Pirkka Poole 10K

Pirkka Poole 10K

‘Economic collapse; outraged nationalism; anti-marxism’ which of these factors most aided the rise of the Nazis in Germany?

The early 1930’s was when Germany would experience a huge political shift, which changed the German state and its people at a whole. While the Weimar Republic was still ruling the German state, it was weak but more stable than before. While it had to face big problems such as hyperinflation, the Treaty of Versailles and the huge repayments to the victors of WW1, the republic finally was stable. This period of stability (1924-1929) came to an end though abruptly when the Great Economic Depression begun in America in 1929. It sent out a severe shock wave out to Germany, as banks in America had borrowed large amounts of money to German companies and were withdrawn when the Depression started. Unemployment in Germany became astronomical and with the economy dipping down again the German people were becoming frustrated again, just as they had been post World War One. This was the perfect timing for the low lying Hitler and his NSDAP party to come and take their place in the Reichstag and ultimately for Hitler to take sole control of Germany. Here we will look at all 3 factors in more detail and conclude in the end.

The Economic collapse that occurred in America in 1929 saw many people across Germany be unemployed or having their life savings wiped out. People in Germany at the time were tired of the prospect of living in misery again. In these desperate economic times change was something the German people wanted and they were willing to listen to anybody, including Adolf Hitler. This was the perfect time for change and was also the perfect time for Hitler to launch his aggressive campaign for the NSDAP party or the Nazis. The campaign in 1930 was something unlike anybody had ever seen. Joseph Goebbels organised all the events, posters and newspapers while Hitler campaigned through out the country giving speeches, shaking hands, posing for pictures with anybody willing to do so. One of Hitler’s main focuses was of course to convince people to vote for the smallest party around in Germany at the time. The Great Depression helped the party gain popularity massively. Hitler offered everybody something, work to the unemployed, prosperity to failed businesses, profits to industry and expansion of the German Army among other smaller promises. The Nazis gained 107 seats in the Reichtag after the elections in 1930. In 1931 Hitler ran up against Hindenburg for the chancellorship in Germany. Again his campaign focused on the economy. Millions of people turned to vote for Hitler in early 1932 elections for the chancellorship. With six million people unemployed, starvation and ruin lurking around and a very uncertain future, both economically and politically, people were starting to support the ever growing Nazi Party and its leader Hitler. Hitler received 30 % of the votes, a huge achievement, while Hindenburg received 49% it wasn’t the majority. Re-elections were held, which Hindenburg won with a clear majority. While Hitler had lost, it was not all bad as the Nazi Party gained a major boost in its popularity between the German people. While the economy was recovering slightly in 1932, 33% of the working population or 6 million people were still unemployed. The rise of the Nazis did not fix the economy straight away; it gave though many German people hope for a better economical future. As Germany’s biggest single party and with Hitler becoming the chancellor the economy soon miraculously recovered by 1939 and output had increased drastically thus ending the years of economic misery for people and time for prosperity.

