Why was Hitler so popular in Germany from 1933 onwards?
Hitler became popular in a range of various different ways and clever techniques. A few of these powerful methods were; his use to deliver inspiring speeches, propaganda and deceivingly terror as well (More techniques described later in assessment). He soon had the nation of Germany under his control.
Firstly one of the ways Hitler gained popularity was the fact that after the German economy failed during the Great Depression, more people started for Hitler because he promised to change the country. A lot of Germans hated Jews so Hitler also blamed the Jews for losing World War 1, so he promised to get rid of them. He offered them hope and promised to restore Germany’s power and excellence. Hitler had a gifted talent of delivering inspiring speeches saying how great Germany was, which gave the Germans a feeling of pride and dignity. Evidence that Hitler gave motivational speeches is in source B, this source stated that his speeches were so powerful, that he compared it to a “religious conversion”. This connects with my point, Hitler’s use of powerful speeches made people vote for him which meant an increase in popularity.
Another way he gained reputation was by targeting youths by opening up clubs which proved very enjoyable for young people at that time this was targeted for both boys and girls. The Hitler Youth was Hitler's belief that the future of Nazi Germany was its children. The Hitler Youth was seen as being as important to a child as school was. In the early years of the Nazi government, Hitler had made it clear as to what he expected German children to be like: "The weak must be chiselled away. I want young men and women who can suffer pain. A young German must be as swift as a greyhound, as tough as leather, and as hard as Krupp's steel." The club was so successful that almost every child in Germany wanted to join this. This was because of the various activities it contained. (Listed below).
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Peer Reviews
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Quality of writing
The spelling and grammar in this essay is poor and this did contribute to the lowering of the star rating. The spelling could be typos and if that is the case then they can be avoided by checking what you write at the end of the essay, for instance when I write essays, I always put aside a few minutes at the end to check for mistakes. The author was also lazy, notice when he lists the forms of propaganda ‘in music, films, newspapers ECT,’ never write etc, as it looks lazy or worse suggests that you don’t know what else to put, if it’s the latter reason just finish the list or write ‘and other pieces of communication.’ If it looks lazy, it is likely to be marked down, so where ever possible find suitable ends to sentences or lists. This essay received three stars as it demonstrated good knowledge and fair use of the source, it would have got a higher mark, if spelling and grammar had been better and if the sources had been looked into in greater depth.
Level of analysis
The author analyses the sources fairly well as they use them to back up points they’ve made. However the author does not look at the trustworthiness of each source, or look to see if there were any contradictions, if the author had done this he would have received four stars, as looking at the sources in this depth is very good, as it shows off your analytical skills. An example of this would be looking at a source, written by Goebbels, which said wonderful things about Hitler, and saying that it was unreliable as Goebbels job was to promote Hitler, so may have a certain amount of bias in the source.
Response to question
Sets out a clear introduction, explaining what they see as the most important reasons why Hitler became popular, this is a good thing to do as it gives your essay direction. Also as the essay was a source based essay, the author was right to refer to the source and use it to prove some of the statement they made with their knowledge. I would have referred to the sources a lot more, as these sorts of question are all about interpreting the source and seeing if they back each other up, which the author to some extent fails to do. The author shows off great knowledge, specifically about the Hitler Youth, knowledge is very important in all history essays, but the author used it particularly well, as he used his knowledge to supplement the source, for instance highlighting that the Hitler Youth had been very popular and then used the source which backed it up. In this essay I would have talked about the impact of the Treaty of Versailles and negative correlation, where Hitler made sure he opposed all the things in society that the majority disliked, like the Jews and the politicians (who were still tainted with the ‘stab in the back’ myth, concerning the end of the war.)
