How Far Did the Nazi State Rely on Fear Rather Than Popular Support for Its Survival

How far did the Nazi State rely on fear rather than popular support for its survival?

It was in January 1933 that Hitler was appointed head of a coalition government in which only 3 of the 12 ministers were Nazis. At this time, support for the Nazi party was falling (from 230 seats down to 196) – voter support stood at about 33%. Despite this, 7 months later Hitler had created a 1 party state and the support for his party kept on increasing. Since then, there has been debate as to what the exact reason of the rapid rise of the Nazi party was. Some say that it was by default and that they appeared at the right time (economic crisis). Others believe that they gained their support through fear and terror. It is also possible that the majority of support may have been genuine. Nevertheless, the support of the German people played a crucial part in the survival of the Nazi state between the years of 1933-1939. The extent to which the Nazis relied on fear rather than popular support for its survival is another area for examination and this essay will try and examine the evidence to suggest that fear rather than support played a big role in the survival of the Nazi state.

In April 1920, after Hitler had been asked to join the German Worker’s party by Anton Drexler, he put forward the idea that the party should change its name to the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP). In February 1920, the NSDAP published its first programme which is today known as the "Twenty-Five Points". Within this programme the party refused to comply with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and called for the reunification of the people of Germany. The NSDAP (later nicknamed the Nazi Party) held a mass rally on 24th February 1920, where it announced its new programme. Over 2,000 people attended this rally, which is a massive increase in numbers compared to the 25 people who were at Hitler's first party meeting. Following this, Hitler created the SA (“Storm Division”) which protected meetings and attacked political opponents. Hitler used the SA when he attempted to overthrow the Bavarian Government in Munich in 1923 (The Munich Putsch), which resulted in him being given a five year sentence. Without Hitler’s leadership, the Nazis went through a period without a strong sense of direction. On the other hand, the Nazis could benefit from the publicity of Hitler’s trial. During his time in jail, Hitler came to the conclusion that illegal methods of gaining control were no longer an option. He realised that in order for the German people to support him, he needed to be seen as a legitimate leader and not one associated with violence. When Hitler was released from prison in December 1924, he found the state of the party very different to the one he had left. The Weimar republic had established an amount of authority which meant it was even harder for extremist parties like the Nazis as they had less of an appeal. Nevertheless, in 1925 Hitler presented a new set of ideas to his party with an aim of restoring party unity. Hitler was also successful in converting Goebbels to his ideas which strengthened the party. Gradually Hitler restored his position and by mid 1926 was once again on control of the Nazi Party. It was in 1929 during the ‘Great Depression’ that lead to the failure of the Weimar Republic, and thus the rise to power of Hitler and the Nazi party.

After Hitler came to power the Nazis rapidly went about creating a climate of fear in Germany. Hitler took immediate steps to stop all possible sources of opposition to his rule and all possible institutions that might oppose him. Anyone who opposed the regime was found and arrested. Opposition parties were banned and organisations where opposition may appear were tightly controlled. There was also the introduction to the Enabling Act which, according to Hitler, was to “alleviate the distress of the people”. The law gave Hitler the power to create laws for a period of four years without the approval of the Reichstag and President. Once again the passing of this law was down to the use of force and intimidation. Newspapers were also a potential threat to Hitler and his new regime so he took action to control them. On the 13th of March the media was put under the control of the newly created ’Ministry of Propaganda and Popular Enlightenment’, which was headed by Dr. Joseph Goebbels. Goebbels ensured that all newspapers were controlled so introduced press censorship and shut down many opposition news papers. Following this, many books were banned (the works of Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud and Thomas Mann), certain music was banned (Brecht, Mendelssohn) such as Jazz as Hitler detested it. Goebbels also arranged for a series of famous and public “book burnings”. One Nazi critic stated “Where one begins to burn books, one soon begins to burn people”. Hitler also created the “Peoples court” to try and imprison and execute any opponents of the Nazis. The fact that Hitler was going to extreme levels to transform the country must have alarmed many Germans and the fear they were experiencing would be enough to dominate any ideas of opposing the Nazi regime. So it is quite clear that in the early stages of the regime force was quite an important tool is securing Nazi rule.

