Rise of Nazism

However, another reason to explain the rise of Nazism was the German population itself, or specifically, the beliefs, fears and sentiments of the German population. Nazi party policies were deliberately vague so they might appeal to as many people as possible. It was not unusual to find people of both right and moderate-left wing politics joining the Nazis because they agreed with one or more of their policies. For example, the Mittelstand, during the depression, feared a catastrophic decline in their status unless drastic actions were taken to uphold it. The Reichstag and middle class parties did not seem to ensure the safety of the Mittelstand’s status whereas the Nazis had geared their appeal to catch just such a disillusioned section of the population. The Mitlestand naturally veered towards the side of the Nazis and gave their support to Hitler. Furthermore, the Nazis were violently opposed to Communism. The Communists believed all private ownership of land and assets was theft and were thus seen as huge threats to businessmen and industrialists. The Nazis, with their strong anti-Communist stand, naturally gained the support of many landowners and businessmen. As aforementioned, Hitler’s prejudice against the Jews struck a chord in many Germans and the Nazi’s social policies, such as better pensions and reducing unemployment, appealed to the common man and also many traditional socialists. Lastly, Hitler had used the signing of the Treaty of Versailles as one of his main areas to garner support. The Nazis proclaimed that they would abolish the Treaty of Versailles, that they felt unfairly punished Germany. Evidently, this was a popular policy for many Germans. Through propaganda, the German population started feeling that the Weimar Republic was indeed wrong to sign the Treaty of Versailles and therefore blamed all evils such as inflation due to reparations on the Weimar Republic. Thus, as shown from the numerous examples above, the German population, provided fertile ground and ample opportunities for Hitler to exploit their fears, sentiments and beliefs to gain their support and finally rise to power.

Finally, the strength of the Nazi leader - Adolf Hitler, especially in terms of his personality and leadership abilities as well as his strategies and propaganda he used to garner support was vital in resulting in the rise of Nazism. Hitler left WWI disillusioned and bitter. He felt the war had ended too soon and that the Weimar Republic betrayed Germany out by agreeing to the Treaty of Versailles. In 1919 he joined a small political party in Munich, known as the German Workers' Party and soon became its leader. He changed the party name to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), or, the Nazi party. Indeed, Hitler’s hugely influential and strong personality were apparent right from the beginning. For a start, he was incredibly charismatic and an excellent public speaker. As substantiated by Stephen Lee, Hitler possessed incredible energy and stamina and was able to put forward his ideas with great emotional force. Indeed, he won people over simply by strength of personality and many people looked up to him as a messiah figure, thus helping him gain huge support resulting in his rise to power. Next, propaganda was one of the most important weapons that Hitler used, to great success, to draw public support. Hitler believed that the message during speeches had to be kept simple, striking and memorable. As, mentioned by Lee Harper J, “propaganda must be limited to very few points which must be constantly repeated to establish them as incontrovertible facts.” The ability of Hitler to exploit the sentiments of the people through propaganda are evident in his speeches, numerous Nazi pamphlets and brocheres, and especially in his book, Mein Kampf, which showcased a full version of his view and aims and soon became an internation bestseller. Also, Hitler established a section within the Nazi party to identify the reasons for different types of public discontent and to develop specific remedies which would appeal to different social groups. As quoted by P.D. Stachura, “the NSDAP revealed itself to be perhaps the most tactically flexible and opportunistic political movement in the Republic.” Hitler was able to exploit the weaknesses of the Weimar Republic and constantly attack it to gain support. Furthermore, Hitler also exploited the deep anti-Semitism sentiments in Germany. His constant attacks on  the Jews and making them the scapegoat for all evils in Germany in the form of callous capitalism and revolutionary communism found favour in the eyes of many Germans. Indeed, with the rampant Communist fears, by calling the Jews communists, Hitler could effectively kill two birds with one stone - working on the anti communist sentiments on one hand and the anti-Semitism feelings in Germany on the other to garner support. Lastly, as mentioned by A. Bullock, Hitler possessed “a strong sense of opportunity and timing.” This enabled him to take full advantage of the Weimar Republic’s sorry position especially in light of the Great Depression. Hitler, as quoted from Lee Harper J, was at his best when destroying a system by exploiting its crisis. Hitler had a knack for exploiting the weaknesses of the Weimar Republic and took every opportunity to publicly criticize the Weimar Republic and garner support. He kept using the Treaty of Versailles to enhance his rallies and to defame the Weimar Republic. Thus, by using various means and methods to strike a chord in the German peoples’ hearts, Hitler was soon able to garner mass support and rise to power.

In light of the above discussion, I agree to a large extent that Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 was due to the weakness of the Weimar Republic. In fact, if one looks at the above 3 factors, it is arguable that Hitler’s strength as well as the fears, beliefs and sentiments of the German population were in fact a manifestation of the weaknesses of the Weimar Republic. As mentioned above, one of the main strengths of Hitler and reason as to why he was able to rise to power was because he was able to p exploit the weaknesses of the Weimar Republic. These weaknesses gave him the fertile ground and ample opportunities for him to propagate the people with his ideologies and gain their support. This is substantiated by Stephen Lee, who wrote, “without the economic crisis, it is doubtful whether Hitler would have had much chance of attaining power”. Indeed, without the widespread discontent and unhappiness of the people due largely in part to the weaknesses of the Weimar, Hitler would not have had the chance to rise to power. Furthermore, it was because the people had lost faith in the Weimar, and were unsure of whether it could do things like keep the Communist threat in control or provide peace, bread and land that the Nazis promised, that there existed the abovementioned fears, sentiments and beliefs of the people which Hitlr could exploit. Therefore I agree to a large extent that Hitler’s rise to power was indeed due to the weaknesses of the Weimar Republic and not because of Hitler’s strengths.