HITLER AND NAZI GERMANY CHAPTER 28.3 HISTORICAL THEORIES ON HITLER Hitler did not The Germans were convince the Hitler’s first victims. Germans as much as the Germans elevated Hitler HITLER AND NAZISM • Core of Hitler’s political ideas: racism, anti-Semitism, ultranationalism • Fought in WWI, believed Jews were reason why Germany lost • After WWI, Hitler joined a right-wing ultranationalist party, the German Worker’s Party – Hitler soon controlled the party; renamed to National Socialist German Worker’s Party, or Nazi Party – Nazi Party had its own militia • Hitler writes Mein Kampf from prison after attempting to seize power of German gov’t “If we pass all the causes of the German collapse in review, the ultimate and most decisive remains the failure to recognize the racial problem and especially the Jewish menace.” Protocols of the Elders of Zion “To what an extent the whole existence of this people is based on a continuous lie is shown incomparably by the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, so infinitely hated by the Jews. They are based on a forgery, the Frankfurter Zeitung moans and screams once every week: the best proof that they are authentic ... For once this book has become the common property of a people, the Jewish menace may be considered as broken.” “All propaganda must be popular and its intellectual level must be adjusted to the most limited intelligence among those it is addressed to. Consequently, the greater the mass it is intended to reach, the lower its purely intellectual level will have to be. But if, as in propaganda for sticking out a war, the aim is to influence a whole people, we must avoid excessive intellectual demands on our public, and too much caution cannot be extended in this direction…” “…The receptivity of the great masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan.” RISE OF NAZISM • Hitler realizes Nazis must take power legally, not violently • Nazi Party rapidly expands, largest party in German gov’t by 1929 • Hitler promised end to economic depression; end to German humiliation • German President Hindenburg makes Hitler chancellor in 1933 https://youtu.be/5tGKfIJwrh4 NAZIS TAKE CONTROL • In 1933, the Reichstag (German parliament) passed the Enabling Act: –Gov’t can ignore constitution for 4 years to issue laws to solve country’s problems –Combined the position of chancellor and president; Hitler ruled supreme NEW YORK TIMES, 1934 “The German people were asked to vote whether they approved the consolidation of the offices of President and Chancellor in a single Leader- Chancellor personified by Adolf Hitler. By every appeal known to skillful politicians and with every argument to the contrary suppressed, they were asked to make their approval unanimous… …The results given out by the Propaganda Ministry early this morning show that out of a total vote of 43,438,378, cast by a possible voting population of more than 45,000,000, there were 38,279,514 who answered "Yes," 4,287,808 who answered "No" and there were 871,056 defective ballots. Thus there is an affirmative vote of almost 90 per cent of the valid votes and a negative vote of nearly 10 per cent…” THE NAZI STATE 1933-1939 • Hitler wanted to create a racial state of “Aryans” • Held frequent rallies to push ideas onto German people • Nazis relied on terror – SS (Nazi secret police) repressed dissent; murdered undesirables • Hitler pulled Germany out of depression by re-arming – Unemployment dropped dramatically; acceptance of Hitler solidified .