The Rise of Hitler

The Rise of Hitler History 12 Ms Leslie

Hitler’s Bio • Born April 20, 1889 in Austria • Had 3 brothers die in Infancy, Sister Paula out lives him • Father dies when Adolf is 13 • Hitler never helps out around the house • Gets rejected from Art school • Mother dies from cancer when he’s 19 • 1909 moves to Vienna where he voluntarily becomes homeless • Starts hanging out with the Pan-German movement • Moves to Munich in 1913 to avoid conscription in to A-H army

Happy in Munich because he’s surrounded my Germans • Enlists in 1914 with the Bavarian Regiment • Hitler fought bravely in the war and was decorated with both the Iron Cross Second Class and First Class, the latter of which he wore until his dying day [ironically the regimental captain who recommended him for the award was Jewish]. • armistice in 1918, Hitler was in hospital recovering from temporary blindness caused by a British gas attack in the Ypres Salient.

National Socialist German Worker’s party (NSDAP). • Soon after joining the Party, Hitler assumed its leadership, turning the party into one capable of drawing crowds of up to 2,000 a political meeting. • These meetings were originally beer hall meetings with a few disgruntled Germans. • Word soon got out about Hitler’s ideology and charismatic speeches and people were curious to hear what he had to say.

Demands of NSDAP • The repeal of the Treaty of Versailles • Anschluss (union with Austria) • Removing citizenship rights from Jews

NSDAP policies that Hitler didn’t like • Nationalization of all department stores • Banning of speculation (investing in stocks) • Abolition of unearned income

Beer Hall/Munich Putsch. • With the support of Lundendorff, Hitler attempted to overthrow the government in November of 1923 • It failed and he was given a light sentence • It was during this stay at Lansberg prison that he wrote his first draft of Mein Kampf (My Struggle). He also learned the path to power was not through a coup but through the ballot box.

Key elements of the Nazi ideology • National Socialist Program • Anti-Marxism, Anti-Communism, Anti-Bolshevism • The rejection of democracy, with as a consequence the ending the existence of political parties, labour unions, and free press. • Führerprinzip (Leader Principle) /belief in the leader (Responsibility up the ranks, and authority down the ranks.) • Related to Fascism

Racism • especially anti-Semitism, which eventually culminated in the Holocaust. • The creation of a Herrenrasse (Master Race= by the Lebensborn (Fountain of Life; A department in the Third Reich) • Anti-Slavism • Belief in the superiority of the White, Germanic, Aryan or Nordic races. • Euthanasia and Eugenics with respect to "Racial Hygiene" • Strong show of local culture. • Social Darwinism • Defense of Blood and Soil (German: "Blut und Boden" - represented by the red and black colors in the Nazi flag)

Hitler Youth • 1922 • an organization designed to in doctrine youth , alternative to Social democratic and Communist labour unions.

Reichspateitag, or party rally • a new innovation in politics in which torchlight processions and speeches created a feeling of Nazi Pride. • Hitler stated quite clearly that “Mass demonstrations must bring it home to the little man’s mind that although he is only a petty worm, he is nevertheless part of a great dragon.”

In the elections of 1928, 12 Nazis won seats with only 800,000 votes. • The Social Democrats got 9 million and the Conservative National Party 4 million • Hitler allied himself with Hugenberg’s Conservative National Party which gave him a wider national acceptance. • He was also introduced to some powerful and wealthy backers such as Fritz Thyssen, the steel magnate. (later put into Dachau)

On October 3, 1929 Stressemann died, three weeks later the Wall Street Crash came.

After the Crash • American Loans Dried up • Unemployment rose to 1/3 of all males in 1933 • The German labour movement, a strong supporter of the republic was now divided between the workers and the workless.

Politics and the Crash • The Socialist Chancellor, Mueller, Tried to raise additional funds for Unemployment relief, but could not win enough votes in the coalition government to do so. Hindenburg refused to use his emergency powers to do so. Hindenburg instead forced Mueller to resign and appointed conservative Heinrich Bruening in his place. (1930)

Social democrats were put in an awkward situation as Bruning proposed budget cuts, the proposals were defeated. • When the Reichstag protested, Bruning dissolved it and held new elections. The Nazis gained 107 seats, Social democrats 143 and Communists 77. Hugenberg’s party lost seats to the Nazis.

Street fights erupted between the Red Fighters (Communist thugs) and the Stahlhelm (national party thugs) and the SA. • Bruening governed for another 2 years but only through the use of emergency powers granted in article 48 of the constitution. • Gradually the Nazis took control of several state governments.

In October 1931, Hitler allied himself with Hugenberg’s conservatives and Rhineland industrialists in theHarzburg Front. They proclaimed themselves ready to sieve power and challenged the Weimar’s authority. Hitler and the industrialists were seeking to use each other to their own advantage. • In the increasingly radical atmosphere on German politics, Hindenburg was now seen as a moderate in the 1932 elections instead of the radical he was perceived to be in 1925. The 1932 elections resulted in Hitler wining 13 million votes and Hindenburg 19 million.

Politics in Germany was getting messier and messier. Communists and Nazis were both calling for an end to Weimar with huge public support. • These two parties were gaining success in the Reichstag and Bruening could only govern with the support of a senile 84-year-old President. • In an attempt to curb street fighting, Bruning attempted to ban Hitler’s SA and SS. To do so he needed the President to use his emergency powers. • This is a move that proved to be Bruning’s undoing.

