The Rise of Hitler

1. The Rise of Hitler History 12 Ms Leslie

2. Hitler’s Bio • Born April 20, 1889 in Austria • Had 3 brothers die in infancy, Sister Paula out lived him • Father died when Adolf is 13 • Hitler never helps out around the house • rejected from Art school (not run by Jews BTW)

3. Mother died from cancer when he’s 19 • 1909 moved to Vienna where he voluntarily becomes homeless • Starts hanging out with the Pan-German movement • Moves to Munich in 1913 to avoid conscription in to A-H army

4. Happy in Munich because he’s surrounded by Germans • Hitler fought bravely in WWI and was decorated with both the Iron Cross Second Class and First Class, the latter of which he wore until his dying day [ironically the regimental captain who recommended him for the award was Jewish]. • armistice in 1918, Hitler was in hospital recovering from temporary blindness caused by a British gas attack in the Ypres Salient.

5. After the War he wanders around homeless again because he hates manual labour • He starts hanging out in bars and engaging in political debates • He becomes known for his political views - anti-Weimar, Pro-strong government • Joins the anti-Weimar group the German Worker’s Party

6. National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi). • 1920 Hitler becomes leader of the German Worker’s Party and changes the name. • Turned the party into one capable of drawing crowds of up to 2,000 a political meeting. • These meetings were originally beer hall meetings with a few disgruntled Germans. • Word soon got out about Hitler’s ideology and charismatic speeches and people were curious to hear what he had to say.

7. Demands of NSDAP • The repeal of the Treaty of Versailles • Anschluss (union with Austria) • Lebensraum • Removing citizenship rights from Jews • Autarky

8. Brown Shirts • This is the strong arm of the Nazis. Like Mussolini’s Black shirts • The SA • Political Stormtroopers

9. Beer Hall/Munich Putsch. • With the support of Lundendorff, Hitler attempted to overthrow the government in November of 1923 • It failed and he was given a light sentence • Stayed at Lansbergprison and wrote his first draft of Mein Kampf (My Struggle). • He also learned the path to power was not through a coup but through the ballot box.

10. Key elements of the Nazi ideology • National Socialist Program • Anti-Marxism, Anti-Communism, Anti-Bolshevism • The rejection of democracy - ending the existence of political parties, labour unions, and free press. • Führerprinzip (Leader Principle) /belief in the leader (Responsibility up the ranks, and authority down the ranks.) • Related to Fascism

11. Racism - Belief in the superiority of the White, Germanic, Aryan or Nordic races. • especially anti-Semitism, which eventually culminated in the Holocaust. • Wanted he creation of a Herrenrasse (Master Race) by the Lebensborn (Fountain of Life; A department in the Third Reich) • Hated Slavs, Africans, Gypsies, homosexuals and the disabled

13. Euthanasia and Eugenics with respect to "Racial Hygiene" • Strong show of local culture. • Social Darwinism • Defense of Blood and Soil (German: "Blut und Boden" - represented by the red and black colors in the Nazi flag)

14. Lebensraum • Means living space • The Nazi policy that the German people need more space to live • The inferior people next door would just have to make room for the master race • Justified his military expansion

15. Hitler Youth • 1922 • an organization designed to in doctrine youth , alternative to Social democratic and Communist labour unions.

16. Reichsparteitag, or party rally • a new innovation in politics in which torchlight processions and speeches created a feeling of Nazi Pride. • Hitler stated quite clearly that “Mass demonstrations must bring it home to the little man’s mind that although he is only a petty worm, he is nevertheless part of a great dragon.”

18. 3 ideas that increased Hitler’s popularity • Ultra-Nationalism - Aryan supremacy and anti-Semitism • Destroy the Treaty of Versailles • Fanatical Opposition to Communism - wealthy industrialists and landowners saw Hitler as protection. - think Mussolini

19. In the elections of 1928, 12 Nazis won seats with only 800,000 votes. • The Social Democrats got 9 million votes and the Conservative National Party 4 million • Hitler allied himself with the Conservative National Party which gave him a wider national acceptance. • He was also introduced to some powerful and wealthy backers such as Fritz Thyssen, the steel magnate. (later put into Dachau)

20. On October 3, 1929 Stressemann died, three weeks later the Wall Street Crash came. • Game change in Germany

21. After the Crash • American Loans Dried up • Unemployment rose to 1/3 of all males in 1933 • The German labour movement, a strong supporter of the republic was now divided between the workers and the workless.

22. Politics and the Crash • The Socialist Chancellor, Mueller, Tried to raise additional funds for Unemployment relief, but could not win enough votes in the coalition government to do so. Hindenburg refused to use his emergency powers to do so. • Hindenburg instead forced Mueller to resign and appointed conservative Heinrich Bruening in his place. (1930)

23. 1930 election • Social democrats were put in an awkward situation as Bruning proposed budget cuts, the proposals were defeated. • When the Reichstag protested, Bruning dissolved it and held new elections. • The Nazis gained 107 seats, Social democrats 143 and Communists 77. • Nazi’s now 2nd largest and most disruptive in Reichstag

25. Street fights erupted between the Red Fighters (Communist thugs) and the Stahlhelm (national party thugs) and the SA. • Bruening governed for another 2 years but only through the use of emergency powers granted in article 48 of the constitution. • Gradually the Nazis took control of several state governments.

26. 1932 elections • In the increasingly radical atmosphere on German politics, Hindenburg was now seen as a moderate in the 1932 elections instead of the radical he was perceived to be in 1925. • The 1932 elections resulted in Hitler wining 230 seats. • President Hindenburg refused to give the Chancellorship to Hitler

27. Politics in Germany was getting messier and messier. Communists and Nazis were both calling for an end to Weimar with huge public support. • These two parties were gaining success in the Reichstag and Bruening could only govern with the support of a senile 84-year-old President.

