Weimar, 1924 - 1929

Authors Avatar

Weimar, 1924 - 1929

  1. Landsberg and Mein Kampf
  2. 1924 Elections
  3. Situation on Release
  4. Hitler Regains Control
  5. The Strassers
  6. Growing Support, 1924-29
  7. Politics, 1924-29

1.        Landsberg and Mein Kampf

Hitler was sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment in April 1924. However, he served less than a year, being released on December 20th that year. He was imprisoned in Landsberg gaol, and it was hardly harsh.

KD Bracher

        “The prison took on the air of a party head-quarters … with Hitler, dressed in leather         shorts … receiving the tributes of his minions, and the letters, floral gifts, and         expressions of sympathy of the outside world. These included birthday greetings from the         aged Houston Stewart Chamberlain.”

Hitler was allowed to receive visitors whenever he wanted and was not forced to undertake normal prison work. Instead, he wrote the first volume of his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle). This book was an outline of his political memoirs so far, his ideology and his future plans; it was not very interesting reading.

AJ Nicholls

        “Mein Kampf … was a long, rambling and badly written book which demonstrated that         Hitler’s gifts as an orator could not easily be turned to literary purposes.”

It shows the origins of Hitler’s ideas and reveals that the majority of his beliefs were ‘borrowed’ from other authors and philosophers.

KD Bracher

        “Mein Kampf … is truly only original in those parts in which Hitler discusses his crude         and effective methods of propaganda, organisation and mass psychology with cynical         frankness.”

Mein Kampf was not a great success. It did not sell widely, even among party members, until 1933. By 1929, Vol. I had sold 23,000 copies, Vol. II 13,000 copies.


2.        1924 Elections

While Hitler was in prison at Landsberg, there were two sets of national elections* and one local election.

a.        Bavarian Parliamentary Elections (April 6th)

In these, (5 days after Hitler’s trial ended), the Nazis did well, standing under the name of the Völkisch Bloc. In Munich they won the biggest share of the vote; in Bavaria as a whole, they won 17% of the vote.

b.        Spring National Elections

The Nazis stood as the Völkisch Bloc in Bavaria and as the National Socialist Freedom Party (Nationalsozialistische Freiheitspartei) elsewhere. For the first time the Nazis had a national campaign, organised by Strasser, Ludendorff and Rosenberg. They won 1,918,300 votes nation-wide, with the largest share of the vote in Bavaria. gaining 32 (according to Shirer) or 33 (Thomson) seats in the Reichstag.

Why did they do so well?

  • Publicity: The Hitler trial had given the Nazis massive media coverage.
  • The Dawes Plan: This gave the Nazis an ideal issue on which to gain votes.
  • Opposition: The mainstream parties were becoming more associated with failure.

c.        Winter National Elections

Due to problems forming a coalition in the Reichstag, a new round of elections was held on December 7th. In these, the Nazis made a poor showing. They lost over half the seats they had gained earlier in the year. Nation-wide, they garnered only 907,300 votes and were reduced to 14 Reichstag deputies.

3.        Situation on Release

KD Bracher

        “Upon his release from prison on 20 December 1924 Hitler was put on four years’         probation. He was now faced with the task of reconstructing his party.”

While in prison Hitler refrained from getting involved in the party’s activities. He left the running of the party to Rosenberg and Röhm. Neither was an effective leader; which led to the party suffering.

Sir J Wheeler-Bennett

        “[It] was rent by factions, feuds and frondes.”

KD Bracher

        “Hitler’s deputy, Rosenberg, had proved to be a hesitant theoretician, unequal to the         practical demands of political life.”

The party faced severe problems if it was to become a major political force. For one thing, its membership had drastically reduced during Hitler’s time in prison. Other problems are listed below.

  • Revelations of gay activities amongst some of the party leadership caused a reduction in support from ordinary people, and led to both Ludendorff and Count von Reventlow breaking away from the party.
  • The NSDAP itself had been outlawed, causing the need for the creation of splinter groups.
  • The authorities closed down the Völkischer Beobachter, thereby removing the major mouthpiece and propaganda organ of the Nazis.
  • Divisions had emerged within the remnants of the party* with some sections looking more towards ‘real socialism’; the party was splitting on ideological grounds.
  • The economic situation had drastically changed.

Sir J Wheeler-Bennett

        “Germany was on the road back to stability.”


4.        Hitler Regains Control

On his release from prison, Hitler had a lot of work to do to restore his party.

a.        Leadership and Reunification

In attempting to reassert his leadership after the formation of splits and splinter groups from the old party, Hitler used his old ‘divide and conquer’ tactics.

KD Bracher

        “By pitting possible rivals against one another, delegating responsibility and tolerating         overlapping, rival activities, he made himself into that indispensable supreme arbiter         who solves all problems.”

This was achieved in two ways:

  • Allowing party departments to have overlapping responsibilities;
  • Creating ‘Uschla’ (Untersuchungs und Schlichtungsausschuss) - the party arbitration tribunal - in 1926. Hitler appointed the tribunal, giving it the role of resolving individual conflicts. Therefore, Hitler controlled decisions made where conflict of opinion existed.

b.        Regional Control

To ensure that he had control of the regional Nazi groups Hitler ended the system of electing regional leaders. In its place, he instituted a system of appointment: unsurprisingly, Hitler was the one who appointed them.

c.        Policy Control

Hitler wanted to ensure that he controlled party policy as well. This was guaranteed in 1926, when, at the party rally, the 25-point programme was declared unchangeable; therefore, nobody could attempt to redefine the party’s policies.

Join now!

KD Bracher

        “At a party congress in May 1926 its programme was declared immutable. This helped to         muffle theoretical discussions which might deflect the party from its true purpose, the         seizure of power.”

AJ Nicholls

        “[This] was nothing but a move to solidify Hitler’s authoritarian leadership structure.”


5.        The Strassers

Gregor and Otto Strasser were Nazi leaders based in northern Germany. Gregor was more important, joining in 1920, and had risen to prominence while Hitler was in prison. He was a pharmacist and had won the Iron Cross in WW I, rising from private to lieutenant. He ...

This is a preview of the whole essay