Within Nazi Germany, it is extremely difficult to get an accurate account of exactly how much support the Nazi Party had. Although some of this support may have been genuine, it has been suggested that the majority of it was received through fear. To have further control of Germany and to create an element of fear amongst the people, Hitler established two formidable groups: The SS (Schutztaffel) and The Gestapo (Ghieme StaatsPolizei). The SS were Hitler’s protection squad and were intended to act as Hitler’s personal bodyguard. The Gestapo was established as part of the Ministry of Interior and they were the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Hitler also created Concentration Camps, where Jews (and other “asocials”) and those opposed to Hitler were sent. The concept of these newly created groups and schemes would obviously create a great amount of fear and many would argue resulted in increased intimidation amongst the people of Germany. It is argued that as a result of these changes the majority of the population publicly supported the regime as they did not want to receive the consequences of not supporting the Nazis when these groups were around the corner. It is a known fact that the police sometimes assisted in the campaign of violence and at other times did not stop it. This would be seen as a serious threat to the Germans as they no longer had any means of protection, everything was dominated by Nazis. As a result of this, the chances of people rebelling against the Nazis would be extremely slim as nobody would want to get on the wrong side of one of these groups. The people of Germany were witnessing the fate of those who didn’t comply with the Nazi rules and therefore didn’t want to experience it themselves. Also, the fact that everyone was supporting them must have made people think that it was the right thing to do and as everyone was supporting them, you didn’t want to be the one that didn’t follow the crowd. A Modern Historian once said “Although there were some enthusiastic supporters of the regime, the majority of the population were less enthusiastic, but more complicit in their support for Nazism”.

On the other hand, it has also been said that support for the Nazis was achieved through an element of popular support. It is claimed that programmes like the “strength through joy” scheme was genuinely supported by the people. Many Germans may have also realised that there were benefits for them if they were able to take advantage programmes like these and complied with the Nazi rules. It was the German Labour Front that was behind this programme and it aimed to provide loyal workers with rewards such as cruises or holidays. It has been said that many people resented the interference from the KDF and avoided being involved with it altogether. The programme later developed and included such things as theatre visits, facilities, lectures and talks, social clubs and cheap radios (for the use of propaganda). Most famously Hitler ordered the construction of a cheap “peoples car” called the Volkswagen. 33% of German workers “benefited” from these schemes which meant that 67% didn’t. Although the majority of people didn’t get involved in this programme, the people that did showed their support by making use of its facilities. It has been said that this may be one of the key factors in the Nazis gaining support. Although, this doesn’t necessarily mean the support was genuine, Hitler was using bribery to gain the support of the German people. Despite this, the figures still show that a large amount of people were involved in this programme and through being involved are showing their support. On June 30th 1934, the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ gave more reason for the people of Germany to fear the Nazis. Hitler began to believe that Ernst Rohm, the commander of Hitler’s private army, along with the SA, was a threat and embarrassment to the newly created Nazi government. There were various reason for this. Firstly, it was Ernst Rohm himself. He wanted the Nazi “revolution” to go further and wanted to go back to the 25 point programme. Rohm also wanted to replace the German national army but this was resisted by the army Generals who all despised Rohm and his SA. The last thing Hitler wanted to do was anger the German army as they had the power to remove him from office and he wanted them on side. The fact that Rohm liked to flaunt his homosexuality didn’t go down well at all. Also, his use of the SA as a “private” escort agency did not win many supporters. It is also known that Rohm may have been beginning to doubt Hitler and was growing disenchanted with him. He appeared to be forging links with Gregor and Otto Strasser who both wanted the Nazi Party to be more radical in terms of changing Germany for good. It is believed that Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, was monitoring these “plots” and reporting back to Hitler. The pressure of this was growing on Hitler. Then came the ‘Night of the Long Knives’, in which Hitler decided to act against Rohm. On this night, Hitler and his SS eliminated Rohm and his SA. Rohm was arrested in bed and dragged off to prison in Berlin. The SA, who though Hitler was weak, were banned and Rohm, along with other leading Nazis, was shot. Hitler announced “77 had been executed as enemies of the State” (although the real amount was three times that). Hitler himself said, "In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German people, and thereby I become the supreme judge of the German people. I gave the order to shoot the ringleaders in this treason." Therefore, it is a known fact that Hitler eliminated members of his own party which shows how ruthless the Nazis were. It shows that the Nazis should be feared because if he executed members of his own party, there was no telling what he could do to people who didn’t comply with his rules and emphasised the fact that no one was safe.