28. In an attempt to curb street fighting, Brueningattempted to ban Hitler’s SA and SS. To do so he needed the President to use his emergency powers. • This is a move that proved to be Bruning’s undoing.

29. Franz von Papen, a friend of Hindenburg and many aristocrats and nobles, sought to put together an alliance of conservatives to keep Hitler out of power. • To do so he made a bargain with Hitler to end the ban on the SA and SS in return for support of a Papen government.

30. Von Papen became chancellor in 1932 but was unable to cope with the events that followed. • Street fighting continued and von Papen adopted dictatorial measures to try and cope. • The elections had brought greater Nazi support (230 seats) and again the Nazis were contemplating a coup d’etat. • Hitler and Goebbels wanted a legal entry into the Reichstag. The Nazis attacked von Papen for using article 48 while openly using terror on the streets.

31. In the Nazi Party, Gregor Strasser (2nd in command) quit because Hitler refused to adopt more socialist parties into the ranks and was pursuing big business instead. • Seeing the weakness in the Nazi party, von Papen held another election in attempt to reduce the number of seats the Nazis held.

32. Hitler got 198 seats, losing only 34 seats, (there was a decline in voter turn out) • Hindenburg offered the Chancellorship to Hitler but withdrew the offer when Hitler demanded unlimited power. • The next chancellor was Schleicher who only lasted 2 months.

33. Schleicher had convinced Hindenburg that he could bring the socialists and bourgeois into an alliance against Hitler. • He did not want the Reichswehr (German Army) to become over shadowed by Hitler’s personal army.

34. Unfortunately Hitler already had the masses on his side. • In the end von Papen was able to topple Schleicher by making another deal with Hitler. • Hitler agreed to abandon his demand for unlimited power and enter into a coalition with von Papen. At von Papen’s advice, Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor on January 30, 1933.

35. Hitler calls another election in Feb 1933 as he did not have a majority to pass laws to make himself dictator • During the campaign, the Brownshirts harassed the opposition

36. Reichstag Fire • On February 27th, 1933 the Reichstag buildings burnt down. • Goebbles and Goering claimed that the KPD was behind it and Hitler used this to persuade Hindenburg to issue “Ordinances for the Protection of the German state and Nation… as defense against communistic acts of terror endangering the state.”

37. Hitler bullied the Reichstag into passing the Enabling act to give him emergency powers - authority to make own laws with out the Reichstag • Civil liberties were stripped – freedom of speech, press and assembly were lost as were postal secrecy, habeas corpus and the inviolability of home and property. • The Election earned Hitler 288 seats - still not a majority

38. How to force a majority? • Hitler used the excuse that a communist Burnt down the Reichstag to arrest all the Communist members of the Reichstag • Therefore creating a majority for himself

39. Thus Hitler came into power legally and with the support of the German people. • The Depression had undermined democracy everywhere in the world.

40. Now that Hitler was in power he had to take measure to ensure he would remain there. • The premier of Prussia, Goering was a high ranking Nazi who put together the Gestapo (German Secret police) • These plain clothes officers were responsible for thousands of people going missing adding to the Nazi terror.

41. Concentration camps were sent up and opponents simply disappeared to be tortured and killed. • The Enabling Act of March 1933 took power away form the Reichstag. • Gave Hitler dictatorship powers for 4 years • How did this act pass? Most parties voted in favour of it and because the KPD were in jail!

42. Hitler used the Enabling act to create a totalitarian state. • On July 14, 1933 the NSDAP became the only legal party in Germany. • Germany was changed from a federal to a unitary state. • Non-Aryans were dismissed from all government jobs.

43. Strikes were forbidden and unions abolished – replaced by a Nazi controlled German Labour Front. • Education and culture fell under the scrutiny of Goebbels and were purged of “politically unreliable” elements.

44. Any opposition? • The only group that could challenge Hitler in Germany was the Army. • The General staff distrusted Hitler for they feared he would replace them with his own SS and SA officers. • Ernst Roehm’s SA brownshirts wanted to take over the regular Reichswehr giving them better prestige and better weapons.

45. If Roehm became the leader of the Reichswher, then he would be the most powerful many in the country. • At the time the Reichswehr was only 100,000 men as limited by the Treaty of Versailles • The SA was 2 million men.

46. Hindenburg knew of Rohm’s plans and told Hitler he would impose martial law if he did not get Rohm under control. • Also by now Roehm’s homosexuality had become an embarrassment when letters he had written describing his sexual encounters with men had been published. • To win the army’s favour and to remove party faction, Hitler ordered Himmler’s SS to eliminate their rivals, the SA.

47. The Night of the Long Knives, June 30th, 1934. • Roehm and the other leaders were arrested and shot with out trial. • Along with them were General von Schleicher (a plotter against Hitler) and his wife, Gregor Strasser (represented the socialist part of Nazism), friends of von Papen, prominent Catholics, monarchists and many others. • Rohm was given the option of suicide but he refused, they shot him instead. (Hitler justified killing Rohm on grounds of treason and homosexuality).

48. Von Papen’s life was spared • Hitler also took the opportunity to rid himself of any other socialists • The death toll was anywhere from 74 to 1,000. • Hitler took full responsibility for the murders and was actually congratulated by Hindenburg

50. a month later Hindenburg died. • Hitler was then able to combine the posts of Chancellor and President and made himself the Fuhrer. • The Reichswehr loyalty oath was now to Hitler.