Thursday, October 24, 2019
How did the Nazis use conditions of the time to establish popularity? Essay
The rise of the Nazi which began in January 1933 and eventually took over Germany still amazes many. Some historians relate this to the rise of Hitler, who was able to mobilize many people through his lies and alluring speeches, others speak of the god of the Nazi propaganda who was able to capture the German society, but still this does not give a total explanation of how the Nazi were eventually able to capture the German political customs. This is why William Sheridan Allen in his book, The Nazi Seizure of Power, uses Thalburg, a town in Germany, to elaborate what happened politically at the local level, which led to such a hasty rise and turn around of events.            To Allen, Thalburg offered such an ideal place for the Nazi owing to its passive involvement in politics. It was a local town and the population did not understand the intentions of the Nazi. While the Nazi were busy organizing themselves at the local level of the town, the Social Democratic Party was unable to form a stand on the issue and the rest of the population did not understand what the Nazi intended to achieve; all these taking place amidst a harsh political and economic depression.            In Thalburg, political activities were mainly speechmaking. The Nazi held their rallies in the Cattle Auction Hall. The rallies presented various ideas which were intended to show the rest of the people that the Nazi believed in the ideas they preached. They were young, dedicated and patriotic to their ideas. In the elections of 1930, the Nazi held more rallies and the halls were often full. They managed to attract new 800 voters to their party and stole 1000 votes from other parties. This increased their popularity and ushered in a new face of their campaign efforts.            The Social Democratic Party on the other hand, had powers to do what the Nazi were doing. They held rallies in a much bigger hall, but what they failed to do according to Allen is that, they failed to recognize the Nazi as a political threat since it was based at the local level. Also, they lacked a stand as to whether they were reformers or adherers to the status quo, which they needed in order to attract the middle class voters. They failed to realize that by trying to beat the Nazi at their own game, they scared the people away.            Many people blamed the SDP of not being radical enough; hence they opted for the Nazi. The SDP therefore lost by trying to oppose rather than coming up with more sensible ideologies that would counter the Nazi. During the presidential elections in 1932, the Nazi’s popularity rose further. They rented out the hall for eight running days, held very successful rallies and their campaigns totally destroyed any opponents of Hitler. According to Allen, â€Å"This was an example of Nazi agitation and organizational ability at its best.†           The German people were oblivious to the intentions of the Nazi. What they expected when they voted for Nazi, was change. They had no idea that they would legitimately bring to power a man who would later lead to the largest war in history, and a genocide of six million people and affect the economy of the world. They voted for peace although they had no idea of the kind of change that was forthcoming. Therefore the Nazis were able to rise into power swiftly amidst a nation that was trying to stabilize from a brutal war.            According to an article http://www.flowofhistory.com/units/etc/20/FC134, Adolph Hitler was born 1889, in Australia. He served the German army with merit and enjoyed the war and the solidarity of the army. He served as a reservist after the war, spying on other political parties to ensure that they did not add more chaos to the already concluded war. One such party was the National Socialist or the Nazi. It fascinated Hitler due to its racism ideas, which he soon joined. He had a talent in speech making which attracted more crowds to the Nazi gatherings.            Even though the war was over,Germany was still unstable. There were political struggles as well. A major problem occurred especially when they printed huge sums of money to support a strike against French troops. When they failed to account for the money, a series of inflations were inevitable. The Germans felt let down by a few inferiors and this gave room for the rise of the Nazi in the early 1920s, prompting Hitler to overthrow the government in 1923. It earned Hitler a good deal of publicity as a national hero defending German honor against domestic hostility and foreign embarrassment.            The higher tariffs that came as a result of the war raised international tension and Hitler used this as a tool for the Nazi to gain popularity. The war had also created an unstable economy that largely depended on financial support from the United States. The stock market dragged Germany down and many Germans were unemployed. This played right into Hitler’s hands. Through the democratic process, he would gain power.            The Nazi took advantage of these factors. The Brown shirts, the Nazi thugs, started riots with opposing groups especially the Communists, but instead blamed the Communists for the instability and riots. This embarrassed the government for failing to maintain law and order, at the same time portraying the Nazi as the perpetrators of peace and order. They also gave out free food and made festivities to show that they were nice concerned Germans who held huge rallies to demonstrate their popularity and to obtain support from many more Germans.            In 1932, Hitler became the prime minister. He used his political power, propaganda and lies to divide his opponent parties, destroying them one by one. He then called for new elections, hoping to win more seats for the Nazi. In order to scare people further into supporting the Nazi, they burned down the parliament and blamed the Communists for it. Hitler therefore was able to suspend civil rights and arrest the Communist leaders.            He eventually eliminated the government as well as the democratic process, and instead established the Enabling Act, which gave him power for four years, which was plenty time to gain power in Germany. With the brown shirts threatening the crowds, the law was passed and henceforth Hitler’s dictatorship was evident. He was able to disband all his political rivals and through dictatorship, it was impossible to legally accuse the Nazi of injustices.            On the contrary, it is bizarre how a small party, despite its ingenuity could manage to convince the majority vote, in a conservative manner, when a nation was trying to recover from economic and political upheavals. There was also the inability to discover the Nazi threat and stop it from electoral dominance. Maybe it was possible in Thalburg, due to its inability to conceptualize the problem correctly. As much as the SDP was not powerful at the local level, still it had power nationally and should have maximized its power to identify the threat that lay ahead, because it is the abuse of power rather than the electoral victory at Thalburg that managed to seal the fate of Germany. But according to Allen, local factors played a major role in creating a dictatorial government in Germany. Conclusion            In a democratic regime, it is quite hard to separate the sovereign variables that lead to victory in elections. This is even worse when most of the parties use the same tactics in their campaigns. Allen does not answer the question how or why German elected Hitler and not someone else. However, he elaborates how vigorous local level politics can contribute to adverse effects in a given nation.            There could be a number of reasons why Germany went along with the madness of that period. Hitler was sly and could easily win the people’s confidence using tempting promises. This way he was able to counter all his opponents at the face of the people. He used propaganda to make people believe that they were absolutely under no threat at that time. This deceived the people of the truth, until much later when it was already too late to save the situation they had gotten themselves into. Finally, Hitler’s approach temporarily restored a bit of national pride, relieving some misery, but in return the people had to pay a huge price for this temporary bit of comfort. Still, as Allen would put it, we should not just watch the steps of one mad man, rather the delusions we take to the polls ourselves when exercising the right to choose our leadership. Works Cited William Sheridan Allen, The Nazi Seizure of Power: the experience of a single German town http://www.flowofhistory.com/units/etc/20/FC134
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