Why did Hitler gain power

Wednesday, 24 September 2014

Why did Hitler gain power in 1933?
I believe that there were 5 key motivators for change within Germany which led to Hitlers rise to power in the 1930’s, and his election as Chancellor. In this essay I plan to explore in depth about how, after ten years, Hitler finally gained the trust of the German people, and most importantly, their vote.
Although Hitler was not responsible for the Great Depression, nor did he particularly have any control over the collapse of the worlds economy, he was able to utilise the situation and use it to his advantage. This therefore became one of the many factors which led to his rise to power.
Germany’s recovery from the 1923 economic crisis, which caused hyperinflation and the collapse of the Rentenmark, lasted only six years and in 1929 Germany entered a deep economic depression. The depression in Germany was part of a worldwide economic depression which began in the U.S. when the prices of shares sold on the New York Stock Exchange dropped suddenly in October 1929. As a result of the Wall Street Crash, as this collapse of the stock market was known, many American banks had to close down and thousands of companies went out of business putting millions of people out of work, increasing poverty and unemployment.
Although these events took place on the other side of the Atlantic, they affected Germany badly.
This was because American banks now demanded repayment of the loans they had given to
Germany since 1924 which were the lifeblood of the German Industry, and also stopped giving out new loans. Many German companies which had borrowed money thus went bankrupt. As bankrupt companies closed down, workers lost their jobs, meaning by early 1932, the number of of registered unemployed in the country rose to more than six million. For those who lost their jobs there was poverty, hunger and homelessness and the economic collapse affected even those who were still in work. Apart from the dread of losing their jobs, millions of German workers had to survive on low wages, short-time working and worsening conditions of work. The Weimar government did not understand how to resolve the situation so the general public became angry and lost confidence in the relatively new democratic system. This led many workers to turn to communism, but this frightened wealthy businessmen, so they financed Hitler's campaigns and several middle-class people, alarmed by the obvious failure of democracy, decided that the country needed a strong government. The Nazi Party created jobs for the unemployed and gave refuge to the homeless, giving the public hope for a stronger and more stable financial future and in return gained their votes. Nationalists and racists blamed the Treaty of Versailles and reparations.
The Depression was a gift to Hitler and the Nazis. To many Germans it seemed that the Weimar government was making a hopeless mess of handling the situation. Some people who had never bothered to vote in elections before - because they were not interested in politics - now became more involved, as they obviously felt that something had to be done. From right and left they could hear claims of extremist parties who said they could solve all these problems. The
Communists claimed that the Depression showed that the capitalist system was doomed and that only communism had the answer. The Nazis blamed the Weimar Republic, the Treaty of
Versailles, the Marxists and the Jews and promised to get rid of ‘the enemy within’ who was
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Wednesday, 24 September 2014 destroying Germany. As extremism increased, so too did political violence. Nazi and Communist supporters fought regular battles. Five hundred were killed or seriously wounded in a seven-week frenzy of political fighting during the elections of 1932. While the Weimar Republic appeared simply to be muddling through indecisively the Nazi’s leader delivering his powerful and moving speeches, seeming to represent strong, decisive leadership in the great German tradition going back to the Kaiser. Extremist times call for extremist politics and Hitler’s strong personality and powerful ideas seemed to be just what Germany needed in this time of crisis.

