Popularity That Adolph Hitler Enjoyed

¶ … popularity that Adolph Hitler enjoyed on the dawning of the Second World War it is necessary to understand what Germany was like when Hitler originally came to power. In 1934, when Hitler took over the German government on the death of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg the country was in dire straits. The economy was entrenched in a terrible depression; the morale of the country had been decimated by its loss in the First World War; and political turmoil existed between the various German classes. It must be remembered, however, that although Hitler attained what amounted to a dictatorship upon the death of von Hindenburg Hitler did so through non-violent and politically acceptable means. His Nazi Party was voted into power by the German people and not through any coercive measures and though Hitler enjoyed considerable popularity nearly 20% of the German voters who participated in the referendum that resulted in Hitler's being authorized to unify power in his hands voted against the move (Winkler). In several of the working class areas of Germany, nearly 30% of the electorate voted against Hitler. These figures indicate that although Hitler enjoyed widespread popularity it was not universal among the German people and there was opposition to his policies.

The opposition that existed upon Hitler's coming to power, however, dissipated substantially by the time that the German Army invaded Poland in September of 1939 (Rothfels). By then, the German economy had improved substantially. Most of the rest of the world, including Great Britain and the United States were still in the depths of the depression but Germany had managed to attain near full employment. Hitler had managed to reacquire, through skillful negotiations, areas that were historically significant to the German people such as the Sudetenland and Austria and, as a result, the country's morale could not have been any higher.

Although Hitler's popularity as the World approached the beginning of the Second World War in 1939 was high there are a variety of factors that make a true appraisal difficult. First, there is the pervasive nature of the propaganda campaign that the Hitler regime operated. Hitler and the Nazi Party recognized the value of propaganda and the Nazi Party, under the skillful guidance of Herman Goebbels, virtually manufactured a consensus among the German people by repressing political opponents, creating "racial enemies," and developing an intense feeling of "national community (Abel)." Add in the charisma of Adolph Hitler, the failure of the Weimar Republic, and a German society begging for a hero to lead them from the embarrassment of the First World War and you have a situation ripe for exploitation.

The key to Hitler's success was his ability to provide Germany with a new direction, energy and dynamism that had been missing since 1918. Having suffered through failed and ineffective governments for nearly twenty years, the German people felt that with Hitler and the Nazi Party they finally had a government that was doing something to get Germany pointed toward financial and political success (Myerson). Hitler's contribution to the financial turnaround was minimal in that he had little or no experience in such areas but he was shrewd enough to procure the services of the individuals who did know economics and allowed them to do what was necessary. What Hitler provided to the equation was his ability to build the confidence of the German people so that the programs that his economic advisors suggested would be received enthusiastically. Nevertheless, Hitler was also perceptive enough to accept full credit for the economic turnaround and the German people readily considered Hitler to be the source.

The political success of Hitler in the years leading up to the beginning of the Second World War was unprecedented. He acquired territory after territory through the appeasement efforts of the leaders from the other European nations. Germany entered the 1930's a defeated and demoralized nation suffering from the effects of a major economic depression and within a few short years was transformed into a nation enjoying full employment, welcoming family and friends from the Sudetenland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, and a renewed sense of national pride. For a people who had suffered through two decades of uncertainty and economic depravity, Hitler took upon a mythological image (Ascher).

One of the other areas that contributed heavily to the popularity of Hitler was his ability to restore social order within Germany. During the years of the Weimar Republic there had developed a sense among the German people that crime, decadence, and violence had grown out of control. The perception was the Weimar Republic had not assigned enough importance so such issues and Hitler promised that he would restore order in Germany. On the local and national level Hitler paid particular attention to law and order matters and through several widely publicized events such as the purging of the SA and Kristallnacht, Hitler and the Nazi Party were able to successfully create the image that he had cleaned up matters in Germany (Wachsmann).