Hitler's Rise To Power
Enviado por • 26 de Marzo de 2015 • 1.811 Palabras (8 Páginas) • 264 Visitas
Adolf Hitler was well known for being Germany’s dictator and the leader of the Nazi Party. After his failure on overthrowing Germany’s government in 1923 he was imprisoned, but during this time he planned his own strategy; The Mein Kampf (My Struggle) in attempt to seize power over Germany by creating solutions to its complex problems and concerns. Adolph Hitler blamed Jews, government and non-Nazis for Germany’s defeat. After being released, Hitler start up his plan. He quickly gained popular support thanks to his speaking skills and his Nazi Propaganda Campaign which promoted anti-communism, self-sufficiency and promised glory and courage by bringing Germany’s honor back. At the same time, Hitler took advantage of every circumstance he could such as the Treaty of Versailles, The Great Depression and people’s oppression and guilt for loosing WW1.
With Germany’s defeat on WW1 and the conditions established on the Treaty of Versailles many people felt guilty, oppressed and worthless believing there was no hope for their country, however they still believed on a leader that would return Germany its greatness. As WW1 ended, Germany was left in ruin and there was a huge lack of encouragement. The resulting Treaty of Versailles imposed terrible and harsh conditions on Germany as they were deprived from their overseas colonies including its Coal-Rich Saar region. At the same time Germany was forbidden of rearmament and limited to a small army. Germany also experienced a severe economic depression as it had to pay for war reparations to U.K and France. Germany was angry at the Treaty of Versailles and Hitler eventually took advantage of this to raise up his popular support. He created a new political party that offered a new period of reconstruction promoting self-worth and courage. On his political campaign known as the Nazi Party he promised to avoid any actions from completing the terms of the Treaty of Versailles such as the deprivation of rearmament. Hitler used people’s oppression and worthless to make them believe he would help on rising the country from ashes.
Hitler also saw the impact of the Great Depression in America as an advantage to gain popular support. America’s Wall Street Crash affected Germany because it used to lend money for paying war reparations to Britain and France. As America faced a severe economic depression, Germany was affected as well. Many people were unemployed while some other, in extreme cases, starved to death. Hitler took advantage of people’s despair and worries to promote a solution. With his political party he promised to help people overcome poverty and decrease unemployment. At the same time he also promised to overthrow the Weimar government which was hated by the Germans for not helping them and instead have a brave and strong leader who would help oppressed and poor people overcome the effects poverty, depression and despair.
Before Hitler, the government was known as the Weimar Republic which was communist. After WW1 communism created countless controversy as people felt the government had sold Germany by agreeing to the Treaty of Versailles. Communists thought of private ownership of land as extortion and thievery. Many middle-class business owners had heard about discrimination to people like them. For instance many owners of big industries feared the Communist state would introduce control of businesses. Besides peasants were fearful as they heard Communist were planning to take over their lands by killing and imprisoning them all. Communists wanted German industry nationalized and for it they would take out private lands and place them under the government’s control. Yet, industry owners didn’t wanted to lose their businesses. In contrast, Hitler’s party known as the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) fiercely opposed to communism and promised to help peasants and land owners against the policies of it, this led many of them support the Nazis. Besides their policies of better pensions and reducing unemployment quickly appeal to many traditional socialists. Plus the Nazis proclaimed they would reject the Treaty of Versailles which they thought it punished Germany. Hitler’s campaign promised he would totally eliminate unions of the Communist Party if elected.
As Hitler became Germany’s chancellor in 1933 the elections for the German Nazi Reichstag parliament were going on. The incident known as the Reichstag fire occurred on February 27 1933, in the middle of the new elections. The Reichstag was the heart of the German politics as it was the place where the parliament sat, as well as debates, political struggles and political scheming took place. Clearly this incident defined one of the early moments of the Nazi Germany days. The destruction of such an important place created concerns and had a symbolic significant meaning for many people. Hitler feared he might not get as many support as in the previous elections. He was playing a dangerous game where he risked his political career. During the night of February 27th Goebbels and Hitler were having dinner at Goebbels place when he got a call from Dr. Hansfstaengl informing him about the incident occurred. Hitler used this event to gain supporters as he blamed on communists for the Reichstag’s devastation. This event made Hitler really upset as he ordered that every communist official should be shoot if possible showing no mercy at all. The S.A rounded about 4,000 people; arrests upon arrests. People were told that the communists had burned down the seat of government in Germany and this made people angry on them. This immediately helped Hitler’s anticommunism campaign, assuring the probability of raising his power and gaining supporters throughout Germany. It gave him an opportunity to imprison communist leaders and made people think the country was exposed to danger with the communists.
