Exam (elaborations)
‘Fear of communism was the main reason why increasing numbers of Germans voted for the Nazis in the years 1930-32.’ Assess the validity of this view.
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‘Fear of communism was the main reason why increasing numbers of Germans votedfor the Nazis in the years 1930-32.’ Assess the validity of this view.
Whilst fear of communism was indeed a key reason why increasing numbers of Germans
voted for the Nazis in the years 1930-32, it was not the main reason. In fact other factors,
such as the role of Hitler himself and the role of anti-Semitism were possibly equally
significant. Furthermore, a fourth factor, that of propaganda, seen in every area of German
life under the Nazis, from the censorship of the Reich Chamber of Culture to the newspapers
like Der Sturmer, was in fact the main reason for the increasing numbers of Germans who
voted for the Nazis.
Fear of communism was instrumental in the surge of German citizens voting for the Nazi
party in the years 1930 to 1932. Hitler invoked a deep-rooted fear of communism into the
German public which encouraged the popularity of the Nazi party. In particular, this can be
seen through the German elections as the increase in popularity of the communist party
resulted in a huge increase of popularity in the Nazi party. This can be seen in the 1930
election where the Nazi party obtained 230 seats, however, the KPD gained the second
largest number of seats in the whole election, posing a serious threat to the power of the
Nazi party. Furthermore, the Nazi party’s movement from a blue-collar party to a white collar
party provoked a fear of communism as the working class backdrop of the communists
further evoked fear. However, whilst this fear of communism allied the German public to the
Nazi party, this would have failed to take root without the vital role of propaganda which
promulgated this fear of communism. Therefore, without propaganda, the fear of
communism would have failed to spread to German voters and would not have resulted in a
desperate alliance for the Nazi party.
Although fear of communism was, therefore, a significant factor in the votes for the Nazi in
this period being seen to increase, the fear that we see on the streets would have died down
within this period but for the success of the Nazi party in using propaganda to maintain its
potency. The fear of communism was made far more effective through this use of
propaganda, and, although there was clearly a real fear at its base, the degree of hysteria
surrounding the communist threat was clearly designed and built into Nazi propaganda as a
way of increasing the Nazi appeal to the white-collar worker. Goebbels specifically crafted
propaganda to alienate the communist party from 1930 to 1932 to encourage more people to
vote for the Nazi party. This can be seen through the multimedia methods which instilled fear
of communism such as use short wave radios, the burning of the books in 1932 and also,
the Nuremburg rallies which created a greater fear of communism. Additionally, the Nazi
party used the film ‘The Triumph of the Will’ to perpetuate Nazi ideology. The simplicity of
Nazi propaganda bolstered the success of the Nazis as its deliberate ambiguity encouraged
Germans to vote for the Nazis in the hope that they would ‘make Germany great again’ and
blame Weimar for the political and economic uncertainty. Through utilising different types of
media to spread this fear of communism, German citizens voted for the Nazi party out of the
pure fear of communism, further reinforcing that the role of propaganda was the most
successful method in instilling a fear of communism.
Propaganda then, was crucial to the success of the Nazis in attracting more voters in the
period from 1930 to 1932. Propaganda acted as the catalyst which sparked Hitler’s own
influence and was the main driving force of the Nazi ideology. There is no doubt that
propaganda was the key factor, but arguably, a further factor that grew the Nazi support was
Hitler himself, whose role as a hypnotic speaker and orator was integral to the Nazi mass
appeal. Hitler’s ability to tailor his speeches to his audiences, so each felt that they were
gaining what they wanted, was key to persuading voters to join him, and indeed this was
seen from the working class right through to rich industrialists like Thyssen and Krupp.
Therefore, Hitler’s role in the Nazi party was an important reason for the dramatic increase in
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