(Adolf Hitler - the Rise to Power)
DIE WEIMARER REPUBLIK
(THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC)
Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in Germany (at least formally) in September 1919 when Hitler joined the political party that was known as the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (abbreviated as DAP, and later commonly referred to by the slang and pejorative name of 'Nazi' Party).
This political party was originally formed as a political offshoot of the 'Thule Gesellschaft', a powerful right-wing secret society, based in Munich, and developed during the post-World War I era.
It was anti-Marxist, and was opposed to the democratic post-war government of the Weimar Republic and the Treaty of Versailles; and it advocated extreme nationalism and Pan-Germanism as well as virulent Antisemitism.
It was anti-Marxist, and was opposed to the democratic post-war government of the Weimar Republic and the Treaty of Versailles; and it advocated extreme nationalism and Pan-Germanism as well as virulent Antisemitism.
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| President Paul von Hindenburg |
Hitler's "rise" can be considered to have ended in March 1933, after the Reichstag (see right) adopted the Enabling Act of 1933 in that month; President Paul von Hindenburg (see left) had already appointed Hitler as Chancellor on January 30, 1933 after a series of parliamentary elections and associated backstairs intrigues.Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg known universally as Paul von Hindenburg (2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934.
Hindenburg enjoyed a long career in the Prussian Army, retiring in 1911. He was recalled at the outbreak of World War I, and first came to national attention, at the age of 66, as the victor at Tannenberg in 1914. As Germany's Chief of the General Staff from 1916, he and his deputy, Erich Ludendorff, rose in the German public's esteem until Hindenburg came to eclipse the Kaiser himself. Hindenburg retired again in 1919, but returned to public life one more time in 1925 to be elected as the second President of Germany.
The 'Enabling Act' - when used ruthlessly and with authority - virtually assured that Hitler could, thereafter, constitutionally exercise dictatorial power without legal objection.
Hitler rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party.
Being one of the best speakers of the party.
Threatening, and later actually leaving the party, he told the other members of the party to either make him leader of the party or he would never return.
Threatening, and later actually leaving the party, he told the other members of the party to either make him leader of the party or he would never return.
He was aided in part by his willingness to use violence in advancing his political objectives and to recruit party members who were willing to do the same.
The 'Beer Hall Putsch' in November 1923, and the later release of his book 'Mein Kampf' (usually translated as 'My Struggle') introduced Hitler to a wider audience.'Mein Kampf' (English: My Struggle) is a book by Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926. The book was edited by the former Hieronymite friar Bernhard Stempfle.
Hitler began dictation of the book while imprisoned for what he considered to be "political crimes" following his failed Putsch in Munich in November 1923. Although Hitler received many visitors initially, he soon devoted himself entirely to the book. As he continued, Hitler realized that it would have to be a two-volume work, with the first volume scheduled for release in early 1925. The governor of Landsberg noted at the time that "Hitler hopes the book will run into many editions, thus enabling him to fulfill his financial obligations and to defray the expenses incurred at the time of his trial."
In the mid-1920s, the party engaged in electoral battles in which Hitler participated as a speaker and organizer, as well as in street battles and violence between the Rotfrontkämpferbund (see right) and the Sturmabteilung (SA).
Through the late 1920s and early 1930s, the NSDAP gathered enough electoral support to become the largest political party in the Reichstag, and Hitler's blend of political acuity and cunning converted the party's non-majority, but plurality, status into effective governing power in the ailing Weimar Republic of 1933.
Once in power, the NSDAP created a mythology surrounding the rise to power, and they described the period that roughly corresponds to the scope of this article as either the 'Kampfzeit' (the time of struggle) or the 'Kampfjahre' (years of struggle).
The Beginning (1918-1924)
From Armistice to party membership (September 1919)
For over four years (August 1914 – November 1918), the Deutsches Kaiserreich (Germany) was a principal belligerent in World War I, on the Western Front (see right).
German: Deutsches Kaiserreich (The German Empire) is the common name given to the state officially named the Deutsches Reich (literally: "German Realm", designating Germany from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.
Wilhelm II (27 January 1859 – 4 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (Kaiser) and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. He was a grandson of the British Queen Victoria and related to many monarchs and princes of Europe. His "New Course" in foreign affairs that culminated in his support for Austria-Hungary in the crisis of July 1914 that led to World War I. An ineffective war leader, he lost the support of the army, abdicated in November 1918, and fled to exile in the Netherlands.
Soon after the fighting on the front ended in November 1918, Hitler returned to Munich (see right) after the Armistice with no job, no real civilian job skills and no friends.
He remained in the Reichswehr and was given a relatively meaningless assignment during the winter of 1918-1919, but was eventually recruited by the Army's Political Department (Press and News Bureau), possibly because of his assistance to the Army in investigating the responsibility for the ill-fated Bayerische Räterepublik (Bavarian Soviet Republic).
The Jewish led Bavarian Soviet Republic, also known as the Munich Soviet Republic (German: Bayerische Räterepublik or Münchner Räterepublik) was, as part of the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the short-lived attempt to establish a socialist state in the form of a democratic workers' council republic in the 'Free State of Bavaria'. It sought independence from the also recently proclaimed Weimar Republic. Its capital was Munich.
