Home Page - Hitler’s Rise to Power - Definitions
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After the first World War Adolf Hitler wanted to
go into politics.
He realized that he did not know anything about politics so he
looked for a job in the army. He was
given a undercover agent position in the army.
His job was to observe political parties such as the Communist,
Socialist,
and Pacifist
political parties and any right-wing parties that showed promising
possibilities. In 1919 Hitler was
instructed to attend a meeting of the German Workers Party (Deutsche Arbeiter Partei).
It was at that meeting that Hitler found a political party that shared
the same views he did.
Hitler was about to leave the meeting right
before he heard a professor give a speech about uniting Germany with
Austria. He rushed the stage, interrupting
the professor, and gave a 15 minute speech about German unity and power. As he was leaving the meeting, he was handed
a pamphlet and asked to join the party.
At first Hitler was not sure about joining a small political party, but
then he realized that he would be able to organize it and manipulate the party
to do what he wanted.
Hitler was determined to make sure that
the DAP would not fade away
like many political parties of the time.
He posted an ad in the Munich Observer for a party meeting. This ad attracted one hundred and eleven
people and they were enchanted by Hitler’s speech on racial inferiority. Hitler made many subsequent meetings and
charged people for admission. Even though
none of the other parties charged for admission to meetings, the DAP continued to grow because
people wanted to hear Hitler give his speeches.
Hitler’s next step was to create a group of
people called the Monitor
Troops to help with crowd control during the meeting. In 1920 the DAP had grown to 3,000 people
and the name was changed to the National
Socialist German Workers Party which was soon changed to Nazi. Hitler now wanted something that would
capture people eyes, and he chose the swastika. It had a “contrast of black and white
against a fiery background, and the symbol had been used by several
anti-Semitic groups in Austria and Bavaria [...] During this time, the Nazi
party attracted some of the men whose names would become notorious in the near
future – Herman
Goering, Rudolf Hess, and Ernst Röhm”(
). Then in 1921 Hitler was named
president of the Nazi party and then was referred to as the Fuehrer.
Because Germany had to make outrageous reparation
payments to the allies, their economy was in ruin. Hitler gained support in his speeches by
bashing the Weimar
Republic. Hitler sensed an
opportunity and tried to overthrow the government but failed and was put on
trial for treason. Every time the
prosecutor asked him a question, he would respond with a “long, fiery speech
that left the courtroom electrified.”
He claimed that “he attempted to save Germany from the Communists, Socialists,
Liberals, and all of the criminals that accepted the scandalous Treaty of Versailles”().
The judges were sympathetic to Hitler and he
was given the lightest sentence possible.
While in prison he was given a large room with wide windows. This enabled Hitler “to reevaluate his
failed coup and consider new strategies for acquiring power”(). It was during his time in prison that he
began to dictate his book Mein Kampf. After his release he found that because of
his coup the Nazi party was banned and he
was not allowed to give public speeches.
When Germany fell into Depression in 1929, Hitler again started to gain
many followers with his message against the Weimar Republic, Communists, Socialists, and the Jews and with his promise “to pull Germany out
of the economic crisis”().
Hitler now realized that he would not be
able to overthrow the government by force.
He would have to gain power through elections. In 1928 the Nazi party received less than a million votes out of
thirty one million and obtained 12
seats in the Reichstag. In 1930 the Nazis received six and half
million votes and 107
seats in the Reichstag.
In 1932 the Nazis's gained
controll of the Reichstag
with 230
members voted into office. This same on
January 30th year Hitler was named chancellor.
Hitler was a evil person and very easily
could have been kept out of power, but the economic conditions of the time
prevented that from happening. The
German industry could have kept him out of power but Hitler promised to stay
out of their way. The industry liked
this so they helped Hitler get into power.
Several people already in power could have prevented Hitler from
becoming so powerful. They thought they
would be able to control him, but instead they were controlled by Hitler. The public even supported Hitler because
their economy was better with him.
Because Germany was forced into such great despair many did not care
about his racial views, but only about their economy. All of these factors combined helped to ensure that he would
have absolute power in Germany.
Home Page - Hitler’s Rise to Power - Definitions
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