The rise of the Nazi Party in Weimar Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazism is a form of socialism, featuring racism and expansionism (Answers.com 2006). It was the philosophy of the Nationalist Socialist Workers Party, also known as the Nazi Party (Suffolk Community College Department 2006). The Nazi Party was formed in the city of Munich in Bavaria after World War I. Its initial membership consisted of former German soldiers who believed that the War was lost because of the rebellion of Jews and Marxist traitors in October 1918. They also held that the Versailles "Diktat" must be rejected. The Germans' universal condemnation of the Versailles Treaty and the economic decline of Germany rendered the Germans vulnerable to the appeal of Nazism. The hyper inflation of 1923 and the massive depression, starting in 1929 characterized the collapse of the economy (Suffolk).

Adolph Hitler was an Austrian soldier in the German army, who attended the meetings of the then small Nazi Party in Munich (Suffolk Community College Department 2006). Through his magnetic speeches, Hitler won the admiration of the other soldiers and attracted new members to the Party. He came to be viewed as essential to the movement and he used that sentiment to maneuver himself into its leadership. As the leader, he managed to demand and receive the complete subservience of the Party members. Hitler was described as a fanatical soldier who held racist, anti-Semitic and authoritarian views (Suffolk Community College Department).

The Nazi Party was only one of the political movements existing in Munich in those restless years from 1919 to 1923 of the Weimar Republic. The Republic was then ruled by a Communist faction (Suffolk Community College Department 2006). Many paramilitary groups were established and hatched reactionary and right-wing thinking. The fall of the economy brought discredit to the Weimar Republic in addition to the prevailing conditions of dissent and despair. The Nazis tried to overthrow the government in 1923 and Hitler was arrested and imprisoned for almost a year. But while in prison, he wrote "Mein Kempf," which outlined his world-view and his concept of the master race of Aryans for Germany. The Weimar Republic recovered from 1924 to 1929. The Social Democratic Party was the leading party, while the Nazis were a minority party during the period. At this time, the Great Depression, which began in the United States, spread into Europe out of interdependence on the United States. The inability of the centrist parties to contain the huge economic hardship of the decade through Constitutional procedures led to the rise and popularity of extremist parties, particularly the Nazi Party. The Weimar Constitution provided for a Parliamentary democracy, which recognized the leader of the majority party as the chancellor. The Nazi Party obtained plurality vote and Hitler used the position to be appointed Chancellor of Germany, after a brief resistance by the aging war hero, Hindenberg (Suffolk Community College Department).

The racial theories of the Nazis derived from pseudo-scientific 19th - century studies, which rejected the principles of equality and common humanness advocated by the Enlightenment (Kniesmeyer and Brecher 1995). The Nazi Party viewed that different races competed for territory and power and that only the fittest among them should survive. That race should not mix with the inferior races in order to survive, as it was the pure one, which alone could create a lasting civilization. This was the master race, consisting of the elite Aryans, who were perceived to rule and enslave inferior races, such as the Slavs. In fulfilling their destiny, the Germans must eliminate all opposed political and cultural beliefs and inferior blood among themselves. The first to be subjected to "racial purification" were the German Jews. The genocide of other Jews and minority groups extended to other parts of Europe and North Africa by Nazi Germany and its collaborators under the control of Nazi Germany. This is known as the Holocaust, considered the greatest crime against humanity in history made possible by the total control of the totalitarian regime of the Nazi Party, the passive consent of the majority of the German population, a collaboration of regimes with similar views and a deeply rooted anti-Semitism among Christian countries in Europe (Kniesmeyer and Brecher). This combination of factors and effects made Nazism an effective political, economic and cultural philosophy and agenda.

Government

With the death of German President Paul von Hindenburg, Hitler claimed the power of the Presidency in January 1933 (MFA Productions LLC 2005). He became the Fuhrer, or the leader, of all of Germany. He proclaimed the Third Reich, a theory of history, which stated that German unity would be achieved in the Third Kingdom. He also proclaimed that his rule would last a thousand years (MFA Productions LLC). Upon their ascent to power in 1933, the Nazis made the expulsion of the Jews from German society one of their top priorities (Kniesmeyer and Brecher 1995). They conducted a propaganda and terror campaign of vast scope and violence to stigmatize German Jews, separate them from the rest of the population and then forced them to leave the country. They also aroused traditional anti-Jewish attitudes among the people in order to gain approval and support for their regime. Anti-Semitism became the propaganda rallying point of the German Revolution. The Nazis used the print and broadcast media to promote the successes of the regime in every town and every village. They started with boycotting Jewish shops and their businesses in 1933 throughout Germany in the night known as Kristallnacht. Then they campaigned for the expulsion of the Jews from civil service and the professions gradually from all the sectors (Kniesmeyer and Brecher).

