Hitler and National Socialism

Hitlers Road to Power: Hitler was nobodys fool. He learned from

the failed Putsch that he must take over the government by legal
rather than revolutionary means. While in prison, he dictated his
political testament, Mein Kampf ("My Struggle") to his cell mate. It
consists of rants and raves, is disorganized and at times borders on
obscene, but stresses Hitlers basic ideas of the superiority of the
Aryan race, virulent anti-Semitism, and the need of the German
people for Lebensraum ("breathing space".) He also spoke of the
need for a Fhrer (leader) with unlimited power.
Between 1924 and 1929, Hitler concentrated on building up the
National Socialist Party. (The party members referred to themselves
as National Socialists; the term "Nazi" was a pejorative term that
came about later.) By 1928 the party had 100,000 members with
Hitler in absolute control. Hitler did not emphasize the anti-capitalist
elements of the party, but rather vowed to fight Communism in
order to appeal to the German public. Even so, they did not
generate great public support. In 1928, the Nazis received only 2.6
per cent of the popular vote and twelve seats in the Reichstag.
However, the onset of the Great Depression presented Hitler with
another opportunity.
During the Depression, unemployment climbed from 1.3 million in
1929 to 5 million in 1930. Germany had almost as many
unemployed workers as the rest of Europe combined. Industrial
production fell by half, and by 1932, 43 percent of the labor force
was unemployed. Hitler had never been interested in economics;
but this was too good an opportunity to pass up, so he began
promising German workers economic help as well as political and
international salvation. Hitler rejected free market capitalism and
advocated government programs to bring recovery. Nazi economic
writers promised to create a "third path" between centralized state
planning and laissez-faire capitalism. Hitler aimed his speeches at

the middle classes and, as panic and bankruptcies increased and the
communists began making headway, people voted with their
wallets, and voted for the Nazis. In the 1930 election, they gained
107 seats in the Reichstag, which made them the second largest
party. Nazi deputies used every opportunity to disrupt Reichstag
proceedings, and blamed the majority Social Democrats for
Germanys economic woes. By 1932, the Nazis became the largest
party in the Reichstag.
Several factors led to Hitlers rise to power:
Hitler had played down his anti-Semitism and racist
nationalism in the years in which the party was gaining
strength. He had written in Mein Kampf that the people
were "the driving force of the most important changes in
the world," and were easily driven by fanaticism rather
than knowledge. He believed that the way to arouse that
fanaticism was through a few simple slogans which were
repeated endlessly. When he harangued his audiences
with these slogans, such as "One people, one nation, one
leader," he spoke often of "national rebirth" and the
"crimes" of the Versailles treaty. Hitlers oratory offered
many suffering Germans the hope of a better tomorrow.
Hitler also appealed to the youth of Germany, as he
himself was only forty, and most Nazi leaders were young
men. The official Nazi slogan of Gregor Strasser, a party
organizer, was "make way, you old ones." In 1931,
almost 40 per cent of party members were under 30,
compared with 20% of the Social Democrats.
Hitler was also aided by the breakdown of normal
democratic government. Chancellor Heinrich
Bruning, unable to gain majority support from the
Reichstag, had convinced the Weimar Republic President,

General Hindenburg, to exercise the "Emergency Powers"

clause of the constitution, which allowed him to rule by
decree for a limited time period. Bruning hoped to use
this power to cut back government spending and force
down prices and wages. Sadly, his policies intensified the
economic collapse of Germany and convinced many
voters that the countrys leaders were stupid and corrupt.
This added to Hitlers appeal.
Hitler benefited from the struggle between the Social
Democrats and the Communists. The Communists
refused to cooperate with the Social Democrats even
though the two parties together outnumbered the Nazis
in the Reichstag, even after the 1932 elections. German
Communists were blinded by the hatred of socialists and
by the belief that Hitlers fascist ideas represented the
last throes of capitalism and a communist revolution
would soon follow. Social Democratic leaders pleaded
with the Communists for a temporary alliance to stop
Hitler, at one point even posing their pleas at the Soviet
Embassy, but there was no use. This lack of cooperation
was exacerbated by a fire which destroyed the Reichstag.
The fire was blamed on a young Communist radical who
was subsequently guillotined. There was substantial
thinking among historians for many years that the Nazis
had started the fire to intensify the dispute with the
Communists; however recent historical evidence indicates
that the young man was indeed a Communist agent
intent on bringing down the government by any possible
means. Ironically, his actions played into the hands of
Hitler.
Hitler was an expert in dirty backroom politics. He gained
the support of people in the army and big business, who
thought that use him to their own advantage.

Conservative and nationalistic politicians also thought

that they could use him. Thus, when Hitler demanded
that he be named Chancellor as a condition of joining the
government, they accepted his demand. On January 30,
1933, President Hindenburg named Hitler as Chancellor.
Hitlers Popularity: Hitler launched a gigantic public works
program to pull Germany out of the Depression. He began work on
office buildings, sports stadiums and public housing. Among his
more lasting accomplishments were the famous German
superhighway system, the Autobahn, and the automobile that
everyone could afford, the "peoples car;" in German
the Volkswagen. He appointed Hjalmar Schact as Germanys central
banker, and the latter managed to restore credit and improve
business; however Hitler broke with him in 1936 and directed the
economy toward rearmament and preparation for war, in clear
violation of the Treaty of Versailles. His policies (and a little good
luck to boot) dropped unemployment quickly. By 1938, there was a
shortage of workers as unemployment fell to two per cent. The
standard of living for most workers increased moderately and
business profits rose sharply. To millions of Germans, the economic
recovery was tangible evidence that the National Socialists promises
were not just propaganda.
The National Socialist government provided greater equality and
more opportunities for "real" Germans that is those who were not
Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, Jehovahs Witnesses, communists, or
homosexuals. The previously strong social barriers between rich and
poor were relaxed, and National Socialist elite often included young
and poorly educated dropouts, just like Hitler himself.