The Seeds of Evil - The Rise of National Socialism in Germany – Sources Questions

A) According to the author of source 4 Hitler was able to attract support from young people in the 1930’s because they appeared to be ignorant of basic historic knowledge, hence they believed all that Hitler told them about events in 1918, believing in Hitler's stab-in-the-back theory and that unemployment was due to the left wing governments of the 1920’s.

B) Non-Aryan elements mean people who were not a member of the Aryan race, often blond haired and blue eyed. Theses groups which were non Aryan were not going to be allowed to be a part of the German Community under Hitler. This meant that Jews, Slavs, Homosexuals, and any other inferior races were going to be discriminated against in the new Reich, and would not be allowed to have any importance what so ever. In Germany when Hitler got to power these groups were sent to concentration camp’s or else encouraged to leave Germany.

C) Source 4 says that ‘his latest speeches have dropped the anti-Semitic(Jew) passages which indicates that he has changed the level of content in Hitler's speeches did change and therefore the statement that the source offers support to the view Hitler's speeches didn't change over the years is false.

Source 1 written at the beginning of the period 1923-33 says that ’Hitler asks that the German Nation be cleansed of all not-Aryan elements.’

By 1933 and Source 4 the author a British ambassador says that Hitler is now concentrating on slating the Marxist Governments of the 1920s and the November Criminals.’ These two sources contradict the statement in the question and the do not support the view given.

D) Source 2 seems to me to be the writing of a Nazi programmed ‘fool’ who is being used by the Nazi party purely for a Propaganda purpose and in-fact is ...

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Source 1 written at the beginning of the period 1923-33 says that ’Hitler asks that the German Nation be cleansed of all not-Aryan elements.’

D) Source 2 seems to me to be the writing of a Nazi programmed ‘fool’ who is being used by the Nazi party purely for a Propaganda purpose and in-fact is an essay entry for a propaganda contest organised by the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda. However it does raise some interesting points, I know from my wider knowledge that people joined the Nazi party out of fear of communism (international Marxism) and that people did join the Nazi party because they were Anti-Jewish. However the young man has been completely taken in by Nazi propaganda even using the phrase ‘The Rebirth of Germany.’

Source 3 is a poster showing people flying away from Germany. This again is a product of the Nazi propaganda machine and as far as i can deduce offers no explanation why people voted for the nazi’s( but then i cant really workout what’s going on.) Even if the source did appear to give reason why people supported the Nazis I’m not sure they could be entirely trusted due to the fact that they are products of the Nazi propaganda .

E) The factors which contributed to the increased support to the Nazis in the years 1929-1933 were mainly that the party appeared attractive to many different groups in society and not as usual just one group.

Part of the attraction to the Nazi party, as mentioned in Source 5, was that the Nazis had a strong leader in Hitler and there was a feeling within Germany that they needed a strong leader. Hitler also had a wide ranging appeal and had an image as a strong leader, he had fought for Germany during the first world war and he was also not from a very high breeding, and this meant he could truly be a representative of the people, for the people, chosen by the people.. He had a great oratory ability and claimed by the use of propaganda to be a messiah like figure. Many Germans would undoubtedly be swept along with the spin, hype and popularity of Hitler.

Also Germany had gone through many changes in the previous ten years and the effect it had on many Germans meant that they were tempted by the promise that Hitler would re-awaken Germany, the message was clear - "vote Nazi for a reborn Germany."

Hitler had promised to heal all class rifts and bitter conflicts and promised to weld society together for the greater good. This appealed to a great number of Germans.

The Nazis gained a lot of votes in the early 1930's from the unemployed people in Germany as Hitler promised to cut unemployment by offering ‘Bread and Work‘.

Another important factor in the increasing popularity of Nazism between 1929 and 1933 was the well organised Nazi propaganda campaigns. The propaganda was very effective because it was based on some elements truth, but was manipulated and presented to the people in a way which portrayed The Nazi Party being the saviour of Germany. .

As unemployment continued to rise in the early 1930’s many became disillusioned with the Weimar System of Government and supported not only right wing extreme parties but Left-wing communist parties as well, it is obvious that a majority of people had become disillusioned by democracy by 1933 as over 50% of the vote went to non-democratic parties. The feeling inside Germany (for supported of the Right wing extreme) was that a strong leader was needed to pull Germany back to the glory of the pre-war era and that Germany would benefit from having a strong Government even if this meant sacrificing some civil liberties. As a result of this many people turned to Hitler and the Nazi’s in the search for a way out of the situation the Germany had found herself in.