The second reason is that the depression had caused mass distress to Germany but the Nazis promised help. This is shown by “early 1930’s saw a bankruptcy of political alternatives” in source 5. Hitler was being favoured due to moderate parties’ attempts, at solving the depression, had failed and extremist measures sort. Bruning had become known as the hunger chancellor for this reason. Unemployment rates had rocketed during these years of moderate government; this is where Hitler’s policies stepped in. He would promise to set up the ‘Nazi Welfare Organisation’ (NWO), which would help out the unemployed as would the Nazis promise of ‘Bread & Work’. These were both aimed at getting people to join the S.A as people were appealed to the idea of food, clothing, warmth and homes. People became enticed by this especially the working class, which made up most of the unemployment figures. It was the depression that would lead to the appointment of Hitler, because it showed the weakness in his political opponents.
The third reason that Hitler was elected was due to the Nazis mass appeal base to all classes. This is shown by “brought into power by normal interplay” in source 4. The Nazis had something in their campaign that would appeal to every class. The working class was stricken by poverty, illness and unemployment and so the Nazis would campaign ‘Bread and work’; meaning they would seek to give food and open new jobs to help/employ the working class. They also campaigned for anti Marxist ideals, which appealed to the middle and upper classes. The communists hated the idea of big businesses ruling the state/economy, and (as shown by the S.A & S.S attacks upon communists in Germany), would dispose of this communist threat. The Nazi regime had many policies that would target just about every class in Germany, and thus would appeal to the electorate to vote Nazi’s as they seemed the ‘safe’ vote. This relied on the weakness of the opposition to capitalise on the misrepresentation of their targeted classes, and so Hitler could capture them.
The Fourth reason is Hitler used mass propaganda appeal to attract support. Hitler used Germany’s troubles as his weapon to gain his mass support. He had made an alliance with Hugenburg, who was the head of a massive media empire. This gave Hitler access to a pool of new technologies, which made people more attracted to Hitler. This let Hitler wield planes, speakers and slide shows to spread his propaganda with. Hitler also had ties with Goebbels, who had a big hold over Germanys press. He was also a gifted speaker to which he created Nazis slogans such as ‘Bread & Work’, which has mass appeal to the unemployment and poverty stricken. Propaganda was just as important as the weakness of the opposition because the propaganda wielded their weakness as a weapon. Citizens of Germany could not avoid the onslaught of Nazi propaganda. Especially in 1933 when Hitler had banned all opposition to Nazi views, which meant that the Nazi propaganda would be the only propaganda for the people to see.
The second reason that Nazis support increased was due to the weakness in democracy (Weimar). This is shown by “Weimar’s democratic system was wrecked” in source 5. Germany has had a dicey democratic childhood, due to coalitions needed to form government as a result of Proportional Representation. Muller’s grand coalition is a key example of this as it proved that if you have too many different ideals incumbent, then you cannot get things done as a government; due to constant fighting over their different policies. The electorate was appealed by Hitler’s idea of a Fuhrerprinzip, whereby there would be a single strong leader in control of Germany. As shown in coalitions where there is more than one leader, then there is a constant reliance upon article 48 to rule; 66 decrees were issued in 1932. This point would show that it was the weakness in the democratic process itself rather than the weakness of the Nazis opposition that led to Hitler becoming chancellor.
In conclusion, the depression is the most important reason out of all of these. It is the event that had caused the Nazis to gain the most support election wise, (37.4 % in July 1932) and gave them access to power. Moderate party ideals were failing for the nation and people begun to lose faith in Weimar. The citizens looked towards extremist ideals to solve this problem and the Nazis were the answer. It was then the fact that they appealed to all classes that would attract people to the Nazis regime, but being deluded by Nazis propaganda as well. Propaganda would take advantage of the flaws in the opposition and use them to Nazis advantage.