The Depression also drew attention to the weaknesses of the Weimar Constitution; as poverty and unemployment increased, respect for the democratic system drastically decreased. Another factor which led to Hitler gaining power was the weakness of the opposing political parties and the
Weimar Government in general.
At this time the Weimar’s system was very fragile and therefore didn’t particularly benefit the country. Democracy in Germany was not admired and the people longed for the return of a strong-figurehead, as traditionally the Kaiser had been. The German population did not want to be governed by a democracy as it was such a governing body that signed the Treaty of Versailles and hatred for this document was still rife in Germany. In addition to this, Germans had judged their country by its economic success for more than half a century, so in their eyes, if the economy was failing then the country must be mirroring that. The Weimar government seemed to have no idea what to do about the problems of rising unemployment and growing poverty; they did of course try to get Germany out of depression, but with little success. However, the republic faced particular problems compared to other countries, for example, one way out of depression is to print more money, and increase government expenditure - but all Weimar leaders were aware that these were the policies which had led to disastrous hyperinflation in 1923. They were apprehensive to solve the country’s economic problems with this solution in case the same situation happened again. The government was more scared of what would happen if there was another period of inflation than it was of unemployment. So instead the Chancellor, Von Papen, raised taxes, cut wages and reduced unemployment benefit - hardly the policies to win the support from the German people, especially given the high unemployment rate at the time, due to the depression. Anger and bitterness against these policies helped the Nazis to gain more support.
These policies also caused the collapse of the government because the Social Democrats withdrew from the coalition. In order for his government survive, the Chancellor fell back on
Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution which gave the President, Hindenburg, an 84 year old war hero, apparently controlled by businesses and army leaders, who seemed ‘well past his prime’, special powers in an emergency. This article stated that he could pass laws or rulings which didn’t have to be approved by the Reichstag. Another of the Weimar’s vital weaknesses was the way in which Proportional Representation gave small parties seats and destabilised the process of continuous government, causing the need for constant re-election and coalition governments. In a society which had grown used to consistency under the strong rule of a Kaiser, this constant political change was disruptive and unsettling, with changing policies every election, it made
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Wednesday, 24 September 2014 democracy appear to be a weak system of government. This allowed Hitler to gain popularity as he portrayed himself as a “superman” who could take control and, along with his party, make
Germany great once again. Another factor which helped Hitler and the Nazis success was the fact that other political parties in the Reichstag were very weak and they consistently underestimated them. The Social Democrats feared they would attempt a putsch, but they thought the Nazis’ electioneering was so absurd that ordinary Germans would see through it. And their own support was constant so they were not eager to change. They quarrelled among themselves rather than uniting to face the Nazis’ challenge, this absence of leadership creating a “power vacuum” which allowed Hitler to step in and make himself appear to be the solution to the country’s problems.

It was not just the weaknesses of Hitler’s opponents that helped him in his rise to power, but also his own strengths and the strengths of his party. The Nazi’s became confident and ambitious after their success in the recent elections and made huge efforts to increase support. They used propaganda extremely effectively in order to gain publicity and support and to bring Hitler to the forefront of peoples minds.
2 weeks after his release from prison, in 1924 the ban on the Nazi party was lifted and Hitler began to reorganise the party to make it more effective in elections. As a result of this, they had skilled leaders at almost every level who trained and worked to motivate the rest of the party.
Hitler also ensured that all members of the Nazi party were well trained in speaking and many of them had been soldiers in the First World War so they brought to party work the same obedience, organisation and teamwork skills which they had needed in the trenches. Their effective use of propaganda increased the hatred the German people felt towards Communism. One of their aims - which was partly successful - was to earn the support of the powerful industrialists.
Traditionally they had voted for the Conservative party, which lost much of its support after 1930.
In 1931, Hitler came to an agreement with the other main right-wing party, the Nationalists, by which the two parties agreed to co-operate. The Nazi party also received some financial backing from big businesses. Another important strength of the Nazis was this funding they received from rich, communist-fearing businessmen. This money allowed the Nazis to produce propaganda, control the media and run campaigns among other things. Nazi ideas were spread in several ways, from posters, eight Nazi-owned newspapers, rallies, processions and marches, and by millions of pamphlets. Above all, the Nazis used mass rallies, or public meetings, to put across their message.
Their national leaders were masters of propaganda (managed by Goebbels), and they carefully trained their local groups in propaganda skills, using every trick in the book to get their point across. They were aware that their anti-communist stance was very popular and their propaganda further whipped up fear and hatred of the Communists. It is said that the SA, Hitler’s own personal army, “loved brutality and hated communism and he often used their violence and aggression, to scare and intimidate people into voting for the Nazi’s and to get rid of opposition
The Nazi Party stirred up violence at election meetings so that the SA could crush it and be seen as ‘dealing with the Communist threat’, gaining the popularity of many Germans. As a result of the advances in technology, the Nazis could now redouble their propaganda. Radio was used for the first time and in the 1932 presidential election, while Hindenburg gave just one election
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Wednesday, 24 September 2014 speech, Josef Goebbels, who was Hitler’s minister of Propaganda, chartered planes to fly Hitler all over Germany in order to speak to four or massive rallies per day. Radio broadcasts, millions of election posters, rallies, parades and marches carried the Nazi message into every town and home in Germany.

