Examine and explain how Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in 1933

Examine and explain why Hitler and the Nazis were able to take power in Germany in 1933 and how they controlled and governed the German State until the outbreak of war in 1939. How effective do you think that the policies and actions were?
Hitler (A Brief Run up Of His Life, Birth to 1919)
Adolf Hitler, born 20 April 1889, was acclaimed to be a bright student in his younger years. Despite this, he dropped out of High School when his Father died in 1903. In 1907 Hitler went to Vienna to attempt to get into The Academy of Fine Arts. After failing the entrance exam twice, Hitler did not give up his ambition to be an artist, and continued making a living by selling cheap sketches. Following his mother’s death the following year, Hitler moved to Vienna permanently, and lived there from 1908-1913. In 1913 he moved to Munich where he continued making a living selling cheap paintings. When the War broke out in 1914, Hitler volunteered in the German army and joined the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. By the end of WW1, Hitler had been promoted to Corporal, but nothing beyond that. When Hitler heard that Germany had been defeated, he turned his anger against Marxists and Jews, blaming them for the defeat of Germany. Hitler, in 1919, was sent by the German government to examine the German Workers Party (later to be called the National Socialist German Workers Party under Adolf’s word) as an Education Officer. Hitler found that he shared many views with this party and swiftly joined.
Hitler’s Anti-Semitism – Where Did It come from?
There are many questions as to why Hitler hated the Jews so much, and why they, above everyone else, were his Scape-Goat for all the problems with Germany. The mystery is thickened when one considers the quote from Mein Kampf, commenting on Vienna’s anti-Semitic attitude that states: “For the Jew was still characterized for me by nothing but his religion, and therefore, on grounds of human tolerance, I maintained my rejection of religious attacks in this case as in others. Consequently, the tone, particularly that of the Viennese anti-Semitic press, seemed to me unworthy of the cultural tradition of a great nation” This is surely a very confusing statement, coming from the most famous anti-Semitic of all time, is it not? I, personally, have no real conclusion as to whether this was before a drastic change in his views (which is incredibly unlikely, in that he was already preaching against Jews and Marxists before he wrote Mein Kampf) or it was a cover for his raging obsession with Jews, and the extermination of Semitism. As I previously mentioned, Hitler strongly believed that the defeat of Germany at the end of WW1 was the fault of the Jews and the Marxists. One thing rarely spoken about in papers concerning Hitler’s anti-Semitic views was the anti-Semitic views of the German public at the time. Hitler’s anti-Semitism was somewhat unremarkable, in fact. Also, a possible strong contributing factor to Hitler’s raging anti-Semitism perhaps spurred from his bitterness towards The Academy of Fine Arts, where Jews were prominent. There is little one can say that justifies Hitler’s views, in that there is nothing to justify prejudices of any sort, other than that it was a popular opinion at the time, that, and Hitler was bitter towards the War being lost.
The Nazi Party
The National Socialist German Workers’ Party, originally entitled The German Worker’s Party, and was formed in 1919 by Anton Drexler, Gottfried Feder and Dietrich Eckart in Munich; a group of unemployed soldiers. The German Workers’ Party branched from "Freien Arbeiterausschuss für einen guten Frieden" (Free Workers' Committee for a good Peace), founded by Drexler. The original members were colleagues of Drexler from Munich rail port. The original aims of the Nazi party did not include the extermination of Jews; this was added in later when Hitler took power.
