born April 20 1889 in Braunau Austria

father adopted surname from his stepfather

father: cold, disciplinarian, stern, sometimes violent; mother: warm, caring
settled in Linz, Austria; did poor in school, disliked teachers; dreamed of making a future career
as an artist
mother died of breast cancer in 1907; was rejected by the art school he applied to the same
year
interested in architecture, opera; influences in Linz: (1) Shunerer's pan-germanism; (2) Richard
Wagner
moved to vienna, where he conceived a violent hatred for bourgeois conventions
led an idle, aimless, chaotic life; sold paintings to get by; loathed Hapsburg Monarchy
realized that Vienna's mayor Karl Luger's anti-semitic demagogy could win the support of the
masses
anti-semitism, at this time, was abstract; it became visceral and personal only after the war
loathed social democrats, their demonstrations and activism in Vienna. believed they were
successful because they were intolerant, strong, with simple message
developed a deep contempt for the state and the rule of law
racial self-preservation is a higher principle than legality, which is a cloak for tyranny. all means
are justified.
parliamentarism was permanently dead-locked. "only a strong leader elected by the people can
get anything done"
moved to Munich; lived an aimless, bohemian life
joined bavarian army at the outbreak of world war I, and was immediately sent to the western
front
for the first time, had a mission he could believe in
worked as a dispatch runner, and was eventually promoted to corporal
was caught in a poison gas attack, was hospitalized.
while hospitalized learned of German defeat, armistice, and revolution. viewed it as "greatest
villainy of the century"
wept after learning of defeat. the memory of 1918 would play a central role in his subsequent
thought and action
how did the disaster happen? the jews stabbed germany in the back.
enemy war propaganda undermined Germany's will and encouraged self-defeatism
propaganda must be directed at the masses "all propaganda must be popular and its intellectual
level must be adjusted to the most limited intelligence among those it is addressed to"
took part in political instruction courses intended to root out socialist tendencies among the
returning troops, and to indoctrinate them in far-right ideology.
proved himself to be a skilled orator; he was effective at speaking passionately, with a simple
message ordinary men could understand.
wrote about "the planned legislative combatting and removal of the jews priviliges"
was sent to report on one of many groups that had sprung up during post-war period to
determine if it posed a danger to the counter-revolutionary cause: German Worker's Party,
 founded by Anton Drexler on January 5 1919; anti-semitic, pan-german; sought to win German
working class from communism.
hitler decided to join party, and became its star speaker. group met at beer halls, attendees
numbered in the hundreds. by march 1920 he was an indispensable member.
demagogy restored the identity he had lost with the German defeat. decided to became a full-
time agitator.
used simple, straightforward language; short sentences; powerful emotive slogans--would begin
speeches quietly and would reach an emotional climax.
speeches contained no qualifications; only absolutes. they expressed the deepest fears and
desires of his listeners.
appealed to religious archetypes: suffering, humiliation, redemption, resurrection.
reduced Germany's complex social, economic, and political problems to a single common
denominator: the evil machinations of the jews
the sacrifice of millions at the front were made in vain because of the undermining of the war
effort by the jews
hitler used red posters to attract followers from the left.
jewish merchants were attacked for their responsibility for inflating prices on goods
the german workers party changed its name to: National Socialist German Worker's Party (Nazi)
the party was not socialist, despite its egalitarian rhetoric
the politicians that signed the versailles treaty were social democrats, were hated by hitler, who
wanted to unify far right and far left
nazism was in many ways a counter-ideology to socialism--it was race-based, not class-based
nazis saw themselves as a movement, not a party--they were anti-establishment
hitler chose the design of the nazi flag--a synthesis of the left (red color) and of the right (racist
symbol swastika); it came to symbolize the rejection of the Weimar Republic
by the end of 1920, hitler began attacking communism in addition to jewish capitalism.
his anti-bolshevism was a product of his anti-semitism, not the other way around
on april 1921 hitler declared that the solution to the jewish question can only be solved by brute
force
lebensraum: common pan-german theory; justified conquest of eastern europe
nazi program (25 points) february 1920: unification of all german-speakers in a greater germany;
revocation of versailles treaty; land to feed germans; prevention of non-German immigration;
death penalty for criminals; denial of human rights to jews
after a series of violent demonstrations, the nazi party was banned in most german states,
especially after the murder of foreign minister radenaur in june 1922, but not in right-wing
bavaria
the violence reflected the growth of the party's paramilitary wing, the brownshirts, who were
founded in early 1920, and who became a familiar sight on munich's streets.