Many of the Nazis Policies were very popular in the eyes of the German people and Hitler’s promises to the public bought much hope in a time of depression.
In the Nazi Party’s policies, every sector of German society seemed to hear something it wanted to. Workers were promised jobs - Hitler could point to how the Nazis’ SA had taken in the unemployed and fed and housed them. Employers were promised restored profits; farmers higher prices and shopkeepers protection against competition. Hitler made it seem as though his policies had some benefit for everyone and as a result, they gained votes. In fact, one reason for the Nazis’ success was that they were flexible. If they found an idea was losing them support, they would change it. In one election speech a leading Nazi spoke powerfully for the nationalisation of industry; which had always been one of the Nazis beliefs. When they found out how alarmed the industrialists were they quickly dropped the idea. In their campaigns, it was never mentioned again. In their all-out push for electoral success, they realised that it doesn’t really matter what you promise as long as people trust you, leading them to ‘listen to what the audience wanted then tell them what they wished to hear,’ implying that they were not always honest or realistic when setting policies, they only wanted to gain this trust to increase popularity. If all else failed the
Nazis simply went for vague promises: ‘they would make Germany great again’. In the end, despite the extreme beliefs expressed in the Nazis’ 25 points - of which they made no secret Germans were actually very unsure as to what the Nazis really stood for. Only one thing really stayed consistent throughout this barrage of electioneering: the unblinking focus on Hitler, the strong leader whom Germany needed and wanted. Posters and rallies built him up into a
‘superman’: his physical appearance was adapted (on posters at least) and Hitler himself developed his speech-making skills still further. He wore spectacles to read but refused to be seen wearing them in public as he believed it was a sign of weakness and so his speeches were typed in large - 12mm high - print. It no longer seemed to matter what he said, just how he said it. Hitler was the Nazis’ trump card - the campaigns focused around his personality and his skills - and the opposition had no one to match him. Making the party he led, the best option for the future of
Germany.
In conclusion, I believe that there were several different factors that contributed to Hitlers rise to power in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. The role of war was influential in the rise of Hitler; after the defeat of World War I, and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles which destroyed German military, industry and the morale of the public, Germany needed a strong leader, committed to
‘making Germany great once again.’ The advances that were made in technology were also key as they allowed the Nazi party to redouble their propaganda efforts, and they were able to get their message across in ways which had never been possible before; they were able to spread their policies and aims to ‘make Germany great again’ by radio and plane, as well as marches, posters
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Wednesday, 24 September 2014 and parades. Another of the predominant factors which led to Hitlers political success was as a result of the weaknesses of the Weimar Constitution, their inability to keep a stable government in power for a substantial length of time, accompanied with the fact that the opposing parties were also weak and quarrelled amongst themselves, rather than uniting to face the Nazis - who they repeatedly underestimated - created a power vacuum which Hitler was able to fill. I feel that the role of chance was one of the most significant aspects in Hitlers success as the Great
Depression of 1929 created a situation which he managed to utilise and use best to his advantage.
I believe that his reaction to this event was one of key importance as he managed to gain the support of the German voters with his party’s policies, he gained popularity, and votes, by creating jobs for the unemployed and promising what the public wanted to hear.

Jemima