The Depression and the Nazis

How did the Depression Help the Nazis?

After reading pages 191-194, do you agree with Goebbels' view that people rallied to support Hitler for positive reasons - or do you think that Gordon Craig (bottom, pg. 193"negative cohesion") was right that people supported the Nazis out of fear and disillusionment? 

Work through questions 1 - 3 to help you make up your mind. 

1. Look carefully at Sources 3-7 and 9. For each source, write two sentences explaning whether you think it is evidence that:

• Supports the view of Goebbels
• Supports the view of Craig
• Could be used to support either interpretation

Source 3: This source could be used to support either interpretation. The Nazi party and the citizens of Germany were unhappy with the unemployment rate and there was no improvement under a democratic government, so when the Nazis expressed their dislike for this situation, their support went up; this situation also relates to Craig's views.

Source 4: Source 4 supports the view of Craig because Speer is proving Craig's ideas by saying that after seeing Germany is such a horrible state of downfall, he needed to change his support to the Nazi party. He already disliked the democratic government that ran Germany, but seeing the state that Germany was in made him realize he needed to leave.

Source 5: Source 5 supports the view of Goebbels because this poster was used as propaganda and it shows how Germany is tied down (or chained down in this picture) by the Treaty of Versailles and it is ruining the country of Germany. Specifically, the picture shows an Aryan (Nazi's idea of the superior race) man being burned by the Treaty of Versailles, representing the downfall of Germany. This poster also shows that the NSDAP will be the source of saving Germany from the wrath of the Treaty.

Source 6: Source 6 supports the views of Goebbels. The support of Goebbels' views would come from his belief that the way that Hitler would prove himself to be a good leader comes from having a room full of people that support him. This picture displays a large group of people waiting for Hitler to come and speak.

Source 7: The Source supports the views of Craig because it shows the way that the people hated how the Communists were handling situations so the people they turned to instead of the Communists were the Nazis. Craig said that it was because the people shared the Nazi's dislikes that they sided with them, this is a perfect example.

Source 9: This source supports Goebbels because this poster shows that Jews and others were not superior enough to lead and give the people what they wanted. It shows that the Aryan man is stronger and better for the job of giving people what they need, such as freedom, work, and bread.
 

2. Now work through the text and other sources on pages 191-94. Make a list of examples and evidence that seem to support either viewpoint.

Goebbels:

• Nazi party dropping unpopular policies immediately
• SA and SS able to disrupt and stop COmmunist rallies and gain control of the situation at hand while staying more organized
• Hitler was ahead of his time as a communicator compared to the other opponents
• After failure in 1932, he was still able to come back with a lot of support and be seen as having a real understanding of the common people and their problems.

Craig: 

• Jews, Weimar politicians, Communists, and the Treaty of Versailles all caused problems in Germany
• There was a shared dislike of the democratic government between the people and the Nazis
• Politicians were unable to handle the Depression
• There was a common fear of communism spreading throughout Germany

Both:

• There was a large amount of unemployment throughout the country, Nazis wanted to fix it, the people shared the Nazi's dislike of it 

3. Decide how far you agree with each of the following three statements and give them a score on a scale of 1-5. And then, write a short paragraph explaining your score for each statement.

a. Very few people fully supported the Nazis (Score = 2 ) Explanation:
 In the beginning this statement was very true, there was very little support for the Nazis, but eventually the Nazis were able to gain attention and supporters through propaganda and Hitler's ability to grab opportunities and use them to his advantage. When they saw that people were really starting to show the unhappiness for the government and the condition of the country, the Nazis took the opportunity to show how they wanted to change the state and work to get Germany back to the way they thought it was supposed to be. People liked having a plan laid out and change on the table so that they could be reassured that something was being done about the problems that were occurring. The Nazis gained tons of support during this time. 

b. The Key factor was the economic depression. Without it, the Nazis would have remained a minority fringe party. (Score =5) Explanation:
 The Depression proved to be the biggest problem that set the people of Germany over the top. When the government was unable to find a way to fix the effect of the Depression on Germany, the citizens went in another direction to find help to finally bring back the country of Germany to the way they knew originally. When the Nazis stepped in and explained their plan, they gained many supporters, making them a well-known and well-liked political party.

