by Bertie Radcliffe

Created on: March 12, 2009

The Nationalist Socialist German Workers Party certainly had an all encompassing name, but its appeal was similarly diverse in the hard times that Germany faced before Hitler took power. The period of 1929 to 1933 displayed drastic changes in Germany which shook the relatively shallow foundations of Germany's political system in three key ways; social, political and economic. It was a combination of these three factors coupled with Hitler's own skills which enabled the Nazi's popularity to grow so rapidly in this time of world-wide trouble and to consequentially take power at the end of 1933.

Firstly, social prejudices and problems that grew so much in this period were effectively harnessed by Hitler, and his propaganda expert Goebbels, to ensure that his popularity grew in all classes. There were two key ways in which he achieved this and they were negative and positive cohesion. In the case of the former, Hitler used his knowledge and experience of the German people to unite them not with him, but against their fears and the things they hated. At every step, Hitler offered scapegoats to the everyday Germans who were experiencing or feared the depression and its affects.

The first of these was the general fear of the KDP, the communist party by the middle classes who were afraid of the communists because they had heard of people like them in the USSR being discriminated against; the wealthy industrialists, who feared the nationalization of industry that the KDP pledged and also believed that Hitler would curb the power of the trade unions; the peasant farmers who knew that in the USSR, many farmers had been imprisoned and killed in the process of the government seizing all the land; the working classes believed that the disorganization of the communists would throw the country into further turmoil as emphasized by Nazi propaganda.

Similarly, the Nazis highlighted the failings of democracy and blamed the failings of Germany not on its people, but on the Jews, the "November Criminals", the Weimar
politicians and the Treaty of Versailles. In their place, the Nazis offered a strong leader, capable of making decisions and ending unemployment. Many unemployed people were also inspired by Hitler's fervor, and his promises of returning Germany
to greatness.

Next, Hitler used the funds that he had, from both the sales of Mein Kampf and the donations of communist fearing businessmen, to appeal to the less fortunate Germans, setting up soup kitchens and provided shelter

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>