Franz von Papen, a friend of Hindenburg and many aristocrats and nobles, sought to put together an alliance of conservatives to keep Hitler out of power. • To do so he made a bargain with Hitler to end the ban on the SA and SS in return for support of a Papen government. • Von Papen became chancellor in 1932 but was unable to cope with the events that followed. • Street fighting continued and von Papen adopted dictatorial measures to try and cope. • The elections had brought greater Nazi support (230 seats) and again the Nazis were contemplating a coup d’etat. Hitler and Goebbels wanted a legal entry into the Reichstag. The Nazis attacked von Papen for using article 48 while openly using terror on the streets.

In the Nazi Party, GregorStrasser quit because Hitler refused to adopt more socialist parties into the ranks and was pursuing big business instead. • Seeing the weakness in the Nazi party, von Papen held another election in attempt to reduce the number of seats the Nazis held. • Hitler lost only 34 seats, there was a decline in voter turn out. • Hindenburg offered the Chancellorship to Hitler but withdrew the offer when Hitler demanded unlimited power. • Von Papen offered to govern with out the Reichstag, a move Hindenburg deemed to be unconstitutional. • The next chancellor was Schleicher who only lasted 2 months.

Schleicher had convinced Hindenburg that he could bring the socialists and bourgeois into an alliance against Hitler. • He did not want the Reichswehr (German Army) to become over shadowed by Hitler’s personal army. • Unfortunately Hitler already had the masses on his side. • In the end von Papen was able to topple Schleicher by making another deal with Hitler. • Hitler agreed to abandon his demand for unlimited power and enter into a coalition with von Papen and Hugenberg. At von Papen’s advice, Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor on January 30, 1933.

Thus Hitler came into power legally and with the support of the German people. • The Depression had undermined democracy everywhere in the world. • Democracy in Germany had further become farcical when Hindenburg allowed Bruning to govern under article 48.

Now that Hitler was in power he had to take measure to ensure he would remain there. • The premier of Prussia, Goering was a high ranking Nazi who put together the Gestapo (German Secret police) • These plain clothes officers were responsible for thousands of people going missing adding to the Nazi terror.

Two days after his appointment Hitler declared “Give us four years and then judge us!” • On February 27th, 1933 the Reichstag buildings burnt down. • Goebbles and Goering claimed that the KPD was behind it and Hitler used this to persuade Hindenburg to issue “Ordinances for the Protection of the German state and Nation… as defense against communistic acts of terror endangering the state.” • Civil liberties were stripped – freedom of speech, press and assembly were lost as were postal secrecy, habeas corpus and the inviolability of home and property. • Opposition newspapers were closed and opponents of Nazism jailed.

Hitler dissolved the Reichstag and called for new elections in March hoping for the 2/3 majority needed to change the constitution. • Goering used the Prussian police and the SA to persuade voters before the election. • Despite the Terror, Hitler only got 44% of the vote. • Falling shy of the 2/3 mark had little meaning since Hitler continued to govern under emergency provisions.

Concentration camps were sent up and opponents simply disappeared to be tortured and killed. • The Enabling Act of March 1933 took power away form the Reichstag. • Hitler could not pass laws without the approval of parliament – even if they violated the constitution. • How did this act pass? Most partied voted in favour of it and because of new laws passed by Hitler, the KPD could not longer vote.

Hitler used the Enabling act to create a totalitarian state. • On July 14, 1933 the NSDAP became the only legal party in Germany. • Germany was changed from a federal to a unitary state. • Non-Aryans were dismissed from all government jobs. • Strikes were forbidden and unions abolished – replaced by an All-German Labour Front. • Education and culture fell under the scrutiny of Goebbels and were purged of “politically unreliable” elements.

When yet another election was held in November, the NSDAP received 92.2% of the vote. • Only 3.4 million Germans dared to vote against Hitler.

The only group that could challenge Hitler in Germany was the Army. • The General staff distrusted Hitler for they feared he would replace them with his own SS and SA officers. • Ernst Roehm’s SA brownshirts wanted to take over the regular Reichswehr giving them better prestige and better weapons. • If Roehm became the leader of the Reichswher, then he would be the most powerful many in the country. • At the time the Reichswehr was only 100,000 men as limited by the Treaty of Versailles.

The SA was 2 million men. • Hindenburg new of Rohm’s plans and told Hitler he would impose martial law if he did not get Rohm under control. • Also by now Roehm’s homosexuality had become an embarrassment when letters he had written describing his sexual encounters with men had been published. • The motive of the SA was socialist revolution. • To win the army’s favour and to remove party faction, Hitler ordered Himmler’s SS to eliminate their rivals, the SA.

The Night of the Long Knives, June 30th, 1934. • Roehmand the other leaders were arrested and shot with out trial. • Along with them were General von Schleicher and his wife, GregorStrasser, friends of von Papen, prominent Catholics, monarchists and many others. • Rohm was given the option of suicide but he refused, they shot him instead. (Hitler justified killing Rohm on grounds of treason and homosexuality). • Von Papen himself was arrested but not shot. • The death toll is anywhere from 74 to 1,000.

Two months later Hindenburg died. • Hitler was then able to combine the posts of Chancellor and President and made himself the Fuhrer. • The Reichswehr loyalty oath was now to Hitler.

The Rise of Hitler