Hitler also gained the support of people by formulating the “Stab in the back” theory in which Hitler said: “The instigators of the war – the instigators of German defeat – the instigators of the armistice – the instigators of the Peace Treaty are the same – Jews.”. In Hitler’s view, the Jews were to be blamed for everything Germany had suffered, and needed to be punished for it. Before this theory, many people had disliked the Jewish people, as they mostly owned the successful businesses, shops, were doctors and lawyers and mostly kept to themselves. Hitler used this to his advantage by showing that he too, disliked the Jews, and wanted to do something about it.
The German people didn’t want communism, which was the other option so they turned to Nazism, as it was the only alternative. People feared that, since they had established themselves from the lower or skilled working classes and they now had a small stake in the world, economic chaos brought about by Communism would drag them back down the ladder. Albert Speer, after seeing Hitler for the first time in 1931 said, “Here it seemed to me was hope…. The perils of Communism could be checked, Hitler persuaded us, and instead of hopeless unemployment, Germany could move towards economic recovery.”
The wall street crash had led to mass unemployment in Germany and poverty. Hitler promised people recovery from this unemployment and get back on the road to economic recovery. After hyperinflation had occurred shortly after the end of the World War One the German people wanted economic stability to be able to feel safe again and the Nazi party offered this. The Weimar republic had alienated the middle classes through hyperinflation. The government printed millions of bank notes when Germany was in economic crisis to try to solve the problem but the notes were worthless and more and more were printed. The value of the mark on the stock exchange became almost worthless and savings that were once worth lots became worth hardly anything. The middle classes, the people who had savings, resented the Weimar Republic for allowing this to happen as they lost all of their savings during this period so they voted for the Nazis to get rid of the Weimar republic and democracy as it didn’t seem to benefit them. Through this, the Nazis gained many votes as it was the former middle class who made up the majority of the German population.
Before the Hyper-inflation After the Hyper-inflation
Another reason why the Nazis became popular after World War One was because of the Weimar Government. Germany was unstable at this time and after the formation of the Weimar republic, the constitution became weak. The Weimar republic was successful for some time but people always felt resentment towards the republic due to the long-term implications of World War One and the Treaty of Versailles. The reparations that Germany had to pay through the Treaty meant that it was in economic crisis. This helped to cause weakness in the democracy and although the Weimar Republic did have a period of recovery between 1924 and 1929 the Wall Street Crash helped to bring it down again. The republic was weak, crises in a country do happen as they did in Germany but the government has to be able to survive. If it can’t survive it leaves the way open for people such as Hitler to work their way to power. People saw Hitler has a way to regain their wealth, he promised jobs and overthrow the Treaty of Versailles. The most important reason why the Weimar Government was destroyed was that the German people blamed the Weimar Government for their suffering.
In conclusion, I believe that Hitler was very efficient at using the social and economic problems during that period to his advantage. I would be interested to see if Hitler would have still gained power under different, more positive conditions. In my opinion, I don’t believe Hitler should be credited for being a great man, I think he just had a lucky set of circumstances!