The Nazis always used violence to intimidate their opponents (MFA Productions LLC 2005). It used police power in intimidating political opposition to its propaganda in maintaining power (Suffolk Community College Department 2006). The Nazi police suppressed negative news from public knowledge and presented imagined or exaggerated developments to public attention. It blamed the Communists as behind every rebellion and took advantage of that blame to use special powers, such as an Enabling Act, which allowed Hitler to rule by decree for four years. The Nazis political enemies were sent to concentration camps. In 1933, they opened the Buchenwalk Concentration Camp for thousands of political prisoners, such as the intelligentsia and, later, the Jews. The Nazis also burned the Reichstag that year and blamed the Communists. Then they sent the disabled and mentally retarded Germans to special "hospitals" where they were forcibly sterilized and then killed. All non-Nazi organizations were banned or dissolved. Church youth groups, farmers' unions and labor unions were enlisted as affiliates to the Nazi Party. Hitler's youth organizations also practiced extreme anti-Semitism and highly militaristic practices. They enforced gender segregation, especially among the young. Every organization was made to hold and revere Hitler like a cult figure. The lack of economic progress under the Weimar Republic led manufacturing conglomerates, called th Junkers, to throw in their secret support for the Nazis, who advocated for rearmament. Then some bankers followed suit, in the belief that they would acquire the freedom to trade, which they could not get under the Weimar Republic. This fusion of capitalism and Nazism was the element, which gave the Nazi Party the funding and the seats it needed and wanted at the Reichstag, They eventually gained control over all of Germany (MFA Productions LLC, Suffolk Community College Department).

In 1935, Hitler's government decreed the Nuremberg Laws. These laws defined the Jews as a separate and inferior race, required them to wear the yellow Star of David armband, and discriminated against them in every possible way (Suffolk Community College Department 2006). Under these laws, the Jews lost legal equality and citizenship with the Nuremberg laws in 1935. The new regulations deprived them of property until they were banished from German territory (Suffolk Community College Department).

The laws also prohibited marriage between Jews and Aryans, and rendered racial science and membership in Hitler's youth organization compulsory (MFA Productions LLC 2005). Between 1933 and 1937 alone, 129,000 Jews fled Germany but found it difficult to live in other countries. Most of these countries were unwilling to accept the fleeing Jews because of feelings of anti-Semitism and a failure to understand the fate of these displaced Jews (MFA Productions LLC). Realizing that millions of Jews could not be moved to other countries, Nazi officials, in February 1942, decided to exterminate them. The Jews were systematically shipped to death camps (Suffolk Community College Department 2006). At least 6 million Jews and 3 million non-Jews perished during the Nazi regime as its enemies (Suffolk Community College Department). When the Nazis found that the expulsion of the German Jews did not proceed fast enough, they conducted a nationwide "pogrom" on November 8 and 9, 1938 (Kniesmeyer and Brecher 1995). In the evening of the outbreak of World War II, only approximately 200,000 Jews remained in Germany, who could not emigrate because of the War. Of this number, only around 10,000 survived the Holocaust (Kniesmeyer and Brecher).

The Olympic games of 1936 were pivotal to world acceptance of Nazi Germany (MFA Productions LLC 2005). During the games, Hitler staged elaborate ceremonies, such as a parade of ethnic Germans from all over the world. During the games, the Nazis introduced Germany as a nation reborn and dealing with the Depression in much better ways than did Western democracies. In the same year, the Germans took after Hitler's role model, Benito Mussolini of Italy, in sending troops to support Spanish General Francisco Franco. Hitler moved his focus to Austria for reunification or Anschluss. Although his tactic failed, he continued to secretly work to undermine the government. He demanded from Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schushnigg to release the Nazis in Austrian prisons and to appoint Nazi officials to key positions. Schuschnigg made the Austrians decide if they wanted to reunify with Germany. Hitler instead challenged the vote, demanded and obtained the resignation of the Austrian government (MFA Productions LLC).