Furthermore, the Nazis used force against the Jews and other minorities from 1935 onwards which clearly instilled an element of fear. All Jewish lawyers, doctors, judges, teachers, dentists and policemen were dismissed. All teachers had to belong to the National Socialist Teachers Association and attend courses run by the NSLB which usually resulted in them becoming enthusiastic about the regime. Then came the boycott of Jewish businesses. Germans would paint on the windows of Jewish business and vandalise places which had any connection to the Jews. At first this was illegal but was later made legal. Physical attacks were growing and growing such as the Kristallnacht, a serious attack, which was organised by Goebbels. The excuse for the attack was the murder of a German diplomat in Paris by a Jew. 100 Jews were killed during this time and 20,000 sent to concentration camps. In September 1935 the Nuremberg Laws were introduced. Under these Laws German Jews were deprived of their German citizenship and had no protection under the law, basically they became 2nd class citizens. Deportation came about and Jews were told to return to the land of their origins – mostly Poland. The ultimate method that Hitler used was to send “sub-humans” (Jews, Gypsies, the disabled and homosexuals who were “Infecting the master races”) to concentration and death camps. The first concentration camp, Dachau, was opened on the 1st of February 1933. According to a new research study, the majority of ordinary Germans were aware of the evolving terror of Hitler’s Holocaust. They knew that concentration camps were full of Jewish people who were stigmatised as sub-human and race-defilers and were being killed out of hand. The camps and the measures which led up to them had been prominently and proudly reported step by step through media so the people of Germany were exposed to what was happening. The fact that the Germans new what Hitler was doing would have caused an immense amount of fear. Hitler’s use of force was so extreme in what it had resulted in which showed how much power and control he had. Knowing that the Nazis were killing innocent people must have created terror amongst the German people to the point that they would live in silence and obey the commands of the Nazi party as to avoid experiencing what they had been witnessed to. Historian Eric Johnson argued that “although the majority of German citizens did not suffer personally from the Nazi terror during the 3rd Reich, Germany was a police state”.

On the other hand, it can be said that some of the support for the Nazi party may in fact have been genuine. It was Hitler and his corporate state that pulled Germany out of some serious economic situations. The economic crisis of 1923 left Germany in a seriously weak and unstable state. Hitler, along with his party, managed to restore Germany’s stability, prosperity and most importantly employment (unemployment decreased by 100%). This of course would have gained Hitler support has he had proved that he could not just improve the state of the country, but completely transform it. Also, the fact that the people of German liked Hitler as a person was bound to have increased his support. Hitler’s personality was one of which people warmed to - they trusted him. People felt secure and that they were in safe hands under the control of Hitler. This therefore meaning that they believed what he was saying which obviously encouraged them to support him. His strongest supporters were the German Middle Class, women, young men under 25 and small business owners. People saw Hitler as the person who would continue the tradition of strong government (as was the case under the Kaisers). Also, millions of Germans worked with the Gestapo to inform them of so called “disloyal elements”. Then, the election results of March 1933 show that the Nazi party were popular within Germany. They won 43.9% of the vote and 288 seats in the Reichstag. Therefore, this shows that a large percentage of German people liked Hitler and supported his policies, some even helping him achieve them.

In conclusion, it is clear that the Nazi party needed a strong amount of support in order for their party to survive in Germany. The Nazis gained this support through elements of fear – the Gestapo, the “Night of the Long Knives”, and the open persecution of the Jews simply added to the atmosphere of fear and terror. Along with this element of fear, they used popular support which was received through – the “Strength through Joy” programme, Hitler’s stimulation of the German economy and peoples liking towards his personality. It was the combination of fear amongst the German people and the genuine support he had which enabled the Nazi Party to survive. Therefore the Nazi State, along with elements of genuine support due to schemes and previous actions of the party, relied on fear to a great extent in order to survive.