c. The politicians of the Weimar Republic were mainly responsible for the rise of the Nazis 

(Score =5) Explanation: 

The politicians of the Weimar Republic were making multiple decisions that led to the complete downfall of Germany. For instance, one politician deliberately made the economy worse just so the reparations they needed to pay would be cancelled, but that was unsuccessful and led Germany to an even worse economic mess than it had already been in. Also the call for a new election was able to be considered a help to the Nazis because the Nazis were able to step in and prove to the people of Germany that they would be able to fix the problems that had occurred and reassured them out of their fear and unhappiness.

Hitler's Background to 1923

Hitler's Background Discuss Hitler's background to 1923 and how it influenced his rise to power with the NSDAP. Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born man who grew up excelling at sports and arts. He experienced a very distraught time in his life when both of his parents died while he was a young man, his dad when Hitler was 12 and his mother when he was 16. After the death of his father, Adolf fell behind in school, eventually dropping out and moving, hoping he would be able to get into a Fine Arts school he wanted to attend. Right around this time is when his mother died and because of this traumatic event, Hitler decided to drift around from place to place, making it on his own. Making it on his own would have allowed Hitler the ability to become more responsible and mature, allowing him to have that over many of the people that were looking for the same powerful position he was. During one of these drifting times, Hitler lived in a Jewish village. This is where he developed the hatred he had for Jews; he became anti-semitic, anti-Marxist, and anti-democratic when he was surrounded by people with all these interests and beliefs. Hitler tried for a very long time to keep the fact that he thought he was partially Jewish a secret; his grandmother was thought to be pregnant by a Jewish man during the German take-over in his father's village. Later on, Hitler was called back to Austria to be drafted, but during this time he was found unfit for the job. When he became upset over the war and the way it was turning out, he decided to join the Bavarian regiment. When he did, the farthest that he had made it through the chain of command was to corporal and it was stated that he lacked a sense of leadership. The fact that Hitler was told he was unfit to be a leader and he was not allowed to be in the army was ironic because of his later position, and it would be assumed that Hitler would be angered by this statement and he would want to prove this statement to be untrue. Hitler showed many traits and expressed many beliefs that would help him lay down a plan for what he was looking to do with the country of Germany and during the time that he was trying to gain leadership was a time where people really were looking for a plan that was different from the one they were experiencing then. They looked for any change that would allow them the chance to get them back on their feet.

Hitler's Ideals Expressed in Mein Kampf

Volume One, Chapter Six: "War Propaganda" The importance of propaganda was in calling the masses' attention to certain facts, processes, necessities, etc., whose significance is these aspects being exposed to the masses for the first time. It must be created so that everyone will be convinced that the fact is real, the process necessary, the necessity correct, etc. It needs to present something that isn't known to the majority. In section 3, Hitler says that "the art of propaganda lies in understanding the emotional ideas of the great masses and finding, through a psychologically correct form, the way to the attention and thence to the heart of the broad masses." Hitler clearly knew what the masses wanted to hear and knew that this was his automatic way to success. In the next section he talks of the "receptivity of the great masses" being very "limited"and therefore, their "intelligence is small." He is convinced that "their power of forgetting [being] enormous." So as a result, propaganda must be short and sweet, containing only a few specific points. In Hitler's view, the function of propaganda is exclusively to emphasize the one right which it has set out to argue for, not to weigh two different opinions. Volume One, Chapter Ten: "Causes of the Collapse" Hitler was convinced that the causes of the economic collapse were the consequences of the lost war, and therefore the war, and the other countries involved in the war and after war terms; however, the main cause was the Jews, especially the Jewish businessmen. In section 18, Hitler stated that the "so-called liberal press was actively engaged in digging the grave of the German people and the German Reich. We can pass by the lying Marxist sheets in silence; to them lying is just as vitally necessary as catching mice for a cat; their function is only to break the people's national and patriotic backbone and make them ripe for the slave's yoke of international capital and its masters, the Jews. . . ." This clearly shows Hitler's distaste for Marxism, and emphasis that Jews were the "masters" and many feared them and their wealth. Volume One, Chapter Eleven: "Nation and Race" Hitler believed there were higher (German) and lower (Jewish) racial breeds. He therefore, was convinced that it was against nature for the higher and lower to breed. He wanted racial purity, which was, as he claims in section 23, "universally valid in nature." He feels that the racial problem is the "Jewish menace." Clearly he had difficulty trusting people, especially those with power in the economy. Hitler didn't want to lose the purity of blood because he believed that that would intern cause eternal unhappiness. Since he, himself, suspected his father's mother of being impregnated by a Jew, this possibility may have had an effect on his happiness as well. Volume Two, Chapter Fourteen: "Eastern Orientation or Eastern Policy" Hitler expresses that expansions is a necessity in section 30 where he starts off by saying, "We National Socialists must hold unflinchingly to our aim in foreign policy, namely, to secure for the German people the land and soil to which they are entitled on this earth." He clearly feels the land they lost as a result of the Treat of Versailles was wrongly taken from the Germans because they are "entitles." He feels that Germany will either be a world power or nothing at all, and if it is to be a world power, it will need the world (the lands) to do so. Over all Mein Kampf expresses Hitlers distaste for Jews, Marxism and for the most part anyone who is not purely German. He feels pure Germans are entitled to everything and that the general public is very unknowledgeable and uniformed. He feels that Germany will be a strong nation, but it needs to expand. He blames the economic collapse on the Treaty and other countries but especially Jews.

