Hitler and Nazi Germany

McKay 966-971, Palmer 20.104

The Origins of Nazi Germany

1871 1890 1914 1918 1922 1929 1933 1939

German Empire declared

Wilhelm II “drops the

pilot”

Germany declares war

on Russia-WWI

Germany surrenders-Diktat at Versailles

-Beer Hall Putsch

-Hyperinflation-Mein Kampf

Stock Market

Crash leads to

worldwide depression

Hitler becomes

Chancellor of Germany

Germany invades Poland-WWII begins

The German Empire (1871-1918)• Germany’s national character

embraced Prussian militarism/ respect for authority since 1871

• Germany’s democratic institutions (Reichstag) had never matured– ““Iron and Blood” Iron and Blood”

discredited liberals– Bismarck’s Realpolitik

manipulated masses• Social Democrats Social Democrats elected 110

members to the Reichstag in 1912– 1912 largest party in

Reichstag– Yet held none of the highest none of the highest

government officesgovernment officesWhat’s the Take AwayWhat’s the Take Away•German liberal and democracy German liberal and democracy never maturednever matured

The Weimar Republic’s Inauspicious Beginnings• Formed November 9, 1918• Parliamentary republican form of

government comprised of social democrats• Issued decrees guaranteeing eight-hour

workday, labor & agricultural reform, union recognition , social welfare relief , national health insurance, universal suffrage

• Spartacist uprising – A general strike & attempted coup– led by communists Karl Liebknecht, &

Rosa Luxemburg against the Weimar Republic

– Weimar government used Freikorps to suppress it

• Captured, tortured and murdered Liebknecht and Luxemburg

• Freikorps= Ex-WWI right-winged anti-republic soldiers

Weimar Republic (1918-1933)• Original Sin of Weimar• Signed Treaty of Versailles

– Known as Diktat - “dictated peacedictated peace” – Article 231 (War Guilt Clause) humiliated proud

country• Reparations

– $ 30 billion– gov. began to print more paper marks– Led to hyperinflationhyperinflation of 1923– 1914- 4 marks = $1– 1923- 4 trillion marks = $1

• Effects– helped big businessmen pay off loans– Crushed the savings of the middle & lower classes

• Economy stabilized with help of Dawes Plan– Germany experienced a “Roaring Twenties” from

1923-1929• But Weimar was forever tainted with treaty of Versailles

– November Criminals stabbed the army in the back• Communist Jews who betrayed the German army

during WWI by surrendering

Otto Dix, “We Want Bread”A crowd of demonstrators marches in the street. One carries a declaration of their needs. His sign reads, "We want bread!" The crowd can be seen through the window of an elegant cafe. The patrons are elegantly dressed and shipping champagne. Despite the ruckus in the street, they are oblivious to those outside.

Treaty of Versailles

Germany after WWI

Background of Adolf Hitler• Born 1889 in Austria to Alois Schicklgruber (later

Hitler) and Klara Pölzl• Father was Austrian customs officials

– Wanted Hitler to follow in footsteps– Quarreled often with Adolf– Died suddenly in 1903 (fluid in lungs) when Hitler

was 13• Adolph

– Not a good student but liked history (German)– Dreamed of becoming a priest, then an artist– Klara death of breast cancer in 1907 devastated

Hitler• Hitler later allowed Dr. Block (Jewish) to

escape Austria to US– Dropped out of HS at 16 &Given orphan’s pension

• Attempted to get into Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna but rejected– Became a drifter, postcard painter

Background of Adolf Hitler• Vienna

– Culturally diverse city• Germans, Italians, Croats,

Poles, Jews• Hitler

– Rejected for Academy– Lived in boarding house– developed a hatred for:

• the Habsburg court• Bourgousie• Mixed (Hybridization)

nationalities• Marxism • Especially Jews

• Karl Lueger– the anti-Semitic mayor of Vienna

influenced Hitler

Austrian cartoon - JANUARY 01: Karl Lueger: 'Do I look like I would eat Jews?'

Naschmarkt Wien (Market in Vienna, 1900

World War I• Broke out in August 1914 following

Sarajevo crisis, Blank Check

• Hitler crossed border and joined German army

• Served as dispatch runner to front line

• Victim of gas attack and was temporarily blinded and unable to speak

• Only rose to corporal but was awarded military medals– Iron Cross

• Viewed war as thrilling, noble, liberating– sense of purpose, a higher cause

– Influence of Nietzsche glorification of struggle

• Shocked by the armistice in November 1918

The Birth of the Nazis• Post WWI Munich

– hotbed of socialist and anti socialist activity• Hitler was hired as provocateur (spy) by army

to infiltrate radical groups • Freikorps

– Secret societies and paramilitary organizations led by discontented army officers agitated