Hitler's foreign policy violated the Versailles Treaty (Suffolk Community College Department 2006). He withdrew Germany from the League of Nations and began to build armaments by signing the anglo-German naval Agreement in 1935. This agreement allowed Germany to build up to 50 submarines. He also supported the Nazi uprising in Austria in 1934. In 1936, his German army to the west bank of the Rhine, again in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Then he signed a pact with the Axis powers, Italy and Japan. In 1938, Hitler demanded that the Austrian government allow Austrian Nazis appointed to dominant positions in the government. When the Austrian Chancellor decided to make the Austrian people to decide on the matter through a plebiscite, Hitler ordered the occupation of Austria. He made similar moves in Czechoslovakia and Poland to free oppressed Germans. He threatened Poland. His threat on Poland was the prelude to the German invasion on September 1, 1939. In a day or two, England and France declare war against Germany and World War II started (Suffolk Community College Department).

Culture

Culture under the Nazi regime had to be German (Clare 2006). Music had to be Beethoven, Wagner or German folk songs. Actors had to be members of the Nazi Party. The people could read only books and other reading materials by approved authors (Clare).

The Nazis were anti-feminist and idealized women only as child-bearer and creators of the family (Clare 2006). Its Law for the Encouragement of Marriage provided for a loan of 1000 marks to newly-wed couples and allowed them to keep 250 marks for every child. Mothers with more than 8 children received a gold medal. Some women were, however, not too happy under the regime, which discriminated against women. Women doctors, teachers and civil servants were forced to leave their jobs. Neither were they allowed to serve in the armed even during the war (Clare).

Most young Germans were happy because the Nazi culture was vastly youth-oriented (Clare 2006). Youth activities were exciting for young boys and gave special treatment of both young men and women. Nazi programs made them feel they knew more than their parents did. Their parents, therefore, feared this power in their children and feared that they would report them to the Nazi police. Some young people were also not too happy with the Nazi regime. Some girls did not like the emphasis made on their role, which focused on children, church and cooking. Furthermore, true Aryan girls were sent to special camps to breed with select Aryan boys like animals. Towards the end of World War II, youth gangs, such as the Eidelweiss, sprang up and rejected the Nazi youth culture. In 1944, these gangs supported army deserters and even attacked the Gestapo, despite the risk of getting hanged if caught (Clare)

The Nazis inflicted fear and horror upon all its opponents (Clare 2006). Hitler banned all trade unions on May 2, 1933. He closed their offices, confiscated all their money and imprisoned their leaders. Communists were rounded up and sent to concentration camps or killed. Many Protestant pastors were also persecuted and executed. One example was Dietrich Bonhoffer. In every street block, there was a staircase ruler who monitored and reported grumblers to the police. Those accused were arrested and either murdered or imprisoned in concentration camps. Children were encouraged to report their parents if they harbored sentiments or expressed opinions against Hitler or the Nazi Party (Clare).

The Nazi regime tried to infuse their racial ideas and ideals upon the German people. It despised other groups of human beings as racially or socially inferior and considered them subhuman or untermensch (Clare 2006). It called these human beings "the germs of destruction." Among those persecuted and killed were the Jews, such as Anne Frank; gypsies; Blacks; 5,000 mentally disabled babies and 72,000 mentally ill patients; physically disabled with hereditary illnesses; deaf persons; beggars; homosexuals; prostitutes; alcoholics pacifists; criminals; and others considered anti-social. These were sterilized, used in medical experiments, killed or placed in concentration camps. In the end, the Nazis decided to undertake a final solution in the form of genocide. This was the Holocaust (Clare).

Many Germans were too scared or blind to oppose. The Nazi regime imposed Gestapo terror quite effectively among the German people (Clare 2006). Any one who spoke up against the government was killed or imprisoned in concentration camps. Yet many Germans helped hide Jews. They were aware of the injustices committed by the Nazi regime (Clare). Nevertheless, the combination of terror and contentment worked. This combination of factors and effects made Nazism a successful and effective political, economic and cultural philosophy and agenda among the passive and assenting majority of the German population.