After this general reason we must look into the specifics that came into play with each person in Germany at that time. There are three main reasons that I will explore, that the Nazis could not directly control, that would make I person turn to the NSDAP, for their own reasoning. Firstly, someone’s political belief in Germany in 1933 would be affected by his or her own religious beliefs. This would mean there religion would affect the way they vote, the first and most obvious example of this would be that a Jew would not vote for the Nazi party as the Nazi were inherently and profusely anti-semantic. Also the Catholics, depending on their position in society, would not vote for the NSDAP, because their beliefs would lead them to vote for the Zentrum Centre party as it was a Catholic party who’s policies sometimes came from the Vatican, meaning that Catholics would have to obey them. On the other hand, the Nazis would tend to get support from the Protestants, as in the past, when Martin Luther first introduced the people to Protestantism; it was the first time when their nationalistic spirit was fired, and that was exactly what the Nazi party was doing in Germany at that time. So, in the eyes of historian William Shirer, Nazism is the continuation of the German history of autocratic rule and the inspiration of the religious reformer Luther.
The next point here is the fact that many peoples voting pattern would be effected by their social class. The Nazi party was disproportionately supported and voted for by the middle-class and the upper class. This was for many reasons, the first of which was that the Nazi party promised to keep the communists down, and the upper classes feared a communist uprising and them obtaining power as it meant they would no longer have their personal wealth, this was also for the upper middle class, for the same reasons. Secondly, because of the Wall Street Crash economic crisis that was going on, the middle class would need the stability that the Nazi party was offering, like a lifeboat in stormy seas they would jump on board and join the party. This was particularly applicable to the Petty Bougouis, who were the shop owners and tradesmen, as they would suffer greatly from the depression because they’re livelihood depended on people spending, which would less likely to happen in a recession. Thirdly, some of the middle and upper class Germans would have turned to the Nazis through the failures of the Weimar Republic’s economic policies such as the Treaty of Versailles, and the Young plan which caused a lot of criticism form the middle and upper class nationalists because it was seen as another Versailles, and prolonged the crippling reparations. Finally, the middle class, especially shopkeepers, would be attracted by the Anti-Semitic policies of the Nazi party, as the Jews typically owned the large department stores that were causing small Germans businesses to fold, which increased resentment towards the Jews that the Nazis and in particular Hitler learned to play on. The specific examples of the Nazis gaining support from people are seen especially with the Junkers and the large industrials, as the Nazis would not split up the Junkers land like the Weimar republic, and promised stability for the industrialists, this meant Hitler had support from some of the most powerful people. Another wider group that Hitler typically was supported by was the women in Germany, as he promised to return the value of the traditional family, and let mother’s stay at home to support the children, and he gave them the promise of Arbeit und Brot (work and bread). The group of people that the Nazi party got the least of their proportionate electoral support from was the Lower class in Germany, consisting of the workers and peasants. This was because both of them tended to be left wing, as the left wing parties offered more specific policies to help the workers, such as the wider introduction of unions not the German cities and the promise of more equal wages.
The next thing that would affect how a German might vote, but the Nazis couldn’t directly control would be where they lived and what environment they lived in. This could be seen in the electoral results as lower class Germans who lived in rural areas and small towns voted Nazi more than that of lower class Germans who lived in the larger cities. This was because of the targeting of the left wing in Germany at that time; they tended to unleash their propaganda in large towns where Germans were already turning to the ever-growing unions for support, and they’re standard of living was a lot worse than that of the lower class who lived in the rural areas, this meant the cities were right for an outburst of communism. A similar situation to that of Russia, earlier that century. There were also places that were typically left or right wing because of events that have taken place there, this is reactionary support. We can see examples of this in Bavaria, with tended to vote Nazi less than other Lander states because of the left-wing roots that were left there after it became a democratic socialist republic for a short time in 1918. On the other hand people in Bohemia and Hungary supported the NSDAP because the Slav workforce had undercut the German workforce, so there was no employment for them.
The next major reason why Hitler became chancellor in 1933 was because of his personal skills, in attracting support and eventually bringing the Nazi party into power. He was an unrivalled orator, propagandist and opportunist, and without him the Nazi party would have crumbled around the time of Banburg, but he managed with great success to bring the party together. His success was also in his other skills, for example the hypnotic effect he had on the audience, his gift for exploring and playing on discontent and most importantly he had a way of putting into words what the Germany wanted to hear. This view is supported by the Historian Alan Bullock who said that the ‘Nazis came to power by showing a deep conviction to a narrow range of principles (the aims of which were simple, popular, and easy to understand),’ put into play by the charisma of Adolf Hitler.
Another possible reason why the Nazis may have gained support and came into power was because of the Propaganda they used, to great effect in some areas. Joseph Goebbels, the head of Propaganda in the Nazi party leadership, famously said ‘The election campaign is ready in principle. We now only need to press the button in order to set the machine in action,’ but it can be naïve to say that the German people were simply fooled by the propaganda. The enormous propaganda campaign undertook by the Nazi party was Hitler’s dream as he thought that it was a very effective way of reaching the people, as they’re ‘intelligence is small’ and they ‘must harp on limited slogans, until the very last member of the public understands’, as he said in Mein Kampf. But as information in East Berlin has been found, it was discovered that the campaign was not as effective as once thought, as Noakes, a modern historian, says that ’Propaganda only reinforced existing sympathies,’ so it did not play as big a role as the other reasons.
To conclude, I will say that Hitler became chancellor in 1933 because his party had the most support at the time, and seemed the best choice, but his support that let him run to be chancellor came from not one specific group of powerful people, but from a large cross section of the whole of Germany. Hitler’s genius was seen in his twenty-four points, as anyone could find something in them to relate to, and so join and support the party. This was where the NSDAP’s real success was, that it could therefore claim to be the only party cutting across the whole political spectrum, representing the Volksgemeinschaft as a whole and overcoming class divisions. So with some justification then the Nazis were the Volkspartei, and because of that they became the biggest party in Germany with a third of the electoral vote, securing Hitler’s place as Chancellor and putting him one step closer to his dictatorship goal.
Michael Jay – History – 12 JL