Apparently Hitler's skills in oratory, as well as his extreme nationalism, caught the eye of an approving army officer and he was promoted to an "education officer" - which gave him an opportunity to speak in public.
One of his duties was to report on 'subversive' political groups, (he was, in fact, and Army 'spy') as ordered by his superiors.
Any group which contained the word "Workers" in its name was certainly a suspicious group to the Army Political Department, and his commanders assigned Hitler, in his role as 'investigator', to attend a meeting of the small Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (German Workers' Party, abbreviated DAP) on 12 September 1919.
The German Workers' Party (German: Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated DAP) was the short-lived predecessor of the Nazi Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated NSDAP).
The DAP was founded in Munich in the hotel "Fürstenfelder Hof" on January 5, 1919 by Anton Drexler (see right), a member of the occultist Thule Society (see left).
It developed out of the "Freien Arbeiterausschuss für einen guten Frieden" ('Free Workers' Committee for a good Peace') which Drexler had also founded, and led. Its first members were mostly colleagues of Drexler's from the Munich railway depot.
Drexler was encouraged to found the DAP by his mentor, Dr. Paul Tafel, a leader of the 'Alldeutscher Verband' (Pan-Germanist Union), and a director of the 'Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg', and also, more significantly, a member of the 'Thule Gesellschaft'. Tafel's wish was for a party which was both 'in touch' with the masses, and nationalist, unlike the middle class parties.
The initial membership was about forty people.
On March 24, 1919, Karl Harrer (a sports journalist and a member of the 'Thule Gesellschaft') joined the DAP to increase the influence of the 'Thule Geselschaft' over the DAP's activities, and the party name was changed to the 'Politischer Arbeiterkreis' - (Political Workers' Circle). There was, of course no intention for the Politischer Arbeiterkreis to be aware of the 'occult' aims of the Thule Gesellschaft - as the Politischer Arbeiterkreis was to be a purely political, which would, unknowingly further the aims of the originating and controlling group - and Adolf Hitler - when he took control of the political organisation did everything in his power to distance the political movement from it's occult origins.
During the 12 September meeting, Hitler took umbrage with comments made by an audience member that were directed against Gottfried Feder (see right), the speaker, and economist with whom Hitler was acquainted as a result of a lecture Feder delivered in an Army "education" course.
The audience member asserted that Bavaria should be wholly independent from Germany and should secede from Germany and unite with Austria to form a new South German nation.
The volatile Hitler arose and castigated the audience member, employing his oratorical skills, and eventually causing the man to leave the meeting before its adjournment.
This bold (and typical) action by Hitler deeply impressed the DAP founder Anton Drexler, who promptly handed Hitler a political pamphlet.
Soon Drexler, or one of his designates, sent Hitler a postcard that invited him to join the party and to attend a "committee" meeting.
Hitler attended this meeting, held at the Alte Rosenbad beer-house, and initially concluded that the party was too muddled and disorganized to merit further attention:
It had neither membership numbers nor membership cards, and had a treasury of about seven Reichsmarks, however, on further reflection Hitler realized that because the party was neither well established nor particularly organized, he could exercise a greater influence on its direction.
After two days in thought, Hitler decided to join the DAP; he was the party's fifty-fifth member.
By early 1920 the DAP had swelled to over 101 members, and Hitler received his membership card as member number 555 (the group started the counting at number 500).
Hitler's considerable talents were appreciated by the party leadership and in early 1920's he was named as its head of propaganda.
Hitler's actions began to transform the party.
On 20 February, the party added 'National Socialist' (Nationalsozialistische) to its name and became the 'Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei' (NSDAP) (see left).
Four days later Drexler, Feder and Hitler announced the party's 25-point program (see National Socialist Program).
In August Hitler also organized a group of "security men" under the guise of a party "Gymnastics and Sports Division."
The group was named at first the 'Ordnertruppen', and it may well be that their principal intended purpose was, in fact, to keep order at meetings, and to only suppress those who disrupted such meetings.
In early October the group's name was officially changed to the 'Sturmabteilung' (Storm Detachment) (see right), which was certainly more descriptive and suggested the possibility of offensive, as well as solely defensive, action.
Throughout 1920, Hitler began to lecture at Munich's beer halls, particularly the Hofbräuhaus (see left and right), Sterneckerbräu and Bürgerbräukeller.
By this time, the police were already monitoring the speeches, and their own surviving records reveal that Hitler delivered lectures with titles such as Political Phenomenon, Jews and the Treaty of Versailles.
At the end of the year, party membership was recorded at 2,000.
On 11 July 1921, Hitler resigned from the party after Drexler, the party's nominal leader, proposed merging the party into a larger nationalist 'Kampfbund' coalition.
The Kampfbund was a league of patriotic fighting societies and the German National Socialist party in Bavaria, Germany, in the 1920s. It included Hitler's NSDAP party and their Sturmabteilung or SA for short, the Oberland League and the Reichskriegsflagge. Its military leader was Hermann Kriebel (see right), and its political leader was Adolf Hitler. It was Captain Ernst Röhm (see left) who proposed that Hitler be the political leader of the Kampfbund.
The Kampfbund conducted the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923 in Munich, Germany.
Kampfbund is German for "Battle League". The league was created on 30 September 1923 at Nuremberg.
