Why did many people vote for the Nazi Party in the elections of 1930-1932?
Nazi Germany Assignment
Q. 1 why did many people vote for the Nazi Party in the elections of 1930-1932?
In 1930, 6.4 million Germans voted for the Nazis. The Nazis had 107 seats and were the second largest party in parliament. In 1932, 13.8 million Germans voted for the Nazis. The Nazis had 230 seats, whereas 4 years earlier they only had 12 seats.
The reason behind this dramatic change was the result of good fortune and careful planning. There are eight main reasons behind this change, the first is economic difficulties.
Economic Difficulties
The economic difficulties affected 4 groups. They were farmers, middleclass businessmen and self-employed and the middle class.
The nazi party targeted farmers because of the Wall Street crash, which caused agricultural depression, which meant there was a fall in prices and a rise in debts, and so the farmers were making no profit. The Nazis also felt that farmers would be an easy target because they would only have to use a small amount of energy, money and time, which would lead to better results.
Farmers voted for the Nazis because they offered protection against foreign competition and communism that would affect the farmers because of the Wall Street crash.
The Nazis targeted the middleclass businessmen and the self-employed because both shared the same view; this was that America was the enemy. This was because a large company (Woolworth) from America was coming over to Germany to set-up a business that would put middleclass businessmen, retailers, craftsmen and tradesmen out of business.
The middleclass businessmen and the self-employed voted for the Nazis because they promised that if they voted for them, they would be in a position to conquer the "arch-enemies".
The Nazis targeted the middleclass, as they would have been an easy target because they were anxious about the economy, they were also nervous about the rise of communism and they were also mad at the Weimar parties because they felt they had failed Germany.
The middleclass voted for the Nazis because they promised to restore the middleclass as the backbone of the country, by complementing them it makes them more likely to vote. The middleclass also felt that the republic had betrayed and deserted them and so they turned their backs on the liberal parties and ...
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The Nazis targeted the middleclass, as they would have been an easy target because they were anxious about the economy, they were also nervous about the rise of communism and they were also mad at the Weimar parties because they felt they had failed Germany.
The middleclass voted for the Nazis because they promised to restore the middleclass as the backbone of the country, by complementing them it makes them more likely to vote. The middleclass also felt that the republic had betrayed and deserted them and so they turned their backs on the liberal parties and moved towards the right. The Nazis gave hope to millions.
The second reason is Fear of communism.
Fear of communism
There were 3 main groups who were affected by the fear of communism; these were the businessmen, agricultural landowners and workers.
The Nazis targeted these 3 groups because the wall street crash had affected them badly. Prices started to drop on things like agricultural products and consumer goods. This caused farmers and small business to have financial problems, and this lead to food shortages, homelessness, high taxes, strikes and demonstrations because so many people were out of work.
Businessmen, agricultural landowners and workers voted for the Nazis because the Weimar parties appeared to have no solutions but Hitler did. These were to protect farmers from foreign competition, reduce taxes, create work for the unemployed and protect big business from communism.
The next reason for why the Nazis got so many votes is the Nazis polices on key issues.
Nazi policies on key issues
In 1930 unemployment was at 4.3 million whereas just over a year before it had been 1.5 million. Because of this sharp rise in unemployment there was a large increase in food shortages, homelessness, high taxes, strikes and demonstrations. This caused a mass depression and people wanted to get out of this and the nazi party offer solutions to this depression, these were called the key issues.
The key issues were affective because they were issues that everyone in Germany could relate to. First the Nazis attacked the treaty of Versailles, which gained them the vote because the treaty had caused Germanys "depression" situation and the Nazis had never been associated with the treaty. They led an assault against communism and promised to repair all the damage that had been caused to the economy. The Nazis also said they were going to promote national unity, strong leadership, discipline, order, traditional moral, family values and they criticised the Weimar republic for their "betrayal and neglect" of Germany.
The people voted for the Nazis because these key issues were appealing to Germans who wanted to get out of the depression of the early 30s.
The next factor for the Nazis being voted is political chaos.
Political chaos
This factor helped the nazis get votes because the Weimar republic had always been seen unpopular because the Weimar government had signed the treaty of Versailles and the treaty had been seen as a defeat because it had lead the people into the depression.
The Weimar republic lost a lot of respect because they were not able to keep control of the growing fear of communism, whereas the nazi storm troopers were claiming to be the only party defending the nation against communism, and that won them a lot of votes.
In 1929, during the Wall Street crash, the Weimar economy was shown to be vulnerable and weak and this lost the Weimar republic a lot of votes and it gained the Nazis lots of votes.
The fifth reason for why the Nazis got votes is because of their image.
The nazi party image
In 1929, Hitler changed his parties' image, in order to give it a higher profile. Hitler changed the parties' image by going into partnership with Alfred Hugenberg, who was the leader of the German Nationalist Party. By joining with Hugenberg the Nazis now became associated with a respectable, conservative party. Joining the Nationalist party gained the Nazis more votes because they were no longer seen as a "radical, working class party" but were now seen as a more attractive party to middle class voters.
This new alliance with Hugenberg also meant that the nazi party had media access, which also gained the nazis votes and that is the next reason; use of media.
Use of media
The Nazis propaganda was seen as powerful and effective. This was because the Nazis messages were simple slogans that would stick in the mind
The Nazis used poster campaigns to get their political message across. They used a large variety of posters to target different audiences. The Nazis also had a selection of newspapers to use. They were able to reach different audiences this way as each newspaper was designed to reach different audiences. The Nazis main feature of propaganda was public meetings, this was because the speakers were given cars in order to make lots of speeches and get the point across to lots of people.
Josef Goebbels was the head of propaganda and because of him nazi propaganda became sophisticated, which appealed to middleclass people.
The Nazis gained votes through propaganda because they were organised locally, whereas many other parties were to slow to see that local organisation was beneficial,
The next reason is the skilled use of propaganda.
Skilled use of propaganda
The Nazis would target certain groups in different ways. Women would be targeted by being told if they were not to vote for Hitler then the Germany family would be ruined.
In newspapers different types of languages were used e.g. formal and informal, to target the different audiences and this would let the reader feel more comfortable reading the article if they could understand the style of language?
Goebbels careful organisation, impressed many people because they were done on a huge scale, with thousands of uniformed soldiers in ranks, which created a sense of order and discipline. The atmosphere of the speeches would be good as there was music and light shows as well as rousing speeches.
All of these skills gained the Nazis votes because they seemed to be promising a solution for everyone's problem and gave hope to millions.
The last reason is Hitler.
Hitler
Hitler gained votes for the nazi party because he was a talented public speaker and because of this he was able to captivate his audiences. Hitler was also able to interact with his audiences by playing on their fears and hopes.
Hitler had a good personality and this gave a sense of unity to the Nazis.
Hitler's campaign was called "Hitler over Germany" this was because Goebbels decided to use an aeroplane in order for Hitler to appear at lots of venues on the same day and during the election campaign Hitler was able to speak to thousands of Germans, which gained the Nazis votes because Hitler was seen to be taking a personal interest in the public speeches by making appearances.
