In Mein Kampf, his sprawling political monologue, Hitler made it clear that although his intention was still to destroy democracy, the tactics employed by the NSDAP would from now on be very different. Hitler intended to play the system. Hitler was, after his initial violent attempt to seize power, determined that he would gain political influence in accordance with the constitution; he wanted it to look legal.
Despite these changes, the Reichstag elections of May 1928 – in which the Nazis only gained 2.6 per cent of the votes – showed that Hitler was still a figure of marginal political consequence. It seemed likely that he would have remained on the margins of German politics forever had it not been for the catastrophic events of 1929. The death of Stresemann in October of that year coincided with the onset of the most severe economic depression in modern world history. A Historian, William Carr, is believed to have said: ‘It is inconceivable that Hitler could ever have come to power had not the Weimar Republic to the unprecedented strain if a world economic crisis’. It was this sudden economic crisis triggered in USA with the Wall Street Crash that threw Germany into hunger, unemployment and despair. The extent to which Germany had come to rely on foreign assistance was underlined when the financial aid – the loans from western powers – were rapidly withdrawn. Germany felt the full force of a bitter depression. The political repercussions were just as acute.
The Germans were truly desperate and started to look for alternatives to the government that was obviously incapable of putting an end to their misery. While the coalition in the Reichstag dissolved, NSDAP experienced an increase in support. In fact, the membership doubled from 1929 to 1933 from 400.000 to 800.000. The dissolving of the government triggered a series of political intrigues, which naturally provoked instability. Elections were called again and again since the new chancellor appointed by the president never experienced a general political support. While these elections were meant to increase the number of votes for the appointed chancellor, they resulted in an even smaller support. In contrast, throughout this series of elections the Nazis’ support had increased making the NSDAP the largest party in the Reichstag after the elections of July 1932.
The Nazis had achieved this result partly by elaborate propaganda. They held massive rallies and marched through cities with the party flag, shouting and wearing uniforms with swastikas on them. Posters were displayed at public places, and the SA paraded in the streets. Hitler as well as other Nazi leaders held speeches. This was all legal. According to the constitution, the Germans were allowed to assemble and join political movements. Propaganda was also tolerated since there was the right of free speech. However, it is arguable whether the aggressive and extremely vivid form that the propaganda took was in order. Another problem was the SA.
The SA was Hitler’s loyal supporters. It was a paramilitary unit (Sturm Abteilung – Storm Troopers) that was Hitler’s tool to exercise his power. They were unseen vandals and their brutality was chocking. They listened to Hitler and to Hitler only and obeyed every single order of his. Selected sources of that time indicate that the SA was horrifying in their actions. They went in and interrupted Communist and Social Democrat rallies attacking the audience with chairs, injuring several people critically and left the place shattered to splinters. They also disturbed the premiere of the film All quiet on the Western front based on the novel by Remarque. A film that realistically showed the horrors of trench warfare of World War I and the transformation of an idealistic youth to a steel-helmeted man in field-grey uniform, who had seen the most frightful things a man will ever see. The SA bought seats in the whole cinema, especially on the balcony. Soon after the start of the screening, words as “throw the Jews out” were shouted out. Smoke grenades were thrown from the balcony, paper bags with sneezing powder were tossed into the audience and white mice were set loose. The film had to be stopped.
After these illegal acts, Hitler was finally appointed Chancellor after Hindenburg had played his last card. Hitler was the last way out for the President, who distrusted Hitler considerably. As Chancellor, Hitler almost immediately suspended the constitution through an issued emergency decree. This meant that the rights of the German citizens were eliminated. Hitler could now do almost what he wanted. The final step for Hitler to achieve his initial goal – total power over Germany – was taken 24th March 1933. This became known as ‘the enabling act’. This meant the end of democracy in Germany since laws were now allowed to deviate from the constitution and were made only by the chancellor. In effect, Germany was now a dictatorship. Hitler had swept away all possible opposition and the method was officially legal.
Reaching a final conclusion, Hitler became perversely obsessed with legality after his failure to seize power in Munich in 1923. His imprisonment provided him with the time to organise his thoughts (Mein Kampf) and he decided to gain power by obeying the rules of democracy. Hitler only attained the popularity he did due to the most severe economic crisis in modern world history followed by the extensive political unrest in Germany. It must be said that Hitler was skilful at taking advantage of the situation. As mentioned, he used tricks such as propaganda to secure him the support and the SA to put fear into his opponents. Propaganda was in the strictest sense legal. However, many of the SA actions ordered by Hitler were simply criminal and violated the constitution and human rights. On this background, one could possibly say that Hitler, although trying hard, was not able to refrain from using too dirty tricks and elements of his process of seizing power were clearly illegal.