Hitler rejoined once the policy was abandoned, and on 28 July assumed control of the party by causing Drexler to resign his position as leader.
On 14 September 1921, Hitler and a substantial number of SA members and other Nazi party adherents disrupted a meeting at the Lowenbraukeller of the Bavarian League.
This federalist organization objected to the centralism of the Weimar Constitution, but accepted its social program.
The League was led by Otto Ballerstedt, an engineer whom Hitler regarded as "my most dangerous opponent."
One Nazi, Hermann Esser, climbed upon a chair and shouted that the Jews were to blame for the misfortunes of Bavaria, and the Nazis shouted demands that Ballerstedt yield the floor to Hitler.
The Nazis shoved Ballerstedt off the stage into the audience.
Both Hitler and Esser were arrested, and Hitler commented notoriously to the police commissioner, "It's all right. We got what we wanted. Ballerstedt did not speak."
Hitler was eventually sentenced to 3 months imprisonment and ended up serving only a little over one month.
On 4 November 1921, the Nazi Party held a large public meeting in the Munich Hofbräuhaus. After Hitler had spoken for some time, the meeting erupted into a melee in which a small company of SA defeated the opposition.
From Famous Hall Melee to Famous Hall Coup D'État
the Abortive Putsch and the Trial
In the few months between the end of 1922 and the beginning of 1923, Hitler formed two organizations that would grow to have huge significance.
A pivotal moment came when Hitler led the Beer Hall Putsch, an attempted coup d'état on 8–9 November 1923.
He was well-treated in prison, had a room with a view of the river, wore a tie, received visitors to his chambers and was permitted the use of a private secretary.
The Move Towards Power (1925–1930)
In the German election, May 1928 the Party achieved just 12 seats (2.6% of the vote) in the Reichstag.
The highest provincial gain was again in Bavaria (5.11%), though in three areas the NSDAP failed to gain even 1% of the vote.
Overall the NSDAP gained 2.63% (810,127) of the vote.
Partially due to the poor results, Hitler decided that Germans needed to know more about his goals.
Despite being discouraged by his publisher, he wrote a second book that was discovered and released posthumously as Zweites Buch (see left)
At this time the SA began a period of deliberate antagonism to the Rotfront (Red Front) by marching into Communist strongholds and starting violent altercations.
At the end of 1928, party membership was recorded at 130,000. In March 1929, Erich Ludendorff (see right) represented the Nazi party in the Presidential elections.
He gained 280,000 votes (1.1%), and was the only candidate to poll fewer than a million votes.
The battles on the streets grew increasingly violent.
After the Rotfront interrupted a speech by Hitler, the SA marched into the streets of Nuremberg and killed two bystanders.
In a tit-for-tat action, the SA stormed a Rotfront meeting on August 25 and days later the Berlin headquarters of the KPD itself.
In September Goebbels (see left) led his men into Neukölln, a KPD stronghold, and the two warring parties exchanged pistol and revolver fire.
The German referendum of 1929 was important as it gained the Nazi Party recognition and credibility it never had before.
On 14 January 1930 Horst Wessel got into an argument with his landlady about rent, but the Communists alleged it was over Wessel's soliciting of prostitution on her premises — which would have fatal consequences.
The landlady happened to be a member of the KPD, and contacted one of her Rotfront friends, Albert Hochter, who shot Wessel in the head at point-blank range.
Wessel had penned a song months before his death, which would become Germany's national anthem for 12 years as the Horst-Wessel-Lied.
Goebbels also seized upon the attack (and the two weeks Wessel spent on his deathbed) to premier the song.
Along with Horst Wessel, the year 1930 resulted in more deaths in political violence than the previous two years combined.
On 1 April Hannover enacted a law banning the Hitlerjugend (the Hitler Youth), and Goebbels was convicted of high treason at the end of May. Bavaria banned all political uniforms on 2 June, and on 11 June Prussia prohibited the wearing of SA brown shirts and associated insignia.
The next month Prussia passed a law against its officials holding membership in either the NSDAP or KPD.
Later in July, Goebbels was again tried, this time for "public insult", and fined.
The government also placed the army officers on trial for "forming national socialist cells".
Against this violent backdrop, Hitler's party gained a shocking victory in the Reichstag, obtaining 107 seats (18.3%, 6,406,397 votes).
The Nazis became the second largest party in Germany.
In Bavaria the party gained 17.9% of the vote, though for the first time this percentage was exceeded by most other provinces: Oldenburg (27.3%), Braunschweig (26.6%), Waldeck (26.5%), Mecklenburg-Strelitz (22.6%), Lippe (22.3%) Mecklenburg-Schwerin (20.1%), Anhalt (19.8%), Thuringen (19.5%), Baden (19.2%), Hamburg (19.2%), Prussia (18.4%), Hessen (18.4%), Sachsen (18.3%), Lubeck (18.3%) and Schaumburg-Lippe (18.1%).
An unprecedented amount of money was thrown behind the campaign.
Well over one million pamphlets were produced and distributed; sixty trucks were commandeered for use in Berlin alone.
In areas where NSDAP campaigning was less rigorous, the total was as low as 9%.
The Great Depression was also a factor in Hitler's electoral success.
