Chapter 3: The collapse of Weimar democracy and the rise of Nazism
Hitler and the creation of the Nazi Party
- Hitler joined the DAP and drew up the 25-Point program with Drexler, Feb 1920
- Became leader of the party after the power struggle at the meetings, July 1921
- Party est 1st paper: Volkischer Beobachter (the People’s Observer)
- 1923- the party had a membership of about 20,000
- Beer Hall Putsch, 1923: (inspired by Mussolini, 1922), Kahr and Lossow held back at
the 11th hour, crushed by Barvarian police, 14 Nazis killed, Hitler arrested
Nazi ideology
- Highlighted in Mein Kampf
- Social Darwinism: the struggle between races just as animals fought for food and
territory in the wild
- Racial purity
- Pyramind of race: Herrenvolk- Aryans at the top and Slavs, Jews, Negro’s, Gypsies
at bottom
- Anti-Semitism- scapegoat for all of Germany’s past and present problems
- Hitler viewed parliamentary democracy as weak, it went against historical traditions
of militarism and power of the state. Encouraged greater evil i.e communism
- November criminals & ‘stab in the back’ myth
- Fuhrerprinzip- leadership principle, one party, one state
- Nationalism: Lebensraum, new Germany capable of competing with the British
empire, Reich to include all Germans- Sudentenland, Austrian Germans etc
- Socialist aspect: accepted socialist points in early years but never showed true
commitment to them
- Promotion of the Volksgemeinschaft (people’s community)- promotion of ‘German
values’
-
Nazi fortunes in the 1920s
- Party divisions: not everyone agreed on new policy of legality, hostilities between
power bases in Bavaria and N.Ger, differences in socialist/capitalist ideologies
- Influence of Gregor Strasser- joined in 1920, favoured socialist policies
- Feb 1926 Bamberg conference: Party to be run on Fuhrerprinzip
- Structure: Germany split into regions, governed by a Gauleiter, founded org e.g. HJ,
Nazi Teacher’s Association, Union of Nazi Lawyers, Order of German Women
- SS est 1925- bodyguards to Hitler
- May 1928- won 2.6% of the vote = 12 seats
The world economic crisis
- Demand for exports collapsed, world trade slumped, prices and wages fell, number
of bankruptcies increased
- Export fell by 55%
- 5.6mil unemployed by 1932
- 5 major banks closed 1931, 50,000 businesses bankrupted
- Weaknesses in Germany before the crash: balance of trade in the red (debt),
unemployed at 1/9mil in 1929, 1925 onwards-govt ran finances in deficit
