Nazi Germany

Nazi ideology and
the establishment of the Nazi State

×          1925 – Economic stability      political stability.

×          1928 – Nazis only won 3.4% of the vote (12 seats).

×          1929 – Wall Street Crash destroyed economic stability      polarisation of politics.

×          1930 – Nazis won 107 seats.

×          1932 – Nazis – the largest party (230 seats).

×          1933 – Hitler appointed chancellor.

×          1934 – Enabling Act –  Hitler - dictator of Germany.

Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945)

×          Born in Austria.

×          1913 – moved to Germany.

×          1914 – joined army.

×          1919 – joined DAP.

×          1921 – leader of NSDAP.

×          1923 – Munich Putsch, Hitler served 9 months in prison.

×          April 1932 – Hitler came second in the presidential election.

×          August 1934 – combined posts of chancellor and president and became the Fuhrer.

Nazi Ideology

×          Nazism – combination of Nationalism and Socialism.

×          Heavily influenced by Fascism.

×          Resentment of a defeated power + anti-Communism – central to German Nationalism.

×          ‘Hitlerism’

×          Volksgemeinschaft – ‘people’s community’

The shaping of Nazi ideology

Nationalism and the legacy of the First World War

×          German empire before 1914 – world’s greatest power:

-          Strong monarchy (Kaiser Wilhelm II)

-          Leading industries (chemical, engineering, coal and iron production)

-          Well-trained army (the Wehrmacht) + the II largest navy in the world

-          13 colonies

×          WWI – started in the summer/ended in the winter (Nov 11/1918)       psychological impact

×          ‘November criminals’ – those who undermined the war effort and surrendered in 1918 (Weimar government (e.g. SPD), Communists and Jews)

×          Weimar Republic – associated with weakness and defeat + governed by traitors

×          Treaty of Versailles (June 1919)

- Loss of land/over sea empire + demilitarisation of Rhineland + forbidden to unite with Austria

- £6.6 billion reparations

- Army limited to 100,000 people + only 6 battleships

- National self-determination (people who consider themselves one nationality would become that nationality) did not apply to Germany – unfair

Change in political scene, 1918-1919

×          Wilhelm II forced to abdicate

×          Fear of a Communist takeover

×          Communists in Berlin and Bavaria – crushed by Freikorps (ex-WWI soldiers who saw Communists as traitors)

×          Half of the leaders of Bavarian Communists - Jewish

Early Nazi ideology

The 25-point programme

×          First presented in February 1920 (by Hitler in Munich)

×          Influenced by: experience of WWI, hatred Treaty of Versailles & democratic government & Communism, desire to protect German workers against Jews/foreign capitalists

1.      All Germans should be united into a Greater Germany.

2.      The Treaties of Versailles and St Germain should be overturned.

3.      Germany should have land and territory to fee its people and settle her surplus population. This land…