Against this legal backdrop, the SA began its first major anti-Jewish action on 13 October 1930 when groups of brownshirts smashed the windows of Jewish-owned stores at Potsdamer Platz.
Hitler Takes Power (1931–1933)
On March 10, 1931, with street violence between the Rotfront and SA spiraling out of control, breaking all previous barriers and expectations, Prussia re-enacted its ban on brown shirts.
Days after the ban SA-men shot dead two communists in a street fight, which led to a ban being placed on the public speaking of Goebbels, who sidestepped the prohibition by recording speeches and playing them to an audience in his absence.
Ernst Röhm, in charge of the SA, put Count Micah von Helldorff, a convicted murderer and vehement anti-Semite, in charge of the Berlin SA.
The deaths mounted up, with many more on the Rotfront side, and by the end of 1931 the SA suffered 47 deaths, and the Rotfront recorded losses of approximately 80.
Street fights and beer hall battles resulting in deaths occurred throughout February and April 1932, all against the backdrop of Adolf Hitler's competition in the presidential election which pitted him against the monumentally popular Hindenburg.
In the first round on 13 March, Hitler had polled over 11 million votes but was still behind Hindenburg.
The second and final round took place on 10 April: Hitler (36.8% 13,418,547) lost out to Paul von Hindenburg (53.0% 19,359,983) whilst KPD candidate Thälmann gained a meagre percentage of the vote (10.2% 3,706,759).
At this time, the Nazi party had just over 800,000 card-carrying members.
Three days after the presidential elections, the German government banned the NSDAP paramilitaries, the SA and the SS, on the basis of the Emergency Decree for the Preservation of State Authority.
This action was largely prompted by details which emerged at a trial of SA men for assaulting unarmed Jews in Berlin.
But after less than a month the law was repealed by Franz von Papen, Chancellor of Germany, on 30 May.
Such ambivalence about the fate of Jews was supported by the culture of anti-Semitism that pervaded the German public at the time.
Dwarfed by Hitler's electoral gains, the KPD turned away from legal means and increasingly towards violence.
One resulting battle in Silesia resulted in the army being dispatched, each shot sending Germany further into a potential all-out civil war. By this time both sides marched into each other's strongholds hoping to spark rivalry. Hermann Göring, as speaker of the Reichstag, asked the Papen government to prosecute shooters. Laws were then passed which made political violence a capital crime.
The attacks continued, and reached fever pitch when SA storm leader Axel Schaffeld was assassinated.
At the end of July, the Nazi party gained almost 14,000,000 votes, securing 230 seats in the Reichstag.
Energised by the incredible results, Hitler asked to be made Chancellor.
Franz von Papen (see right) offered the position of Vice Chancellor but Hitler refused.
Hermann Göring, in his position of Reichstag president, asked that decisive measures be taken by the government over the spate in murders of national socialists.
On 9 August, amendments were made to the Reichstrafgesetzbuch statute on 'acts of political violence', increasing the penalty to 'lifetime imprisonment, 20 years hard labour or death'. Special courts were announced to try such offences.
When in power less than half a year later, Hitler would use this legislation against his opponents with devastating effect.
The law was applied almost immediately but did not bring the perpetrators behind the recent massacres to trial as expected. Instead, five SA men who were alleged to have murdered a KPD member in Potempa (Upper Silesia) were tried.
Adolf Hitler appeared at the trial as a defence witness, but on 22 August the five were convicted and sentenced to death.
On appeal, this sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in early September.
They would serve just over four months before Hitler freed all imprisoned Nazis in a 1933 amnesty.
The Nazi party lost 35 seats in the November 1932 election but remained the Reichstag's largest party.
The most shocking move of the early election campaign was to send the SA to support a Rotfront action against the transport agency and in support of a strike.
After Chancellor Papen left office, he secretly told Hitler that he still held considerable sway with President Hindenburg and that he would make Hitler chancellor as long as he, Papen, could be the vice chancellor.
On 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of a coalition government of the NSDAP-DNVP Party.
The SA and SS led torchlight parades throughout Berlin.
In the coalition government, three members of the cabinet were Nazis: Hitler, Wilhelm Frick (Minister of the Interior) and Hermann Göring (Minister Without Portfolio).
With Germans who opposed the NSDAP failing to unite against it, Hitler soon moved to consolidate absolute power - which was refered to as Gleichschaltung
Gleichschaltung
Gleichschaltung, meaning "coordination", "making the same", "bringing into line", is a German term for the process by which the NSDAP successively established a system of control and coordination over all aspects of society.
Among the goals of this policy were to bring about adherence to a specific doctrine and way of thinking and to control as many aspects of life as possible.
The apex of the Gleichschaltung in Germany was in the resolutions approved during the Nürnberg Rally of 1935, when the symbols of the Party and the State were fused, and the Germans of Jewish religion and descent were deprived of citizenship.
Der Nürnberger Parteitag der NSDAP (Reichsparteitage des deutschen Volkes), meaning Reich party convention, was the annual rally of the Nazi Party in Germany, held from 1923 to 1938. They were large Nazi propaganda events, especially after Hitler's rise to power in 1933. These events were held at the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg from 1933 to 1938 and are usually referred to in English as the Nuremberg Rallies. Many films were made to commemorate them, the most famous of which is 'Triumph of the Will' by Leni Riefenstahl.