– Brownshirts (or Stormtroopers) formed by Ex Officers were one of these private armies

• Hitler– joined the small party called the German

Workers’ party and became its leader– Added National Socialist to its name– Nazis (from the German way of

pronouncing 1st 2 syllables of National

The Birth of the Nazis

The “Beer Hall Putsch”• French army occupied the Ruhr in 1923 to

collect reparations– Took tons of coal as payment– Forced Germans to walk in gutter/ remove

their hats in presence of French soldiers– Germans were humilitated

• Hitler– denounced Weimar for its weakness– thought time was ripe to a putsch

(overthrow of government)– Used the “March to Rome” as model

• Beer Hall Putsch in Munich– Hitler gave impassioned speech on

platform of a beer hall (fired gun into ceiling)

– Said “national revolution has broken out”– Quickly suppressed by the police– Hitler sentenced to 5 years (only served 1)

Defendants in the Beer Hall Putsch trial.

The Beer Hall Putsch

Mein Kampf• While in jail Hitler wrote an autobiography, Mein

Kampf (My Struggle)• Stream of personal recollections, racism,

nationalism, collectivism, historical interpretation, anti-Semitism, politics– Expounds main thesis of "the Jewish peril”

(World Wide Jewish conspiracy)– Twin Evils (Communism & Judaism)– Openly states Germany’s destiny lies Eastward

• Drang nach Osten (Yearning toward the East)

• Book + 5 week trial gave Hitler national prominence

• Supported by General Ludendorff• Nazi movement lost appeal after Dawes Plan fueled

economic revival• But in ’29 the Great Depression hit and the lunatic

fringe put Hit in stratosphere of Napoleon

NAZIS Ideology• Nationalism

– Master Race• Aryan Race were superior humans• Preached Germans (Blond-haired, blue-eyed Aryans) were

chosen people• Forbade intermixing of Aryans with Untermensch

– Rassenschande (race defilement) laws • Untermensch (subhumans)

– Jews, Gypsies, Slavic race were inferior – Germania Irredentism

• German lands and peoples taken after WWI must be redeemed to the Fatherland

– Lebensraum• God given right of Master Race to spread itself into more

living space to the Ural Mountains• Sex and Gender

– Women excluded from politics– Woman’s Sphere

• "Kinder, Küche, Kirche" (Children, Kitchen, Church).– Homosexual German men were forced to “change” or be forced

to concentration camps

"Fellow Germans who engage in sexual relations with male or female civil workers of the Polish nationality, commit other immoral acts or engage in love affairs shall be arrested immediately."

Water Sports (1936) by Albert JaneshReflects Nazi theme of athleticism

Farm Family from Kahlenberg (1939) by Adolph WisselNazi Folk Art idealizing simple rural life

Nazi Ideology• Anti-Semiticism

– Central creed of Nazism was Jewish Peril

• World Wide conspiracy amongst Jews to control financial institutions

• German Jews had risen to prominent positions in Germany– Well integrated into

bourgeoisie society• Eastern European Jews were

often part of lower classes– Lived in Shtetl (small

villages) in the “Pale of Settlement”

– Spoke Yiddish

A Shtetl in Lakhva, Poland

• Religion– Used Christianity for propaganda – Claimed Jesus was actually an Aryan, not

Jewish– Used Martin Luther’s anti-Semitism– Hostile to Catholic church at first but singed a

Concordat in 1933• Cahtolic Church allowed German

Catholics to join Nazi party • Economics

– Anti Capitalist• Selfish individualism exploiting the

worker– Anti Communist

• Godless economic system of Russian Slavs

– Favored a neo Mercantile System• German would use conquered territories

for their resources in order to become self sufficient

Nazi Ideology

• Hitler Youth– made up German children aged 14 to

18– Paramilitary organization meant to

indoctrine the next generation of Nazis

– Rooted in Turnvater Jahn gymnasiums and Prussian culture

• Body Cult– Physical toughness, procreation were

encouraged• Totalitarianism

– Nazism emphasized that the needs of the individual were subordinate to the needs of the state

– State would control all aspects of society for the good of the State

"every activity and every need of every individual will be regulated by the collectivity represented by the party" and that "there are no longer any free realms in which the individual belongs to himself".[Hitler

Nazi Ideology

Germany in the Great Depression• Germany was hardest hit by GD• US gave US gave Germany just 90 days just 90 days to pay off

loans• Foreign loans stopped or recalled• Weimar government credit stopped• UnemploymentUnemployment = 6 million (25% of 25% of

workforce)workforce)• Middle class (still reeling from ’23) lost lost

faith faith in government and economy• Lunatic fringe groups emerged

– Communist and fascist brawls commonplace

• Middle class looked for an alternative to Bolshevism

• Old scapegoats reemerge– Versailles, Weimar, Jews, communists

• Democracy itself (ideology that wholly satisfied none and crushed none) seemed foreign and un-German