bavaria's right-wing government was sympathetic to right-wing paramilitary groups, and so they
had relative police immunity
nazis borrowed from mussolini: duce = leader = fuhrer; salute
french used colonial troops to occupy the rhineland when germany defaulted on the war
reparation payments
 the use of colored colonial troops added insult to injury to racist germans, and was used as a
propaganda weapon by nazis
hitler attempted pusch in berlin on november 9 1923; 14 supporters and 4 police were killed;
hitler was arrested on november 11
bavarian officials were lenient becaused they themselves were implicated; hitler was sentenced
to only 5 years in prison because he was motivated by patriotism
in prison hitler read nietzsche and wrote mein kampf; hitler realized that it was necessary to
gain power through political means, not violence alone
collaboration from key elements from the establishment were necessary to gain power
hitler was released on parole on december 20 1924; was banned from public speaking
on february 1925 a judge sympathetic to hitler lifted the ban on the nazi party
hitler sought popular backing for his movement; many nazis were young in 1929: hitler 40;
goebbels 32; goering 36
what explains the dynamism of the nazi movement? hitler's charisma; goebbel's propaganda;
social solidarity; resentful nationalism
the freikorps were the vanguard of nazism; the younger generation sought to emulate the
exploit of their elders; violence was like a drug for many
communists were enemies for many former soldiers; social-democrats were hated as well
some conservative nationalists were inspired by hitler
nazis pledged to end political divisions at a time of political deadlock
by the early 1930s nazi support had expanded beyond the lower-middle class that had provided
its backbone
nazis sought to and began to attract conservative elites, such as heinrich himmler
himmler was appointed head of the s.s.--nazi secret police-- by hitler in 1929; s.s. was made
independent of s.a. in 1930
the depression saw a rise in unemployment, theft, prostitution; and an increase in the number
of listless, frustrated youth
there was a resurgence of communist groups; there were 117,000 communists in 1929; by 1932
there were 360,000
there was a complete break between communists and social democrats; a communist
revolution was not out of the realm of possibility
middle-class sympathies lay with the nazis against communists; nazis, unlike communists, did
not propose to overthrow capitalism
hitler forced the resignation of Strasser, left-leaning nazi, and sought the support of Nationalist
conservatives and industrialists.
parliamentary deadlock which was worsened by the depression spelled the beginning of the end
of Weimar democracy
the army remained powerful and influential--despite the limitations put on it by the versailles
treaty
in the crisis of the early 1930s the army opposed budget cuts and welcomed re-armament
president hindenburg excluded social democrats from being part of the government; chancellor
bruning limited press freedom and sought to reduce the power of the reichstag
 some have argued that brunings deflationary economic policies were intended to weaken trade
unions and the social democrats, forces which kept weimar democracy together
bruning dissolved the reichstag and called for elections hoping to bring social democrats into
line with his policies, ignoring the surging influence of nazis
during the election hitler and the nazis offered a vague but powerful vision of a germany united
and strong; germany's lost glory would be recovered; nazis tailored their message
the results of the reichstag elections of september 1930 came as a shock to everyone; 800,000
had voted for nazis in 1928, 6.4 million in september 1930
25% of people that voted nazi in 1930 had never voted before; 33% of nationalist voters of
1928, and 10% of social democrats voters of 1928 voted nazi in 1930
nazis did much better in protestant and rural north germany than in catholic and south and west
germany; civil servants and farmers were overrepresented among nazi voters
many people blamed the violence on the communists, and considered the nazi behavior as a
justified reaction to communist violence
many who voted for the nazis considered themselves to be protesting against the failure of the
weimar republic
the vagueness of the nazi program allowed different people to read into it what they wanted;
public violence was attributed to youthful passion and ardor
on april 1932 hindenburg was persuaded by chancellor bruning to outlaw nazi stormtroopers;
police raided stormtroopers and confiscated military equipment
by 1931 the reichstag was deadlocked; decisions were now being made by hindenburg's circle
and in the streets, where violence was escalating; both enhanced the power of the army
many german conservatives such as chancellor schleicher in 1932 thought that an authoritarian
regime could be given legitimacy by taming the popular might of the national socialists
chancellor von papen deposed the state government of prussia which was led by social
democrats after bloody confrontations there between nazis and communists
lawsuits were brought against papen on the grounds he breached the constitution; papen's
coup dealt a mortal blow to the weimar republic; it opened the way to the centralization of the
state
after july 1932 the only realistic alternatives were a nazi dictatorship or a conservative
authoritarian regime backed by the army
the elections of july 1932 brought the nazis a massive boost in power: their share of the vote
doubled from 6.4 million in 1930 to 13.1 million or 18.3% to 37.4%
the nazis became the largest party in the reichstag, followed by the social democrats; the center
parties, meanwhile, were significantly reduced
the combined social democrat and communist vote was 13.4 million; the nazi vote was 13.8
million; all other parties garnered a combined 9.8 million votes
nazis attracted a lot more middle class votes; 1 in 3 of those who had supported the nationalists
in the previous election voted for the nazis on july 1932; 14% of catholics voted nazi
hitler was sworn in as reich chancellor on january 30 1933; wilhelm frick became minister of the
interior and herman goering reich minister without portfolio
from january 30 onwards german society was to be put on a permanent war footing