1935 – The 7th Party Congress was held in Nuremberg, September 10-16, 1935. It was called the "Rally of Freedom" (Reichsparteitag der Freiheit). "Freedom" referred to the reintroduced compulsory military service and thus the German "liberation" from the Treaty of Versailles. The Leni Riefenstahl film 'Tag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht' was made at this rally, and the Nuremberg Laws were introduced.
The period from 1933 to 1937 was characterized by the systematic elimination of organizations opposed to the new government that could potentially influence people, such as trade unions and political parties.
Those critical of Hitler's agenda, especially his close ties with industry, were suppressed.
The regime also assailed the influence of the churches, for example by instituting the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs under Hanns Kerrl.
Organizations that the administration could not eliminate, such as the education system, came under its direct control.
The Gleichschaltung also included the formation of various organisations with compulsory membership for segments of the population, in particular the youth.
Boys served as apprentices in the Pimpfen ("cubs") beginning at the age of six, and at age 10, entered the Deutsches Jungvolk ("Young German Boys") and served there until entering the Hitler Youth proper at age 14.
Boys remained there until age 18, at which time they entered into the Arbeitsdienst ("Labor Service") and the armed forces (Wehrmacht).
Girls became part of the Jungmädel ("Young Maidens") at age 10, and at age 14 were enrolled in the Bund Deutscher Mädel ("League of German Maidens").
At 18 BDM members went generally to the eastern territory for their Pflichtdienst, or Landjahr – a year of labor on a farm.
In 1936 membership of the Hitler Youth numbered just under 6 million.
For workers an all-embracing recreational organization called 'Kraft durch Freude' ("Strength through Joy") was set up.
In the Third Reich, even hobbies were regimented; all private clubs (whether they be for chess, football, or woodworking) were brought under the control of KdF and, in turn, the NSDAP.
The 'Kraft durch Freude' organization provided vacation trips (skiing, swimming, concerts, ocean cruises, and so forth).
With some 25 million members, KdF was the largest of the many organizations established by the Third Reich.
Workers were also brought in line with the party through activities such as the 'Reichsberufswettkampf', a national vocational competition.
The Beginning (1918-1924)
From Armistice to party membership (September 1919)
For over four years (August 1914 – November 1918), the Deutsches Kaiserreich (Germany) was a principal belligerent in World War I, on the Western Front (see right).
German: Deutsches Kaiserreich (The German Empire) is the common name given to the state officially named the Deutsches Reich (literally: "German Realm", designating Germany from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.
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| Kaiser Wilhelm II |
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| Kaiserliche Fahne der deutschen Kaiser |
Soon after the fighting on the front ended in November 1918, Hitler returned to Munich (see right) after the Armistice with no job, no real civilian job skills and no friends.
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| Munich |
He remained in the Reichswehr and was given a relatively meaningless assignment during the winter of 1918-1919, but was eventually recruited by the Army's Political Department (Press and News Bureau), possibly because of his assistance to the Army in investigating the responsibility for the ill-fated Bayerische Räterepublik (Bavarian Soviet Republic).
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| Bayerische Räterepublik |
Apparently Hitler's skills in oratory, as well as his extreme nationalism, caught the eye of an approving army officer and he was promoted to an "education officer" - which gave him an opportunity to speak in public.
One of his duties was to report on 'subversive' political groups, (he was, in fact, and Army 'spy') as ordered by his superiors.
Any group which contained the word "Workers" in its name was certainly a suspicious group to the Army Political Department, and his commanders assigned Hitler, in his role as 'investigator', to attend a meeting of the small Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (German Workers' Party, abbreviated DAP) on 12 September 1919.
The German Workers' Party (German: Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated DAP) was the short-lived predecessor of the Nazi Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated NSDAP).
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| Anton Drexler |
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| Thule Society |
Drexler was encouraged to found the DAP by his mentor, Dr. Paul Tafel, a leader of the 'Alldeutscher Verband' (Pan-Germanist Union), and a director of the 'Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg', and also, more significantly, a member of the 'Thule Gesellschaft'. Tafel's wish was for a party which was both 'in touch' with the masses, and nationalist, unlike the middle class parties.
The initial membership was about forty people.
On March 24, 1919, Karl Harrer (a sports journalist and a member of the 'Thule Gesellschaft') joined the DAP to increase the influence of the 'Thule Geselschaft' over the DAP's activities, and the party name was changed to the 'Politischer Arbeiterkreis' - (Political Workers' Circle). There was, of course no intention for the Politischer Arbeiterkreis to be aware of the 'occult' aims of the Thule Gesellschaft - as the Politischer Arbeiterkreis was to be a purely political, which would, unknowingly further the aims of the originating and controlling group - and Adolf Hitler - when he took control of the political organisation did everything in his power to distance the political movement from it's occult origins.
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| Gottfried Feder |
The audience member asserted that Bavaria should be wholly independent from Germany and should secede from Germany and unite with Austria to form a new South German nation.
The volatile Hitler arose and castigated the audience member, employing his oratorical skills, and eventually causing the man to leave the meeting before its adjournment.
