Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1976 The evelopmeD nt and Character of the Nazi Political Machine, 1928-1930, and the Nsdap Electoral Breakthrough. Thomas Wiles Arafe Jr Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Arafe, Thomas Wiles Jr, "The eD velopment and Character of the Nazi Political Machine, 1928-1930, and the Nsdap Electoral Breakthrough." (1976). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 2909. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/2909 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zaab Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 I\ 76-25,252 ARAFE, Thomas W iles, J r . , 1946- THE DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTER OF THE NAZI POLITICAL MACHINE, 1928-1930, AND THE ISDAP ELECTORAL BREAKTHROUGH. The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Ph.D., 1976 H isto ry, modern Xerox University Microfilmsf Ann Arbor. Michigan 48106 © 1976 THOMAS WILES ARAFE, JR. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTER OF THE NAZI POLITICAL MACHINE, 1928-1930, AND THE NSDAP ELECTORAL BREAKTHROUGH A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History by Thomas Wiles Arafe, Jr. B.A. University of California, Los Angeles, 1967 M.A. California State College at Long Beach, 1969 May, 1976 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND INTERNATIONAL BACKGROUND............................. 1 CHAPTER 2. THE NAZI PARTY TO 1928.................... 31 CHAPTER 3. THE NAZI RALLY SYSTEM AND THE HOLISTIC NATURE OF NAZI PROPAGANDA............ 63 CHAPTER 4. STRATEGY AND TACTICS............. 88 CHAPTER 5. FRITZ REINHARDT AND THE NATIONAL SOCIALIST SPEAKERS' CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL................................... 115 CHAPTER 6. MODERN METHODS AND RACISM: BRUNO CZARNOWSKI'S NATIONAL SOCIALIST SLIDE SERVICE AND THE FILM AGENCY ........... 138 CHAPTER 7. REGIONAL PROGRAMS: REINHOLD MUCHOW AND THE STREET CELL ORGANIZATION, THE N.S. AUTO CLUBS...............................167 CHAPTER 8. NAZI NEWSPAPERS AND SUBSCRIPTION CAMPAIGNS ...............................181 CHAPTER 9. THE ROLE OF THE S A .................... 197 CHAPTER 10. THE CHARISMATIC NATURE OF THE NAZI LEADERSHIP AND THE DYNAMICS OF NAZI CAMPAIGNING............................ 219 CHAPTER 11. CONCLUSIONS............................. 248 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................ 2 71 APPENDIX A. LIST OF NSDAP SPEAKERS FOR 1928 .... 278 APPENDIX B. THE QUALITY OF REINHARDT'S SPEAKERS . 281 APPENDIX C. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF THE STORM TROOPERS AND AN SA TABLE OF RANKS .... 293 APPENDIX D. FINANCING NAZI REGIONAL ACTIVITIES . 296 ii ABSTRACT Between 1928 and 19 30 Nazi electoral support rose from 2.6 to 18.3 percent. This expansion of the NSDAP constituted a political breakthrough of unprecedented pro­ portions. The Nazis alone of the totalitarian parties of the twentieth-century were able to attract a mass following before they came to power. The Nazi electoral victory was the result of the conjunction of a series of fortuitous events and the skillful exploitation of these opportunities. The Young Plan, the great depression, and the German consti­ tutional crisis of 1930 all served to discredit the Weimar Republic and to heighten Nazi appeal. Nevertheless, these opportunities were only useful to the party because the NSDAP was able to exploit them. The means utilized by the Nazis to transform discontent into votes was a continuous propaganda campaign of truly gigantic proportions covering all of Germany. This dissertation examines the development and character of the political machine which enabled the party to stage this campaign. The basic principles of Nazi propaganda were formu­ lated by Hitler in Mein Kampf and worked out in practice in the party's rally system. The Nazis emphasized emotional appeals and the development of a series of concretely i* *n * iv objectified impressions that conjured up images of a mythical world of the future. The NSDAP also consistently shunned efforts to "educate" the public in National Social­ ist ideology. The task of the party after 1928 was to devise methods for creating similar impressions on a mass audience as those already presented at the party’s major rallies. The Nazi techniques to do this consisted of a number of programs either started or eventually adopted by the Munich Reichsleitung. Deputy propaganda leader Heinrich Himmler initiated the first such device in late 1928. Utilizing the principle of concentration, he developed the Nazi saturation campaign which involved the presentation of up to two hundred speeches, marches and meetings in a short span of time within the confines of a single region. These campaigns were designed to leave an impression of the party's strength and dedication in areas previously lightly canvassed. Such campaigns could not be implemented every­ where at once or sustained for long periods because of the dearth of trained Nazi agitators. This problem of quantity was first dealt with by Gauleiter Fritz Reinhardt, who de­ veloped a way of cheaply training numerous Nazi orators through his correspondence school for speakers. By the 1930 election Reinhardt's school had produced over fifteen hundred new speakers. Street work was also re-organized during these years with the founding of the Muchow street V cell organization. This organization mobilized ordinary party members in small groups for everyday propaganda activities. Such programs made it possible for the Nazis to blanket Germany with propaganda activities. Based upon the willingness of party members to volunteer their services for the cause, the new Nazi political machine was virtually financially self-sufficient. Its participatory character also heightened party morale and helped the Nazis create the impression that they were a militant political order of con­ siderable strength. The Nazis also sought to create the impression that they were a blood order of specially dedicated men who were destined to bring about a rebirth of Germany. The theme of blood sacrifice was emphasized in such quasi-religious ceremonies as the festival at Caub and the Reichsparteitag of 1929. In this scheme of things, the SA fulfilled the dual role of martyrs and angels of death, the specially con­ secrated embodiment of the purification of Germany. By creating this series of impressions the NSDAP was able to persuade millions of frustrated and desperate voters that the party offered a viable alternative to the crumbling Weimar Republic. CHAPTER 1 POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND INTERNATIONAL BACKGROUND On September 14, 1930, Germans went to the polls to select a new Reichstag to lead their country through the ever worsening great depression. The results of this election came as a rude shock to the leaders of Germany's first democracy, the Weimar Republic. Everyone had expected the extremist parties to do well, but the magni­ tude of their success was astonishing. The Communists gained over a million votes and elected seventy-seven deputies. This represented an increase of 40 percent in their strength.^ The Communist