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Hitler and the Rise of Nazi Germany

Spodek: 687-690

Why Study Hitler/The Nazis?

Why the Nazis could rise to power in Germany

  • Defeat in World War I
  • Versailles Treaty—England and France “Stabbed Germany in the Back”
  • Great Depression: High Unemployment, Low Profits, People Lose Savings
  • German Military Tradition: Frederick the Great—Prussia; Otto Von Bismarck—Unified Germany; Luddendorf; Hindenburg
  • Anti-Semitism—Jews as Scapegoats: “Had all the jobs”; “Controlled Politics”; “Had all the money” (None of the above was true but it didn’t matter)

Adolph Hitler

  • Emblematic of German Problem:

Only success came in war—won a minor medal

Believed that Germany “stabbed in the back”

Germany should have won the war

Unemployed after the war—no jobs

Couldn’t get into art school—claimed only Jews got in. He had no artistic talent

Formed a paramilitary group to substitute for Germany Army—National Socialists

Adolph Hitler (continued)

  • Hitler promised Germans:

Stability

Jobs

To be Proud Again

To Reverse the Versailles Treaty

To End “Weak” Democracy

To “Get Rid of” the Jews

Lebenstraum— “Living Space for Germans”

Fascism

  • Nation comes first
  • Against Liberalism and Liberal Institutions
  • Irrational Politics—Emphasize Street Fighting

SA Storm Troopers (Ernst Rohm)—they wanted to get rid of Nazi’s enemies. They were called the “Brown shirts”

SS—Schutzstaffel (Heinrich Himmler)—they were called the black shirts.

Key Dates

  • October 1929—Great Depression
  • Summer-Fall 1932 –German Elections: Nazis 288; Nationalists 52; Center 74; Socialists 120; Communists 81; and others 23

The main points: Nazis won 44% of the vote; no center; Nazi’s powerful but can’t form government.

Key Dates Continued

  • President Hindenburg Names Hitler Chancellor in January 1933.
  • Street Violence
  • Reichstag Fire—Legislature Building Burns Down
  • March 23, 1933—Reichstag passes (with huge majority) the Enabling Act which made Hitler dictator until April 1, 1937
  • July 14, 1933—Nazi Party was made only legal party
  • November 12, 1933 Nazis win 92% of the vote
  • Main Point:

Only at this date does Hitler behave illegally

July 1934-SS and Army purge the SA and they begin to secretly arm the army

1935 Denounces Versailles Treaty

1936 Remilitarizes the Rhineland

1936-1937 Four Year Plan

  • War materials
  • Industrialization
  • Autobahn
  • VW
  • Daimler-Benz
  • General Motors
  • Ford

Racism in Nazi Germany

  • Belief German “Aryan” Race Master Race

Jews inferior

Slavs inferior

Gypsies inferior

Eugenics-Social Darwinism run amok

  • 1935 Nuremberg Laws

Identify Jews (with Yellow Star

Deprive Jews of Citizenship

Allows only so many Jews in specific jobs

Outlaw marriage and sex between Jews and non-Jews

9 of November 1938

  • Night of Broken Glass or Kristallnacht

In response to assassination of German diplomat in Paris:

Nazis set synagogues on fire

Broke Jewish shop windows

Beat up Jews—91 killed; thousands injured

Confiscated Jewish property

Jews forbidden to collect insurance

20,000+ Jews sent to concentration camp

Why Hitler?

  • War Vets—Hated Government for Losing the War
  • Middle Class—Ruined by Inflation, Depression
  • Workers—Unemployed
  • Industrialists—Hated Socialist Labor Struggle
  • More than economy/defeat:

Emphasized a cult of war, physical danger, sexuality, future, speed, a “new life”

Airplanes, car, radio

Goebbels and Riefenstahl

  • Goebbels was the Chief Propaganda Officer. He promoted radios. By 1942, Germany had 23 million radios
  • Leni Riefenstahl was Hitler’s filmmaker. “Triumph of Will” and “Olympiad”

Hitler’s Road to War

  • March 1938—Annexed Austria
  • 1938 German minority in Sudetenland (Czechoslovakia)
  • September 1938– “Munich Crisis”

Appeasement

Chamberlain— “There will be peace in our Time”

  • Spring 1939 Annexed all of Czechoslovakia
  • Summer 1939—Nazi-Soviet “Non Aggression Pact”

The Rise of Nazi Germany

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World War II in Europe

  • 1 September 1939 Nazis invade Poland
  • 3 of September 1939 England, France declare war on Germany
  • Hitler defeats Poland in a month
  • “Phony War” (September 1939- May 1940)
  • May 1940 Germany invades the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France
  • “Battle of Britain”
  • 22 of June 1941 Germany invades Soviet Union.
  • 1941 First Extermination Camp Created