Nazi Party and Hitler and Political Power in Germany - Essay Example

Nazi party and Hitler Name of the Student: Name of the Instructor: Name of the course: Code of the course: Submission date: What factors enabled Hitler and the Nazi party to rise to political power in Germany? What were the major features of Nazi ideology as espoused by Adolf Hitler? Introduction In a generic sense, the Third Reich of the Nazi Germany are two terms which are commonly utilized in referring to Germany in the epoch ranging between 1933 and 1945. During this period, the German government was under the direct control of Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NSDAP), ordinarily referred to as the Nazi party. Ault (2002, p. 273) noted that NSDAP was a political party which was previously in great contention with other parties in Germany until wrestling state power in 1933. Under the rule of Hitler, there was a radical transformation of Germany into a totalitarian state whereby close to all the aspects of the German life were under the control of the state. This rule would continue until the allied forces defeated the Wehrmacht, marking the end of World War II in Europe in May, 1945. Against this backdrop, this paper is a profound effort to investigate the factors which enabled Hitler and the Nazi party to rise to political power in Germany. Additionally, it will explore the major features of Nazi ideology as espoused by Adolf Hitler. Factors which enabled Hitler and the Nazi party to rise to political power in Germany Diverse scholars and historians have made different attempts to expound on the various factors which resulted in the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany. This has culminated to different schools of thought which attempt to highlight the major rationale underpinning this occurrence which has been cited as having the most far reaching implications in the twentieth century. Nonetheless, there has been concurrence that these factors were both external as well as internal, some of which are expounded in the subsequent analysis. Weakness of the Weimar government It is worth noting that prior to the rise of Nazism, a new democratic constitution had been existence in Germany which was fondly referred to as ‘the most perfect democracy on paper’. Despite the inherent belief in the supremacy of this document, there were several flaws which were exploited by the opponents. This is best epitomized whereby despite the constitution being written to mold a free and fair democratic system, there were confusions about the voting system as well as the powers of the president which increased the level of discontent among members of the political class resulting in acute divides and subsequent weakness of the government. This reality has led diverse authors, for instance, F.A. Hermens in his work Democracy of Anarchy?(cited by Coldrey, 2010, p. 2) and Cindy Skach’s work known as Borrowing Constitutional Designs (cited by Coldrey, 2010, p. 2), which both provide a robust linkage between a weakness in the Weimar Constitution and the rise of National Socialism. As a result of these weaknesses in the constitution, the government of the day was composed of rival groups with each wing making efforts to outdo the other. This has led scholars like Feuchtwanger (1995, p. 323) to note that like all historical failures, that of Weimar was the result not only of the weakness among the republicans and of the misjudgments of republican politicians, but rather of the strength and success of the republic’s opponents. Therefore, these weaknesses in the Weimar government led to the creation of loopholes which were easily exploited by the rising Nazis who were desperately seeking for the control of the state. Additionally, it is imperative to note that the voting system during the reign of the Weimar government was founded on proportional representation which has been cited as having flaws in producing a clear winner. As a result, there was necessity for deals to be done between small parties which saw coalition governments coming to power as opposed to majority governments. These governments are known to be weaker in the sense that they involve extensive compromises and difficulties in formulating and implementing any robust policies. In actual sense, between 1919 and 1930, there were a total of 13 coalition governments in Germany with the Nazi party gaining increasing influence out of the deals which were done to incorporate the small parties in the government. This is revealed by Evans (2004, p. 451) who determined that this arrangement increasingly gave the Nazi officials massive freedom when they were a member of a supposedly insignificant component on the right. This proved particularly helpful in the establishment of the National Socialist movement. Thus, the weakness of the Weimar government can be perceived as a major factor which saw the rise of the Nazi party and Hitler as an individual. The personality of Hitler and the popular appeal of the Nazis It is worth noting that after WWI, Germany was confronted by a myriad of challenges ranging from being divided between East and West Germany, economic problems culminating from massive reparations Germany was obliged to pay after the war as well as the excessive loss of land and resources after the signing of the Versailles Treaty. This was made worse by the weaknesses in the government which Hitler was able to exploit through popular and expansionist policies aimed at returning Germany to its previous glory. In this case, Lee (1998, p. 6) determined that Hitler was able to have direct appeal on each sector and class among the electorates by making popular policies. This approach ensured that the NSDAP was the only party in the Weimar republic which was able to an appeal to all the members of the population. In this case, NSDAP was viewed as an extreme party which offered extreme remedies to the problems confronting the general population in Germany. After feeling the pangs of two economic crises, the electorates were becoming desperate and had nothing to lose for voting in the Nazis. This was founded on the largely held perception that the moderate Weimar politicians were unable to solve the people’s problems and the policies of Hitler provided the ideal solution to these predicaments. Thus, people were desperate for a strong Germany and Hitler seemed a nationalist who offered an ideal chance of returning the ‘glorious days’ of the German empire through his NSDAP party. Thus, the heightened spirit of nationalism in Germany was paramount in expediting the ascension of Hitler and his Nazi party to power. Additionally, the robust oratory skills of Hitler have been extensively documented with his extensive appeal to all the members of the German society and convincing them that he was able to solve their problems. This is revealed by Evans (1976, p. 126) who determined that Hitler himself attributed his success as an orator to his ability to appeal to the wider audience, both male and female and make them to abandon any attempt to appeal to their reason. Thus, the personality of Hitler and the popular appeal of the Nazis