| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SummaryThe Nazis grew out of a small right-wing party, which Hitler took over after 1919. He developed a Twenty-Five Point Programme based on hatred, and built up a paramilitary group (the SA) to defend his meetings and attack other parties. The Nazis appealed to a wide range of people, but especially the 'middling' sort of people, and the party grew rapidly in the years of crisis 1919-1923. After the disaster of the Munich Putsch, and during the prosperity of the Stresemann years, however, support for the Nazis fell. During this time Hitler believed that he could be elected to power. He used these years to develop and strengthen the party's organisation. |
LinksWiesenthal Centre - lots of easy-to-understand information Good basic notes Detailed timeline
National Socialist German Workers Party
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Formation of the Nazi Party and its Beliefs and Organisation1. StartThe German Workers’ Party, led by Anton Drexler, was formed in 1919. Hitler joined and soon became leader. His speeches gave people scapegoats to blame for Germany’s problems:
• The
Allies.
•
The
Versailles Treaty and the ‘November Criminals’ (the
politicians who signed it). • The Communists, and:
• The
Jews. 2. Twenty-five Point ProgrammeIn 1920, the party renamed itself the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazis), and announced its Twenty-Five Point Programme. At first, the Nazis were both nationalist (they believed in Germany’s greatness) and socialist (they believed the state should benefit everybody equally). 3. Mein KampfAfter
the failure of the Munich Putsch in 1923, Hitler was sent to
Landsberg jail.
There he wrote Mein
Kampf (My Struggle) advocating: • National Socialism – loyalty to Germany, racial purity, equality and state control of the economy. • Racism – the triumph of the Aryan race by armed force, because all races, especially the Jews, were inferior to the Aryan (pure German) ‘Master Race’. • Lebensraum – to expand into Poland and Russia to get ‘Living Space’. • Strong Government – complete obedience to the Führer. 4. OrganisationAt first, there were a number of people involved in running the party, but Hitler soon became the sole boss, and he built up the organisation so that he was unquestioned leader.
(see also: Who voted Nazi? - difficult article) |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Decline of the Nazi Party, 1924-9 |
LinksThe History Place - good Nazi propaganda - lots of info
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1. Elections and declineAfter the failure of the Munich Putsch, Hitler decided that he would have to get power by being elected, rather than by rebellion. However, he was banned from speaking until 1928.
The prosperity of the Stresemann years, also, meant that the Nazi’s message became less appealing and the party lost support.
Extra:Copy the figures from the table below into an Excel workbook and use the Chart wizard to draw a graph of party electoral fortunes 1919–1933. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source FSupport for the Nazi Party had grown due to the country's problems of hyperinflation and the French invasion of the Ruhr. By 1928 Nazism appeared to be a dying cause. Now that Germany's outlook was suddenly bright, the Nazi Party was rapidly withering away. One scarcely heard of Hitler or the Nazis except as a joke. William Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1959) William Shirer was an American journalist who lived in Germany from 1926 to 1941.
|
LinksInteresting graphs and questions about Nazi electoral fortunes
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
