12/2 & 12/3 HITLER & NAZI GERMANY

• Icebreaker: Conduct an OPVL analysis on excerpts from the Mein Kampf (My Struggle) written by Adolf Hitler

ORIGINS & RISE 1918 - 1933

• Overview• Weimar Republic which was set up in 1919, proved to be politically weak. • Faced opposition from left wing communist & right wing conservatives &

nationalist • Focused on the Treaty of Versailles• When French & Belgians invaded the Ruhr in 1923 hyperinflation resulted

= middle class savings gone• US revoked loans following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Germany fell

into depression

HOW DID POLITICAL CIRCUMSTANCES OF GERMANY AFTER 1918 CONTRIBUTE TO THE RISE OF NAZISM?• Before WWI Germany ruled by authoritarian Kaiser Wilhem II

• German constitution of 1871 made provision for the Reichstag (elected parliament) but never fully developed

• War destroyed the imperial regime = Kaiser abdicating on Nov. 9 1918 due to chaos, strikes, & mutinies

• Socialist government took over in Nov. 1918 under Friedrich Ebert and he would sign an armistice to end the war

• In January 1919 a new democratic constitution was put in place

• Many Germans were angry over armistice who believed in their country and that the army could have fought on

ANGER OVER THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES

• Germany lost 13% of its territory • Lost all its colonies• Forced to reduce the size of military • Demilitarized Rhineland• Polish Corridor• Germans accept the war guilt & pay reparations • Self Determination applied in Europe resulting in many Germans

living outside of its borders• Anshluss forbidden with Austria

IMPACT OF THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES ON THE BORDERS OF GERMANY

PROBLEMS WITH THE WEIMAR GOVERNMENT

• New constitution gave considerable power to the president who was elected every seven years

• President appointed the chancellor who ran the government & under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution had power to rule in case of an emergency

• Proportional Representation• Vote for parties NOT people

WEAKNESS OF THE GOVERNMENT Spartacus League (KDP) Conservative Elite

•German Communist Party•Extreme left wing socialist movement•Tried to overthrow the government through violent revolution•Refused to work with SPD (Social Democratic Party)

Not as hostile, but openly disliked the governmentMany veterans, judges, senior civil servantsNationalistsHad Freikorps: (volunteer groups of demobil soldiers) Conducted political murders in the name of nationalism

SOURCE A:“In the eyes of the right, the Republic was associated with the surrender, a shameful and deliberate act of treachery, and the peace treaty a further act of betrayal. The fact that the new republican institutions were democratic added to the hostility. It was openly said that loyalty to the fatherland required disloyalty to the republic”

(Bullock Hitler, A Study in Tyranny)

HITLER JOINS POLITICS• National Socialist German Worker's Party

(NSDAP)• Disorganized party• Did not recognize the Weimar Republic• Nationalist• Freikorps joined

• Anti- Semitism• Hitler became the chairman of the party in

1921

THE MUNICH PUTSCH (THE BEER HALL PUTSCH)

• Hated the Weimar Republic• November 8, 1923: Hitler held rally at

a Munich Beer Hall and proclaimed “revolution!”• Led 2,000 armed "brown-shirts" (SA)

to take over the Bavarian government. (Lost)• Won national attention• Ruhr crisis and the great inflation

were at their height.

PRISON SENTENCE

• Tried for Treason (gets 5 yrs. in prison) served 9 months

• Wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle) in prison• Outline his hatred of Jews

and Communists• Gave a history of the Nazi

Party

GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION

• Hitler decided to seize power constitutionally rather than by force of arms.

• Golden Era for the Weimar Republic

• May 1928 Nazis win only 12 seats (2.6% of the vote) i

• Hitler spoke to mass audiences

• Wanted German people to resist the rule of Jews/Communists

• Talked of creating a new empirerule the world for 1,000 years.

• Hitler gained more publicity by joining the DNVP (Right Wing German National People’s Party) in campaigns against the 1929 Young Plan

HOW FAR DID THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF 1929 – 1933 OPEN THE WAY FOR HITLER’S RISE TO POWER• 1929 – 30 withdrawal of US loans and collapse in the export

market had drastic effects for Germany• 1/3 of Germans were without jobs• Communist and right wing extremist mocked the government

inaction and promised they held the key to future prosperity• Nazis claimed to be a ‘national party’ that would keep out

communism, uphold law and order, return to traditional middle class values

• Yet they had no formula to end the depression or raise employment levels

POLITICAL PARTIES

• Between 1928 and 1932 the political parties became increasingly divided

• On the left the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and communist (KPD) refused to work together

• Right wing conservatives (DNVP sought more authoritarian gov’t and had some sympathy with the Nazis…yet could not come to agreements on cuts needed after October 1929

NAZIS GAIN POWER

• In 1930Nazis vote went from 3% to 18%• In 1932Hitler ran for President and won 30% of the vote (Nazis held

107 seats)• Hitler lost the presidential election to Paul von Hindenburg• Hitler offered Vice-Chancellor (rejects it)• Franz von Papen named chancellor—has major problems• Kurt von Schleicher replaced von Papen

• Convinced of Nazi decline von Schleicher and von Papen tried to harness their energy (July Reichstag election the Nazis won 230 seats – November election down 196 seats)

NAZIS GAIN POWER• Hitler, Hindenberg and von Papen formed a coalition• “Backstairs Intrigue”• Hitler called for new election • Massive propaganda campaign• Reichstage Fire Blamed the Communist Party for starting

the fire…Hindenberg issued a decree for the “Protection of the People”….took away peoples civil liberties & with the power to search, arrest, and censor ‘until further notice, the Nazis were able to remve opponents before the elections took place

• Nazis won 43.9% of the total vote on March 5, 1933

THE REICHSTAG FIRE, FEBRUARY 1933

• Reichstag building partially destroyed by fire.• Hitler convinced Hindenburg to

take strong action, and the president suspended freedom of speech and the press and other civil liberties.

THE ENABLING ACTS (1933)

• On March 23, 1933, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, which gave dictatorial authority to Hitler's cabinet for four years.• Provided the basis for Hitler’s dictatorship• Destroyed the power of the Reichstag allowing the

chancellor to issue laws without consultation

DUE NEXT CLASS!!!!!

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RUNNING LIST OF SOURCES, POSSIBLE OPVL SOURCES & OUTLINE!!!!