Why did so few people oppose Hitler by 1938

Germany before 1938 was suffering the aftermath of the great depression, where the economy of the whole world fell to dust and bank notes became worthless. People carried their paychecks in wheelbarrows but that money could only afford a cup of coffee. Then a new man came into being and changed the face of German politics forever, His name was Adolf Hitler. Hitler was a genius and planned his political party when Germany was in a point of great struggle so he could get the votes of people quite easily by making promises and maybe sticking to them. And it worked for him because after he wrote his book in prison he became popular and started getting peoples vote by holding big rallies and making promises like jobs etc especially for the very poor people because at that time 7 million people were unemployed so it was important for Hitler especially to keep his promises.

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When Hitler came into power which was made fairly easily for him by the Reichstag fire, he wasted no time in getting peoples faith in him by immediately holding yet again big parades and rallies chanting that he and his party was good. He also started building motorways and got everybody involved in building and un- employment soon began to fall and fall. The one thing that Hitler made sure he did was fulfill the promises he made for the people especially jobs. Everyone soon seemed to have a job and he promised every worker a house and a car. This made everyone have absolute faith in him. In order for everyone to see a prosperous Germany under Hitler he installed a great national pride in the country so every house had a Nazi flag sticking out of their windows, people had to wear a national dress and he held big parades for the people and festivals which got them excited. People worshipped him and some peoples said that Hitler was their mother and their father. He was described as the peoples saviour and a common saying was ‘work and bread are the Fuhrer’s blessings’. This was pleasing to Hitler because he was on good terms with the people and no one was against him. Crime also fell massively because you could leave your door open and nothing would happen. Boys who were around the age of 18 went to labour camps which taught them that work was good and what Hitler did really well was make people feel good about what they did, so the people liked him.

But there was a bad side to all this ‘new’ Germany. A totally opposite one to what tourists saw when they visited. This part was where the true Hitler came into being. Oppositions were banned and there were no trade unions. Books written by people Hitler didn’t like were burnt down. The Jews and other people were beaten up and murdered if they didn’t like Hitler and there were secret spies called the Gestapo everywhere. They would kill you if you said the least thing against Hitler and no one could be trusted. Even children were advised to tell on their parents so people were scared, that is why the Germans were speaking through a flower, which means say only good things or else you could be facing the rest of your life in a concentration camp which were starting to come about as soon as Hitler came into power.

In conclusion people did not oppose Hitler because they were scared of the consequences that would happen to them because Hitler could do anything to anybody and he doesn’t care whoever you are, like in the situation in the night of the long knives Hitler shot his private advisors and closest men just because he thought they were getting more power than he was. So he could kill anybody else if he thinks you are not in his good books that was why during that time all Germans spoke through a flower.

Emmanuel Acheampong 9t