One of Hitler’s abilities was his well-developed speaking skills. Despite he was described as evil, coldblooded and inhumane, he was a really good persuader. He had a charismatic style that impressed and convinced people. Likewise, he was a masterful propagandist to persuade people of his policies even though they sometimes appeared to be unhuman and cruel. Despite he killed millions of innocent people both in the Holocaust and apart from it, he still was able to convince people that having a pure race society was better as Jews were blamed for loosing WW1 and besides, he maintained popular support from the Germans. For this he used the “either-or” fallacy in which he created false dilemmas for example “Either the German people get rid the Jews, or they would enslave us”. As we know, this statement is not true, however Hitler made it look like it was. Hitler also had his own strategies to convince people of his policies. One of them was treating people as an entity rather than individuals. He believed a group of people was easier to persuade as their intellectual ability was weaker. From time to time, Nazis held events to reinforce control over people. During his speeches, Hitler yelled and used words that easily caught people’s attention. Among his vocabulary, he always used words that would make people’s esteem stay high, such as courage, strength, braveness, etc. However, he referred to his enemies as weak and worthless. Another strategy he had was to make people have a strong desire for vengeance. He currently remembered people about the past and what happened on the Treaty of Versailles and according to him the world thought Germany was weak which made people angry.
To win loyalty and cooperation from people, Hitler created the Nazi Propaganda Campaign established on March 13, 1933. The Reich Chamber of Conference, directed by Joseph Goebbels was created in attempt of controlling of all branches of communication such as newspapers, books, magazines, art, music, and others. The Nazi Propaganda campaign worked by censuring all non-Nazis beliefs in all aspects of society. Books appeared harder to censure, for this reason Nazis began raiding libraries and Bookstores. By 1933 more than 25,000 books had been burned, most of them written by non-Nazis and Jews. Most of the books burned during this period contained dangerous contents that could create controversy such as the idea of freedom of speech including Helen Keller’s work. Schools played a huge role as they had to teach and train children to be loyal, faithful to the party and love Hitler plus the idea of anti-Semitism. During the spring of 1933, student organizations, librarians and teachers made a list of books they though shouldn’t de read. New text books were printed out as a result. Propaganda campaign was used to persuade people that Hitler’s version of history was right. In America Many people protested the books burning as a clear violation of freedom of speech. Other aspects of society were also censured, in December 5, 1930 Joseph Goebbels disrupted the premiere of the movie “All Quiet on the Western Front” for containing un-German thoughts and ideas. However the Nazi-Propaganda Campaign created movies such as "Hitlerjunge Quex" which told the story of a boy from a communist family who broke away and joined the Hitler Youth but was murdered by the Communists for doing so. "The Eternal Jew" was another film that compared Jews in Europe to a rats, a spreading disease, etc. Goebbels also organized the sale of cheap radios known as the “People’s Receiver”. Loud speakers were placed on the streets people could not avoid from hearing Hitler’s speeches. Goebbels described his campaign as “The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end hey succumb to it utterly and never escape from it”
The Enabling act also helped Hitler on his rise to power as he could enact laws without the need of the parliament’s approval. On March 23, 1933 the new members of the Parliament known as the Reichstag met at the Kroll Opera House to discuss whether or not they should pass Hitler’s Enabling Act. If the document was approved it would mean the decline of democracy and the rise of a legal dictatorship. Things were easier for Hitler as Hindenburg took some days off due to his sickness. As a result laws made by Hitler were approved immediately. During the elections Nazi troops stood outside the opera house saying “Full powers-or else! We want the bill- or fire and murder”. According to Hitler he needed the Enabling Act to begin doing what he promised in his campaign. As they won the majority of votes, Hitler had what he had desired for year; the end of democracy, thus having absolute power over Germany.
Hitler’s rise to power showed effectiveness at the end. His good use of persuasive language, his military campaign and many other factors helped him on the way as he was seen as Germany’s only hope from restoring peace, life opportunities, employment, and recovery from WW1’s damages and devastations. Thus, he took advantage of every situation he could, to make people think he was Germany’s best option.
...