were instrumental factors which saw the rise of the Nazi party and the appointment of Hitler as the Chancellor in January, 1933 (Stackelberg & Winkle, 2002, p. 58). The use of propaganda Kohl (2011, p. 7) noted that the Nazi propaganda was founded on the traditional German values which supposedly provided as explanation of the past as well as the present events which were happening in the world. Since the Nazi party began to assume increased popularity in the coalition governments, propaganda became a central strategy aimed at passing their ‘programme’ of promises to as many people as possible in Germany. This is best epitomized by the propaganda related to the Jews which was founded on anti-Semitism which was already existent in Germany. In this case, the propaganda was aimed at convincing the German population that the Jews who were presented in large numbers and centered in large cities and certain realms of employment were the cause of the misgivings in the German population (Kohl, 2011, p. 7). Thus, propaganda played a key role in convincing the masses about the capacity of the Nazi party under Adolf Hitler in solving their widespread problems. This convincing power of this propaganda saw increased popularity of the Nazi party and the eventual ascendance of Hitler to power. With Hitler at the making extensive efforts to rise to power, NSDAP used extensive propaganda to re-educate the citizenry in the ways of ‘true’ German values (Appleby, 2013, p. 2). In actual sense, Hitler even realized the effectiveness of this tool in influencing the masses when he assumed power by appointing Dr. Goebbels as the minister of propaganda mandated with the role of manipulating various media outlets, mostly the newspaper and the radio. This propaganda which appealed to the worries, prejudices and fears among the people thus became a robust tool in popularizing the Nazi party agenda and eventually installing Hitler into power. Lack of robust political opposition This will be the last factor explored in this section. It is imperative to note that the major opposition to the rise of the Nazi party in Germany would have emanated from the socialists. Nonetheless, the socialists group in the country was characterized by extensive divisions, mostly after the failure of the Spartacist uprising in 1919 whereby the German Communist party completely declined to engage in cooperation with the Social Democratic Party which was more moderate. Thus, these divisions which were apparent among the socialists made the rise to power of the Nazi party easier than would otherwise have been with a more robust opposition. Major features of Nazi ideology as espoused by Adolf Hitler There were several features of the Nazi ideology as promoted by Adolf Hitler. Some of them are explored below. Nationalism In this case, nationalism can be perceived to infer to the support of political action in favor one’s set of people, whatever they may be. However, the political action in reference is often the attainment of independence or autonomy or gaining prevalence over other states (Whitmeyer, 2002, p. 322). Allen (2010, p. 1) determined that Germany had for a long time encountered difficult relationship with the forces of nationalism. The Nazi ideology thus aimed at promoting nationalism among the members of the German population towards increased freedom, autonomy and independence from the shackles of the Versailles Treaty which tended to enslave them to economic liability of the WWI. This was aimed at creating a united Germany under a singular national identity at any cost. Racial indoctrination Racial indoctrination was also at the center of Nazi ideology. The most apparent example of this was evident during the Nazi epoch between 1933 and 1945 whereby Hitler has been credited for developing a fascistic racial doctrine founded on nationalism which utilized the state in the protection of what he considered as pure German Volksgemeinschaft (the community emanating from the Volk) from being contaminated by those who he considered not to belong to the Volk. This culminated in the exclusion of any ethno-cultural group considered as being non-Germanic within the Nazi realm (Allen, 2010, p. 2). Subsequently, the ideology of organic Volk which rested on race purity became a key pillar of the Nazi ideology (Welch, 2004, p. 237) which formed the foundation of major atrocities in the course of the Nazi regime. Promotion of increase population capacity This also became a key feature of the Nazi ideology based on Hitler’s belief that a large population would be instrumental in forging future military supremacy. As a result, Hitler espoused on the importance for the women to stay at home and have children. In this case, the Nazi regime also encouraged individuals to marry whereby the newly wedded were offered payment of 1000 marks. Additionally, homes were set for the unmarried women to enable them to become pregnant, often by ‘racially pure’ Germans. All these activities embedded in the Nazi ideology saw the increase of German birth rate throughout the 1930s. Conclusion The preceding discourse has evidenced different factors which enabled Hitler and the Nazi party to rise to political power in Germany. These include weakness of the Weimar government, the personality of Hitler and the popular appeal of the Nazis, use of propaganda and lack of a robust opposition. Lastly, this review has explored the major features of Nazi ideology as espoused by Adolf Hitler which include nationalism, promotion of increase population capacity as well as racial indoctrination. References Allen, R., 2010, ‘Nationalism and Contemporary German Politics: Inclusion versus Exclusion’, POLIS Journal, Vol.3, pp. 1-39. Appleby, D., 2013, ‘Controlling Information with Propaganda: Indoctrinating the Youth in Nazi Germany’, Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management, Vol. 9, pp. 1-11. Ault, B., 2002, ‘Joining the Nazi Party before 1930: Material Interests or Identity Politics?’, Social Science History, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 273-310. Coldrey, J., 2010, ‘The rise of fascism: assessing the constitution of the Weimar republic’, POLIS Student Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 1-38. Evans, RJ., 1976, ‘German Women and the Triumph of Hitler’, The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 123-175 Evans, R., 2004., The Coming of the Third Reich, Penguin Books, London. Feuchtwanger, EJ., 1995, From Weimar to Hitler; Germany 1918-33, 2nd edn., , Macmillan, Basingstoke. Kohl, D., 2011, ‘The Presentation of “Self” and “Other” in Nazi Propaganda’, Psychology & Society, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 7 – 26. Lee, SJ., 1998, Hitler and Nazi Germany, Routledge, London. Stackelberg, R., & Winkle, SA., 2002, The Nazi Germany Sourcebook: An anthology of texts, Routledge, London. Welch, D., 2004, ‘Nazi Propaganda and the Volksgemeinschaft: Constructing a People’s community’, Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 39, 213-238. Whitmeyer, JM., 2002, ‘Elites and popular nationalism’, British Journal of Sociology, Vol. No. 53, No. 3, pp. 321–341. Read More