 E.g. deafness, mental/physical problems, blindness  Started off with STERILIZATION (cant have kids)

o Compulsory law

 Moved on to EUTHANASIA (mercy killing) o Felt like they were doing them a favour o Kept secret

o Went for ‘treatment’ and died (made it look like an accident) o Propaganda on how great euthanasia is

 Back lashed on them

o Nazi lost support – people lost the ones they love under them o Stopped this campaign

 Lastly, sent to CONCENTRATION CAMPS

ii)

Asocials

 People who did not fit into GE community  E.g.

o Beggars/homeless o Prostitute/criminals

o Homosexual (most targeted)  Not contributing to society  Rounded up + re-educated+ forced to work

o Some could be ‘fixed’

o Those who could not be changed were sent to concentration camps

iii)

Political Opponents

 Eliminated on the spot – anti-Nazi and anti-Hitler  Some sent to concentration camps

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iv)

Different Races

 Jewish, gypsies, blacks, non-Christians o Jewish – most targeted o 6 million of them

o Hitler’s pathological hatred for them – due to past  ‘greedy’ & ‘ruin economy’

 Had good positions (took jobs from Aryan)  Very few survived

Persecution of Jews

 Hitler announces at mass rallies to people about the laws he’s made to protect GE people o Law for Protection of GE blood and honour

 Not to mix other blood

 Jews and Aryans cannot marty o Reich Citizenship Law

 Takes away Jews’ GE citizenship  Less protected

 Immigrants in their own country – cant vote, no pension o Law for Protection of genetic health of GE people

 Had to confirm one was Aryan  Certificate – to find job, get married 1936-37: Quiet Year

 Olympics happening in Berlin  Economy : BR helps Berlin

 Foreign relations had to be kept well  Toned it down to lessen bad publicity  H refused to give medals to other races

o People realise he’s racist 1938: Serious Persecution begins

 As a Jew, one had to register and show them all your property to Nazis o Nazis would confiscate them later

 ID card had big “J” and had to wear a star o They stood out greatly

 Jews were soon pushed out of business

15 1938: Kristallnacht (The Night of the Broken Glass)

 A Jew assassinated a GE diplomat

 Goebbels seized opportunity to take revenge on Jews o A series of attacks against Jews

o Well-coordinated

 7500 businesses destroyed, 400 Jewish churches burnt down, 91 killed  The rest sent to CC

Most GE Jews got out. 1939-45: Final Solution

 H feels he can be more radical and violet to Jews as people were more concerned about war  H invades Poland at the beginning of war

o A lot of Jews there  Jews isolated into ghettos

o Transported them to CC o Became slave labourers o 6 million Jews died

16

Political Control

 Role of Hitler

o Hitler was a dictator – tolitarian state o No illusion of democracy

o No cabinet o Hitler

 Suffered from insomnia  Slept during day  Effective in afternoon  Indecisive and insecure

o Focused on foreign policy, military/war and building projects  Rebuilds Berlin

o As a result of his behaviour, he’s very detached. o People thought he worked 24/7

 So generous  Working for free  Brave soldier  Loved children

 Thus, people trust him unconditionally  Whatever he wanted, happened  Role of Top Nazi Leaders

o Very effective

o Hitler gives them big idea, they made it happened

 Took ideas from mein kampf and made it a reality  Desperate to get closer to H

 Everybody wanted to be his successor  Positions overlapped/changed constantly

 Led to competition so that they couldn’t get to the top, rising above Fuhrer

 Role of NSDAP Party

o Many joined as it was a good job  Made sure family protected  Everyone wanted to be in party o Feudal system

 If in Nazi Party, you had a lot of power  Old-fashioned

17  A lot of different bodied is govt, overlapping and working together  Chaotic

 Didn’t know who had what responsibility  No restriction – more extremist