Transcript The Rise of Hitler and Nazism - USD 475 Geary County Schools

The Rise of Hitler
and Nazism
31 March
Essential Question
•Why did democracy fail in
Germany?
Post-War Germany
• Generations: kings
and emperors ruled
Germany
• Unification of
Germany: 1871
• End of WWI: end of
absolute rulers
• Democratic
government: 1919
• Weimar Republic
(Weimar, Germany)
Weimar Republic
• No strong democratic tradition
• Many political parties
• Major AND minor
• Germans blame Weimar government for
war defeat and humiliation
• Not the wartime leaders
Weimar Government
Weimar and Economics
• Germany didn’t increase
wartime taxes
• How was war paid for?
• Printing more money– loses
value
• Inflation
• Reparations payments?
• $33 billion
• Print more money
• Severe inflation (hyperinflation)
Weimar Inflation
• Loaf of bread in Berlin:
• 1918: less than 1 mark
• 1922: 160 marks
• 1923: 200 BILLION marks
Economic Stability
• Dawes Plan- 1924
• American committee
• $200 million loan from
U.S. banks
• Stabilize currency
• Strengthen economy
• Realistic schedule for
reparations
Germany, 1925
• France and Germany meet in Switzerland
• Belgium, Italy, Britain
• France and Germany never go to war
• Germany recognizes borders of France and Belgium
• Admitted to League of Nations
Germany and the Depression
(1930s)
• Unemployment skyrockets (approx. 30%)
• Still paying war debts
• Dependent upon American loans and
investments
FASCISM
What is Fascism?
• Militant political movement
• Loyalty to state
• Obedience to leader
• No clearly defined theory or program
• Unlike Communism
(The Communist
Manifesto)
Guiding Ideas of Fascism
• Extreme form of nationalism
• Nations must struggle– peaceful states would be
conquered
• Loyalty to authoritarian leader
• Brought order to state
• “Look” of Fascism:
• Uniforms of certain color
• Salutes
• Mass rallies
Fascism AND Communism
• Ruled by dictators
• One-party rule
• Denied individual rights
• State is supreme (state before self)
• No democracy
Fascism vs. Communism
Fascism
• Far right
• Don’t seek classless
society
Communism
• Far left
• Classless society
• Classes have places and
functions
• Leaders: aristocrats,
industrialists, veterans,
lower middle class
• Nationalists
• Internationalists
• Unite workers
worldwide
Adolph Hitler
• Austrian-born: 1889
• Moved to Germany
at 3 years old
• Interests: art and
German nationalism
• Dropped out of
school, rejected by
Academy of Fine Arts
• Moved into a
homeless shelter
Hitler Starts Rise
• World War I
• Settles in Munich
• Joins right-wing
political group
• Goals: Overturn Treaty
of Versailles; combat
communism
• National Socialist
German Workers’
Party
• Nazi
Nazism
• German brand of Fascism
• Symbol: Swastika
• Private militia: Brown
Shirts (storm troopers)-SA
• Led by “der Führer”
• Hitler chosen: success as
organizer and speaker
Nazis Plot to Seize Power
• “Beer Hall Putsch”
• March on Munich- 1923
• Failed coup d’etat
• Hitler arrested, tried
for treason
• Sentence: 5 years
• Served: 9 months
Hitler’s Mein Kampf
• Mein Kampf = “My
Struggle”
• Written in jail, sets
forth beliefs and goals
• German Aryans were
master race
• Jews, Slavs, Gypsies,
“non-Aryans” were
inferior
Hitler’s Mein Kampf
• Treaty of Versailles an outrage
• Regain German lands
• Germany is overcrowded
• Lebensraum- “living space”
• Where is that land to come from? Russia
and Eastern Europe
Hitler’s Rise
• 1924: Released from prison
• Revives Nazi Party
• Nazis must come to power
constitutionally, not an overthrow
Hitler’s Rise
• 1932: Nazi Party- 33% of the
Reichstag
• Conservatives tried using Hitler for
their purposes
• Coalition government– parties work
together (prevents one-party
dominance)
Hitler’s Rise
• Right-wing elites (capitalists, aristocrats, military
leaders, bureaucrats) back Hitler
• Could establish right-wing authoritarian
regime
• Save Germany (and their privileged
positions) from Communism
• January 1933: President Paul von Hindenburg
names Hitler chancellor
• Felt pressure from Reichstag Nazis
• Comes to power legally
Erich Ludendorff- former Hitler ally
• “By naming Hitler as Reichschancellor, you
have delivered up our holy Fatherland to one
of the greatest [rabblerousers] of all time. I
solemnly [predict] that this accursed man will
plunge our Reich into the abyss and bring our
nation into inconceivable misery”
• Letter to President Hindenburg- February,
1933
Hitler’s Rise to Power
• February 1933: Reichstag
building (Parliament
building) burned
• 6 days before election
for the Reichstag
• Coalition
government– Nazis
wanted a majority in
Reichstag
• Nazis blame the
Communists for
the fire
• Actuality: They
burned it themselves
Hitler in Power
• Enabling Act- March 23, 1933
• Passed by Reichstag with 2/3 vote
• Constitutional procedures, forms, rules, etc.