This bold (and typical) action by Hitler deeply impressed the DAP founder Anton Drexler, who promptly handed Hitler a political pamphlet.
Soon Drexler, or one of his designates, sent Hitler a postcard that invited him to join the party and to attend a "committee" meeting.
Hitler attended this meeting, held at the Alte Rosenbad beer-house, and initially concluded that the party was too muddled and disorganized to merit further attention:
It had neither membership numbers nor membership cards, and had a treasury of about seven Reichsmarks, however, on further reflection Hitler realized that because the party was neither well established nor particularly organized, he could exercise a greater influence on its direction.
After two days in thought, Hitler decided to join the DAP; he was the party's fifty-fifth member.
It should be noted that this is the 'narrative' supplied by Hitler in 'Mein Kampf'. It has, however, been suggested, that he was instructed to infiltrate, and later join, and eventually lead the party on instruction he received from Dietrich Eckart, a leading member of the Thule Gesellschaft.The First Two Years: Party Membership to the Hofbrauhaus Melee (November 1921)
By early 1920 the DAP had swelled to over 101 members, and Hitler received his membership card as member number 555 (the group started the counting at number 500).
Hitler's considerable talents were appreciated by the party leadership and in early 1920's he was named as its head of propaganda.
Hitler's actions began to transform the party.
Four days later Drexler, Feder and Hitler announced the party's 25-point program (see National Socialist Program).
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| Sturmabteilung |
In August Hitler also organized a group of "security men" under the guise of a party "Gymnastics and Sports Division."
The group was named at first the 'Ordnertruppen', and it may well be that their principal intended purpose was, in fact, to keep order at meetings, and to only suppress those who disrupted such meetings.
In early October the group's name was officially changed to the 'Sturmabteilung' (Storm Detachment) (see right), which was certainly more descriptive and suggested the possibility of offensive, as well as solely defensive, action.
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| Hofbräuhaus |
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| Hofbräuhaus |
By this time, the police were already monitoring the speeches, and their own surviving records reveal that Hitler delivered lectures with titles such as Political Phenomenon, Jews and the Treaty of Versailles.
At the end of the year, party membership was recorded at 2,000.
On 11 July 1921, Hitler resigned from the party after Drexler, the party's nominal leader, proposed merging the party into a larger nationalist 'Kampfbund' coalition.
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| Captain Ernst Röhm |
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| Hitler in Landsberg |
The Kampfbund conducted the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923 in Munich, Germany.
Kampfbund is German for "Battle League". The league was created on 30 September 1923 at Nuremberg.
Hitler rejoined once the policy was abandoned, and on 28 July assumed control of the party by causing Drexler to resign his position as leader.
On 14 September 1921, Hitler and a substantial number of SA members and other Nazi party adherents disrupted a meeting at the Lowenbraukeller of the Bavarian League.
This federalist organization objected to the centralism of the Weimar Constitution, but accepted its social program.
The League was led by Otto Ballerstedt, an engineer whom Hitler regarded as "my most dangerous opponent."
One Nazi, Hermann Esser, climbed upon a chair and shouted that the Jews were to blame for the misfortunes of Bavaria, and the Nazis shouted demands that Ballerstedt yield the floor to Hitler.
The Nazis shoved Ballerstedt off the stage into the audience.
Both Hitler and Esser were arrested, and Hitler commented notoriously to the police commissioner, "It's all right. We got what we wanted. Ballerstedt did not speak."
Hitler was eventually sentenced to 3 months imprisonment and ended up serving only a little over one month.
On 4 November 1921, the Nazi Party held a large public meeting in the Munich Hofbräuhaus. After Hitler had spoken for some time, the meeting erupted into a melee in which a small company of SA defeated the opposition.
From Famous Hall Melee to Famous Hall Coup D'État
the Abortive Putsch and the Trial
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| Jugendbund |
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| Jungsturm |
The first was the and Jugendbund, which would later become the Hitler Youth.
The other was the Stabswache, the first incarnation of what would later become the Schutzstaffeln (SS).
Inspired by Benito Mussolini's March on Rome Hitler decided that a coup d'état was the proper strategy to seize control of the country.
In May 1923, elements loyal to Hitler within the army helped the SA to procure a barracks and its weaponry, but the order to march never came.
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| Beer Hall Putsch |
After it failed, Hitler was put on trial for treason, gaining great public attention.
In a rather spectacular trial in which Hitler endeavored to turn the tables and put democracy and the Weimar Republic on trial as traitors to the German people, he was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment.
He was eventually paroled, served only a little over eight months after his sentencing in early 1924.
Hitler used the time in Landsberg prison to consider his political strategy and dictate the first volume of 'Mein Kampf', principally to his loyal aide Rudolf Hess.
After the putsch the party was banned in Bavaria, but it participated in 1924's two elections by proxy as the National Socialist Freedom Movement.
In the German election, May 1924 the party gained seats in the Reichstag, with 6.55% (1,918,329) voting for the Movement. In the German election, December 1924 the National Socialist Freedom Movement (NSFB) (Combination of the Deutschvölkische Freiheitspartei (DVFP) and the Nazi Party (NSDAP)) lost 18 seats, only holding on to 14 seats, with 3% (907,242) of the electorate voting for Hitler's party.