Rise to Power
Most people now find it hard to imagine how Hitler and the Nazis were able to take power, considering how purely evil their actions were, but we must pay attention to the position of the German public at the time. The economy was in ruins after WW1, and the restraints of the Treaty of Versailles made it practically impossible for the German economy to be resurrected and brought back to a stable state. One may first look at the character of Hitler. It may perhaps confuse us now to think this, but Hitler was branded as one of the most charismatic people out there, and it may very well be true when one looks at the effect Hitler and his powers of speech had on people, and the German public. A good speech is a powerful thing, we must remember, and a persuasively worded argument can, if good enough, win over anybody. This is, though, questionable. When the Nazis took part in the German general election in May of 1928, the Nazis polled 2.6 per cent of the vote. Hitler had been in charge of the Nazi party for just under seven years at the time, surely enough to win over the German public with any hypnosis that people bestow upon him when looking back trying to find an answer to the question ‘how did the Nazis manage to get into power?’. It is quite obvious that the Nazis had very little hold over the German public in this year, so what enabled them to take power over the next five years? The answer to this is that little changed, more that events unfolded in the favour of the Nazi party. For example, we should review the feeling of the German public after the defeat of Germany in 1918. One German soldier, Herbert Richter commented that ‘we didn’t feel beaten at all.’ And as a result, many German soldiers were angry about the outcome of the war. The reasons for it ending confused them. It was from this feeling that the ‘stab in the back’ idea grew- the idea that perhaps whilst the soldiers were out fighting, someone, back in the Fatherland was betraying them, and next came the question of who it was. It is sad to admit it, but a truth is that German Jews had befallen prejudice for hundreds of years. As I mentioned previously, Hitler’s hatred of the Jews, although extreme, was not an uncommon view in Germany. It was easy to point the finger at the Jews in these circumstances, and, as sad as it is, a nation united in hate can be so very strong. Another aspect one can look at it that the Nazis were highly unoriginal. Their policies could have been that of any of the many small Right Wing German parties of the early 1920s. Also their symbols were as unoriginal as their ideas. The swastika was originally a Hindu symbol of peace. The skull and crossbones to be famously featured on the hats of members of the SS had originally been used in the German cavalry. The salute that everyone thinks of when Nazis are mentioned was taken from a greeting used by Mussolini. When addressing the Nazi’s appeal over the other small Right Wing parties of the time, we must look at the fact that they had branded themselves as the ‘salvation’ to Germany’s worries. It is to be said that much of their success was based on the amount of problems Germany was faced with. If they’d been claiming to be the ‘salvation’ of Germany in a time of little struggle, their pleas and promises would not have had as much impact as it did in a time of financial hardship. Hitler’s promises to get rid of the Treaty of Versailles were also very popular, in that, as previously mentioned, the Treaty held the country’s financial dismay in a grip so tight it was almost impossible to see how Germany would begin to repay the Treaty, let alone turn its attention to its own problems. To give an idea of how desperately bad Germany’s economy had become, one German, Emil Klein commented that he had once paid Four billion marks for a sausage roll. Of course, when inflation has grown so bad in a country, its people are bound to cry out for help from anyone who can offer it. Of course, one aspect that many look at when examining the Nazi’s power over the country is propaganda. Propaganda being publicised information that is biased in some way, which’s main purpose, is to persuade the opinions of the public it is released to. The Nazis are, in fact famous for it, and propaganda posters and films are the subjects of much scrutiny from many authors. It is important to remember that propaganda cannot be totally blamed for the opinion of the German public. As I have already said, German Jews were already the subject of much prejudice, and the posters displaying anti-Semitic slogans only played on this already established prejudice, and was only a means of reinforcing existing prejudices, not introducing them. In September 1930, the Nazi share of the vote grew to 18.3 per cent. It was also in this year that German unemployment increased to over 5 million unemployed. In this election, the German Communist Party’s vote was 13.1 per cent. It seems that Germany was quickly becoming extreme, be it to the Right or the Left. The German chancellor of the time, Heinrich Bruning, began to turn away from the Reichstag and issue emergency laws and regulations under Article 48 of the Constitution signed by President Hindenburg, in order to govern the country, as a government with such contradictory views is an impossible one to work with. Finally, we should look at Hitler’s determination to take power. Hindenburg realised that, although he hated Hitler, there was no getting around the fact that he’d become popular. In the July elections of 1932 the Nazi party won 230 seats making it Germany’s largest political party, although they fell short of being a majority. A political stale mate brought swiftly a new election in November of 1932. The Nazi party lost two million votes and thirty four seats. Despite this, the Nazis were still the largest party. Hindenburg attempted to help the situation by appointing Kurt von Schleicher the new German Chancellor. He resigned after Fifty seven days of being appointed. Finally, Hindenburg, on the 30th of January 1933, appointed Hitler Chancellor. Now, with Hitler as Chancellor, the Nazi’s quest for power was to become a lot easier to fulfil. Maintaining Power: Nazi rule of Germany
Another example of the world’s events playing into the hands of Hitler and the Nazis is the Reichstag fire on February 27th. It could not have come at a better time. The fire was started by Van der Lubbe, a Dutch Communist. This, of course, greatly affected the opinion of the general public on Communists. This was a superb turn of events for the Nazis in that this attack spurred a new fear of Communists that lead to people blindly following the Nazi party to save them from the Communists, and, it appears, trade freedom for a sense of security. The following day, Hitler managed to get Hindenburg to enable a decree named “For the Protection of the People and the State.’ The act was justified as a ‘defensive measure against Communist acts of violence endangering the state’. The act, in official terms was:
‘Restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of free expression of opinion, including freedom of the press; on the rights of assembly and association; and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications; and warrants for house searches, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.’
In short, this act was the key to the Nazis taking utter control.
In conclusion, it is not hard to see how, sadly, the Nazis were able to take control in 1933. It is to be put down to a perfect storm of events in Hitler’s favour, not that he was in any way a good politician, or that Germany was an evil country. Germany was just a country in ruins, who desperately needed a saviour. Unfortunately, this saviour came in the shape of Hitler, and by gosh, is the term ‘saviour’ used wrongly.