stopped for 4 years
• Fix problems in Germany
• Hitler becomes a parliament-seated dictator
• Completes Hitler’s “legal seizure” of power in
Germany
Hitler in Power
• March 1933: Dachau created
• Prison for political opponents; first
concentration camp
• August 2, 1934: Paul von Hindenburg dies
• Hitler sole ruler of Germany (President
role eliminated)
Germany as Totalitarian
• Banned other political parties
• Opponents arrested
• June 30, 1934: Night of the Long Knives
• Hitler’s elimination of Nazi party
members
• Possible future political enemies
• SA members (Brown shirts) and leaders targeted
HITLER’S FORCES
Role
Storm Troopers (SA)
Schutzstaffel (SS)
Gestapo
Private militia
Protection squad
Nazi secret police
Goal/
Objective
- Protected Party
meetings; Nazi
rallies
- Physically assault
political opponents
- Intimidation during
elections
- “Political
soldiers”; Hitler’s
private military
- Control of all
German police
forces
- Execution of
political
opponents
- “Political police”
- German total
obedience
- Roundup of Jews
for concentration
camps
- Managed
treatment of
“inferior races”
Leader
Ernst Röhm (19311934)
Heinrich Himmler
(1929-1945)
Hermann Göring,
Himmler, Reinhard
Heydrick
Key
Events?
Ideas?
- “Brown shirts”
- Executed the
- Experienced purging
Night of Long
during Night of the
Knives
Long Knives
- “Thy honour is
thy loyalty”
Germany as Totalitarian
• Nazis take control of economy
• Ban strikes
• No independent labor unions
• Government authority over business and labor
• Infrastructure projects
• Factories, highways, defense industries (weapons),
military service
• Unemployment falls from 6 million to 1.5 million in
1936
Hitler Gains Supreme Power
• Hitler wants more than just economic and
political power
• Every aspect of German life
• How to gain support?
• public opinion, praise for leadership
• Press, radio, literature, painting, films-propaganda
Hitler and Propaganda
• Joseph Goebbels
• Minister for public
enlightenment and
propaganda
• Goal: Present Hitler to the
public in most favorable light
• Regulate content of German
media (censorship)
• Cement anti-Semitic ideals
Silencing Opposition
• Nazi book burnings
• Churches couldn’t criticize Nazis or
government
• Youth movements
• Hitler Youth (boys) or League of German
Girls
Hitler Makes War on the Jews
• Anti-Semitism: Hatred of Jews
• Key part of Nazi ideology
• Less than 1% of German population
• Scapegoats for German troubles
Hitler Makes War on the Jews
• 1933: Nuremburg laws
• Deprive Jews of most of their
rights
• Violence mounts
• November 9th, 1938:
Kristallnacht
• Night of Broken Glass
• Nazi mobs attack Jewish
homes and businesses
• Start of elimination of Jews
from German life
Parking Lot
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