The Barmat Scandal was often used later in Nazi propaganda, both as an electoral strategy and as an appeal to anti-Semitism.
Hitler had determined, after some reflection, that power was to be achieved not through revolution outside of the government, but rather through legal means, within the confines of the democratic system established by Weimar.
For five to six years there would be no further prohibitions of the party.
In the German election, May 1928 the Party achieved just 12 seats (2.6% of the vote) in the Reichstag.
The highest provincial gain was again in Bavaria (5.11%), though in three areas the NSDAP failed to gain even 1% of the vote.
Overall the NSDAP gained 2.63% (810,127) of the vote.
Partially due to the poor results, Hitler decided that Germans needed to know more about his goals.
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| Zweites Buch |
Despite being discouraged by his publisher, he wrote a second book that was discovered and released posthumously as Zweites Buch (see left)
At this time the SA began a period of deliberate antagonism to the Rotfront (Red Front) by marching into Communist strongholds and starting violent altercations.
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| Erich Ludendorff |
He gained 280,000 votes (1.1%), and was the only candidate to poll fewer than a million votes.
The battles on the streets grew increasingly violent.
After the Rotfront interrupted a speech by Hitler, the SA marched into the streets of Nuremberg and killed two bystanders.
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| Goebbels |
In a tit-for-tat action, the SA stormed a Rotfront meeting on August 25 and days later the Berlin headquarters of the KPD itself.
In September Goebbels (see left) led his men into Neukölln, a KPD stronghold, and the two warring parties exchanged pistol and revolver fire.
The German referendum of 1929 was important as it gained the Nazi Party recognition and credibility it never had before.
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| Horst Wessel |
The landlady happened to be a member of the KPD, and contacted one of her Rotfront friends, Albert Hochter, who shot Wessel in the head at point-blank range.
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| Horst-Wessel-Lied |
Goebbels also seized upon the attack (and the two weeks Wessel spent on his deathbed) to premier the song.
Along with Horst Wessel, the year 1930 resulted in more deaths in political violence than the previous two years combined.
On 1 April Hannover enacted a law banning the Hitlerjugend (the Hitler Youth), and Goebbels was convicted of high treason at the end of May. Bavaria banned all political uniforms on 2 June, and on 11 June Prussia prohibited the wearing of SA brown shirts and associated insignia.The next month Prussia passed a law against its officials holding membership in either the NSDAP or KPD.
Later in July, Goebbels was again tried, this time for "public insult", and fined.
The government also placed the army officers on trial for "forming national socialist cells".
Against this violent backdrop, Hitler's party gained a shocking victory in the Reichstag, obtaining 107 seats (18.3%, 6,406,397 votes).
The Nazis became the second largest party in Germany.
In Bavaria the party gained 17.9% of the vote, though for the first time this percentage was exceeded by most other provinces: Oldenburg (27.3%), Braunschweig (26.6%), Waldeck (26.5%), Mecklenburg-Strelitz (22.6%), Lippe (22.3%) Mecklenburg-Schwerin (20.1%), Anhalt (19.8%), Thuringen (19.5%), Baden (19.2%), Hamburg (19.2%), Prussia (18.4%), Hessen (18.4%), Sachsen (18.3%), Lubeck (18.3%) and Schaumburg-Lippe (18.1%).
An unprecedented amount of money was thrown behind the campaign.
Well over one million pamphlets were produced and distributed; sixty trucks were commandeered for use in Berlin alone.
In areas where NSDAP campaigning was less rigorous, the total was as low as 9%.
The Great Depression was also a factor in Hitler's electoral success.
Against this legal backdrop, the SA began its first major anti-Jewish action on 13 October 1930 when groups of brownshirts smashed the windows of Jewish-owned stores at Potsdamer Platz.
Hitler Takes Power (1931–1933)
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| Goebbels |
On March 10, 1931, with street violence between the Rotfront and SA spiraling out of control, breaking all previous barriers and expectations, Prussia re-enacted its ban on brown shirts.
Days after the ban SA-men shot dead two communists in a street fight, which led to a ban being placed on the public speaking of Goebbels, who sidestepped the prohibition by recording speeches and playing them to an audience in his absence.
Ernst Röhm, in charge of the SA, put Count Micah von Helldorff, a convicted murderer and vehement anti-Semite, in charge of the Berlin SA.
The deaths mounted up, with many more on the Rotfront side, and by the end of 1931 the SA suffered 47 deaths, and the Rotfront recorded losses of approximately 80.
Street fights and beer hall battles resulting in deaths occurred throughout February and April 1932, all against the backdrop of Adolf Hitler's competition in the presidential election which pitted him against the monumentally popular Hindenburg.
In the first round on 13 March, Hitler had polled over 11 million votes but was still behind Hindenburg.
The second and final round took place on 10 April: Hitler (36.8% 13,418,547) lost out to Paul von Hindenburg (53.0% 19,359,983) whilst KPD candidate Thälmann gained a meagre percentage of the vote (10.2% 3,706,759).
At this time, the Nazi party had just over 800,000 card-carrying members.
Three days after the presidential elections, the German government banned the NSDAP paramilitaries, the SA and the SS, on the basis of the Emergency Decree for the Preservation of State Authority.