The Munich Putsch and the Nazis 25-Point Program

1. Hitler needed a place for him and the Nazi army to have a main standpoint place, so because Berlin was the capital of Germany and he was looking for power, that is where he chose. Because the right-wing had decided not to march into Berlin, Hitler figured he would have to force the help from the right-wing leaders. To do so, during a meeting at the Munich beer hall led by Kahr and Lossow, Hitler walked in and took the two leaders outside. Threatening them at gunpoint, the two were forced into marching into Berlin with Hitler and helping him attack the city. Thinking ahead, Lossow and Kahr sent a warning to Ebert so he would know the march was going to happen. Once there, Hitler's men were unable to successfully attack them and the three leaders, along with Lundendorff, were arrested. Hitler used his trial to his advantage by taking the time to verbally attack the Weimar Republic. In doing so, his words were used in newspapers and were heard around town, and Hitler was able to use this as propaganda to gain followers for the Nazis. 2. The main idea of the NSDAP was to gain land for Germany, destroy the Treaty of Versailles, create a single-race state so only one race could have citizenship and only citizens could live in the country, keep Jews out of the country at all costs, improve the industry and the land, exterminate the criminals from the state, create a new educational system, outlaw child labor, create a national army, and create a way that the state will give to the people and the people will give to the state.

The Birth of the Weimar Republic

1. Why was it called the Weimar Republic and not the Berlin Republic? The government meetings took place in the town of Weimar instead of Berlin because it was to be safer and more stable. 2. What new rights did Friedrich Ebert promise the German people? Ebert promised the Freikorps and commanders of the army to put down the rebellion, and then did so again during the fight between the Communists and Bavaria, as to take down the Communists. 3. Hey, a democracy. Sounds great! Why was this a shock to the Germany peoples' systems? Most people were not used to the system of freedom of speech, worship, and better conditions of the working class. Most were happy with the system they had always known. 4. What positions did the opposition on the right hold that restricted Friedrich Ebert's new government? They had high positions that allowed them to weasel themselves through the political system and keep themselves out of severe trouble, yet cause trouble for people that didn't agree with their ideas, such as Ebert. 5. What was the name of "powerful myth" that developed and what "evidence" was there to support the myth? DolchstoBlegende; there was supposedly evidence in the strikes during 1917 and 1918 that had partially distrupted the Imperial German Army. 6. Study Source 3: What position was Ebert elected to in Jan. 1919? Who elected him? President; the German people 7. Study Source 3: How would a Chancellor gain power in the Weimar Republic? They would have to be appointed Chancellor by the President, then elected President by the German people.