The threat of Marxism, or Communism, was considered a great threat to the Nazis. While the Nazis displayed overwhelming hate to the Jews living in Germany, Communists were possibly treated just as bad with both groups of individuals receiving equal amounts verbal as well as maybe even physical abuse. Hitler even declared Communism as the primary threat of the German state in his low selling book “Mein Kampf”. In the same book, Adolf Hitler stated that Marxism was a Jewish strategy to subjugate Germany and the world. Hitler’s giant dislike towards the Communists in Germany and around the world was clearly seen when campaigning for the numerous election campaigns in the early 1930’s. Hitlers’ speeches kept warning people about the threat of Communism and what it would mean for the people of Germany. His aim was to scare people in society of the threat of Bolshevism coming from the east and by disregarding Communists in Germany Hitler managed to create fear within society of these “traitors” or threats. It worked very well as well as many people flooded to vote for Hitler and his Nazi party to make it the biggest sole party in the Reichtag after the elections in mid 1932. These elections weren’t without controversy though as the Nazi’s own SA and SS armies were allowed to reign again after being banned for half a year. Many of these “stormtroopers” as they were called, marched on the streets singing songs against the Jews and Communists. Many of these Communists in turn were prepared to fight the Nazi troops. Hundreds of these fights even turned into gun battles. On July 17th 1932, the Nazis marched into a Communist area of Hamburg, with 19 people dying and 300 wounded this was referred to as the “Bloody Sunday”. The Nazis were ruthless in these cases and did anything to make the Communists look bad. Another example of ruthlessness by the Nazis was the burning of the Reichstag in 1933, which had been blamed overwhelmingly much by the Nazis on the Communists (closer inspection makes this seem impossible with many sources claiming the Nazis were behind this). By this point Hitler had the chancellorship but his dislike of the Communists and his powerful position meant he could punish virtually each one of them, which Hitler and Hermann Göring ended up doing by killing 51 anti-Nazis or Communists. While the presence of Communism was very small in the early parts of 1930, Hitler’s personal views made the political group into a scapegoat around Germany. While the threat of Bolshevism from the East was there and people in Germany feared it, Hitler was there to strike more fear into peoples’ minds. His campaigns and speeches clearly showed his personal views on this. Anti-Marxism in Germany was to some extent a generally big talking point but was definitely put into more spotlight by the Nazi Party.

Post World War 1 Germany was a state of uncertainty. People had expected dearly to win the war they had partially started, and were shocked to hear when the German government decided to surrender in 1918. Germany was treated unfairly in the following peace conference and was given reparation costs which were ridiculously high. Furthermore, the Army was limited to 100’000 men and its Navy and Air Force limited to a very small amount of vessels and planes. Hitler himself was very upset about these chain of events. He hated the Treaty of Versailles and its high reparation costs and he also hated the way that the Allied victors were treating Germany. The Nazi Party itself was aiming to stop this. Its aim was to strengthen Germany to its former glory, end the war reparations to the Allies and disobey the Treaty of Versailles. This appealed a lot to many group of people from many different classes, as this would end its misery once and for all. The Nazis kept this promise going for the numerous election campaigns and Hitler used it effectively when running for the Chancellorship. Hitler even considered himself the second Bismarck, aiming to bring back glory to Germany and to create a “Grossdeutschland” which would evolve into the Third Reich. The Nationalistic aims provided by the Nazis did provide a lot of hope for the future, while on the other hand many thought these ideas was ridiculous and simply not possible at the climate that they were in. Outrageous nationalism did of course aid the rise of the Nazis, as many people also desired the former glory of Germany and to have back the glory Germany had before and during the early parts of World War 1.

Now having analysed each one of the factors which aided the rise of the NSDAP or Nazi Party in Germany, I will now come to a conclusion as to which one of these factors most aided the rise of Nazism in Germany. To me, the most logical answer would have to be the Economic collapse as it spurred on the Nazis to get them into the running of getting into the Reichtag. People were also feeling the misery of the economy and were willing for change. It is exactly what the Nazis provided among other promises. While the fear of Marxism was around at the time coming from the East, Hitler and his party just aggravated the fear of Communism. Communism in Germany was a very small party with around 4000 members to its name (the Nazi party had 800’000 in 1931). Also by putting the blame on the Communists for the Reichtag’s fire also was a sign of showing that the Nazis wanted to make the people hate the Communists or Marxists more. Nationalism was important to the Nazis as what they wanted to achieve was a bigger and better Germany than anytime before. The war reparations and the Versailles Treaty frustrated people but the economy was a bigger problem at the time when the Nazis got their first seats in the Reichtag than the war reparations and the Treaty of Versailles. So to conclude; the biggest factor that aided the rise of Nazi Germany in my opinion is the Economic collapse and paved a new way in German politics which would lead into the deadliest war in human history.

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