This action was largely prompted by details which emerged at a trial of SA men for assaulting unarmed Jews in Berlin.
But after less than a month the law was repealed by Franz von Papen, Chancellor of Germany, on 30 May.
Such ambivalence about the fate of Jews was supported by the culture of anti-Semitism that pervaded the German public at the time.
Dwarfed by Hitler's electoral gains, the KPD turned away from legal means and increasingly towards violence.
One resulting battle in Silesia resulted in the army being dispatched, each shot sending Germany further into a potential all-out civil war. By this time both sides marched into each other's strongholds hoping to spark rivalry. Hermann Göring, as speaker of the Reichstag, asked the Papen government to prosecute shooters. Laws were then passed which made political violence a capital crime.
The attacks continued, and reached fever pitch when SA storm leader Axel Schaffeld was assassinated.
At the end of July, the Nazi party gained almost 14,000,000 votes, securing 230 seats in the Reichstag.
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| Franz von Papen |
Franz von Papen (see right) offered the position of Vice Chancellor but Hitler refused.
Hermann Göring, in his position of Reichstag president, asked that decisive measures be taken by the government over the spate in murders of national socialists.
On 9 August, amendments were made to the Reichstrafgesetzbuch statute on 'acts of political violence', increasing the penalty to 'lifetime imprisonment, 20 years hard labour or death'. Special courts were announced to try such offences.
When in power less than half a year later, Hitler would use this legislation against his opponents with devastating effect.
The law was applied almost immediately but did not bring the perpetrators behind the recent massacres to trial as expected. Instead, five SA men who were alleged to have murdered a KPD member in Potempa (Upper Silesia) were tried.
Adolf Hitler appeared at the trial as a defence witness, but on 22 August the five were convicted and sentenced to death.
On appeal, this sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in early September.
They would serve just over four months before Hitler freed all imprisoned Nazis in a 1933 amnesty.
The Nazi party lost 35 seats in the November 1932 election but remained the Reichstag's largest party.The most shocking move of the early election campaign was to send the SA to support a Rotfront action against the transport agency and in support of a strike.
After Chancellor Papen left office, he secretly told Hitler that he still held considerable sway with President Hindenburg and that he would make Hitler chancellor as long as he, Papen, could be the vice chancellor.
The SA and SS led torchlight parades throughout Berlin.
In the coalition government, three members of the cabinet were Nazis: Hitler, Wilhelm Frick (Minister of the Interior) and Hermann Göring (Minister Without Portfolio).
With Germans who opposed the NSDAP failing to unite against it, Hitler soon moved to consolidate absolute power - which was refered to as Gleichschaltung
Gleichschaltung
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| Reich Nationalflagge - 1935 |
The apex of the Gleichschaltung in Germany was in the resolutions approved during the Nürnberg Rally of 1935, when the symbols of the Party and the State were fused, and the Germans of Jewish religion and descent were deprived of citizenship.
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| Der Nürnberger Parteitag 1935 |
Der Nürnberger Parteitag der NSDAP (Reichsparteitage des deutschen Volkes), meaning Reich party convention, was the annual rally of the Nazi Party in Germany, held from 1923 to 1938. They were large Nazi propaganda events, especially after Hitler's rise to power in 1933. These events were held at the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg from 1933 to 1938 and are usually referred to in English as the Nuremberg Rallies. Many films were made to commemorate them, the most famous of which is 'Triumph of the Will' by Leni Riefenstahl.
1935 – The 7th Party Congress was held in Nuremberg, September 10-16, 1935. It was called the "Rally of Freedom" (Reichsparteitag der Freiheit). "Freedom" referred to the reintroduced compulsory military service and thus the German "liberation" from the Treaty of Versailles. The Leni Riefenstahl film 'Tag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht' was made at this rally, and the Nuremberg Laws were introduced.
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| Hanns Kerrl |
Those critical of Hitler's agenda, especially his close ties with industry, were suppressed.
The regime also assailed the influence of the churches, for example by instituting the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs under Hanns Kerrl.
Organizations that the administration could not eliminate, such as the education system, came under its direct control.
The Gleichschaltung also included the formation of various organisations with compulsory membership for segments of the population, in particular the youth.
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| Pimpfen |
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| Hitlerjugend |
Boys remained there until age 18, at which time they entered into the Arbeitsdienst ("Labor Service") and the armed forces (Wehrmacht).
Girls became part of the Jungmädel ("Young Maidens") at age 10, and at age 14 were enrolled in the Bund Deutscher Mädel ("League of German Maidens").
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| Kraft durch Freude |
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| Arbeitsdienst |
In 1936 membership of the Hitler Youth numbered just under 6 million.
For workers an all-embracing recreational organization called 'Kraft durch Freude' ("Strength through Joy") was set up.
In the Third Reich, even hobbies were regimented; all private clubs (whether they be for chess, football, or woodworking) were brought under the control of KdF and, in turn, the NSDAP.
The 'Kraft durch Freude' organization provided vacation trips (skiing, swimming, concerts, ocean cruises, and so forth).
With some 25 million members, KdF was the largest of the many organizations established by the Third Reich.
Workers were also brought in line with the party through activities such as the 'Reichsberufswettkampf', a national vocational competition.
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