The Great Depression and the Rise of the Nazis

Germany and the Great Depression• Stirred resentment against Versailles,

Weimar democracy• Called for true democracy of the Volk• Lumped all Leftist together and claimed

that his was the true socialism• Denounced war profiteers, big business• Denounced Jews (only 600 thousand in

all Germany) & played on nation’s lowest common denominator

• Utilization of militaristic culture brought nostalgia of German greatness

• Nazi Seizure of Power– Infiltrated cities and towns– Recruited down and out vets– Indoctrinated them to become thugs

• 1930= Won 107 seats in Reichstag• 6.5 million voted for them• 7/1932= had 230 seats (far from a

majority)

Nazi Racism

Hitler Named Chancellor• Conservatives (Rhineland steel magnates, industrialist,

nationalists, aristocrats, Junkers, army officers) believed that they could use and control Hitler– In spite of his anti-capitalistic ranting– Got President Paul von Hindenburg to name Hitler

chancellor of a coalition cabinet• Hitler legally became chancellor of German Republic

1/30/1933 – called for new elections– Halted as a mysterious fire burned down the Reichstag

building– Nazis blamed the Communists – Communist party leaders arrested & imprisoned

• Enabling Act (1933)– Gave Hitler dictatorial powers for 4 years– Could create and enact laws without Reichstag– Freedom of speech, press, assembly ended– Brownshirts frightened population at the polls– With the backing of Nationalist the Nazis had 52% of

the votes and gave Hitler dictatorial powers (national emergency)

The Nazi State• Hit called new Germany the Third

Reich– 1st was Holy Roman Empire– 2nd empire of Bismarck– Said the 3rd was outgrowth and

natural historical culmination and would last 1 thousand years

• Took title of Leader (Fuhrer)• Claimed to embody the sovereignty Claimed to embody the sovereignty

of the German peoplepeople (General Will)• Democracy, parliamentarianism, Democracy, parliamentarianism,

liberalism liberalism were labeled as JewishJewish and therefore un-German

• Classified anyone with one Jewish grandparent as Jewish

• Drove them from public office, civil service, teaching (Nuremberg Laws of 1935)

Coordinating German Society• Totalitarian state eliminated other

parties, old states (Prussia, Bavaria)• Nazi party purged itself (6/30/34)• Old Brownshirts were accused of Old Brownshirts were accused of

plotting against Hitlerplotting against Hitler and were executed (Ernst Rohm, SA leader)– Night of the Long Knives (June

30-July 2, 1934)• Gestapo

– (Geheime Staatspolizei) was a secret political police secret political police who with the People’s Courts People’s Courts suppressed decent and imprisoned thousands in concentration camps (Dachau)

• Church leaders under state control• Hitler Youth

– Nazi Youth Movement schools indoctrinated new generation

Sophia Scholl-member of White Rose-Beheaded by Gestapo for distributing anti-war leaflets

Play from 1:31-36, 1:46-1:49

Nazi Economic Policy• Four Year Plan (1936)

– Nazi state directed economic plan– sought complete independence from foreign trade

• Rearmament was driving stimulus of economy• National Labor Front

– Replaced labor unions• “leadership principle”

– set up employers as mini- Fuhrers• Strength Through Joy

– subsidized low incomes with paid vacations, entertainmentpaid vacations, entertainment• Public works projects

– eliminated unemployment– Autobahn

• Vast network of roads• Would provide quick routes for military

• Neo Continental System– Planned to eliminate trade barriers Planned to eliminate trade barriers by relegating

neighboring countries via conquer or satellites• Germany was transformed into a war machine with Hitler

viewed as a savior• “Today Germany, tomorrow the whole world.”

Economic Recovery and Rearmament

Nazi Propaganda• Totalitarian regimes sought to shape people’s

minds• Had existed but now became total• Formerly ideas were suppressed via

censorship of books, people• Totalitarianism actually manufactured

thought• Manipulated opinion and rewrote history• Books, newspapers encouraged whole

ideologies• Loudspeakers blared in streets• Inexpensive radios available • Billboard size posters of the Fuhrer appeared

everywhere• Triumph of the Will

– Film by "Leni" Riefenstahl of the 1934 Nazi Party Congress

– Made Hitler seem ‘god-like’• Constant repetition Constant repetition fostered the belief in the

most fantastic rubbish• People actually began to lose ability to use

reason

Nazi Propaganda

Kristallnacht• Nuremberg laws of 1935 deprived

Jews of citizenship and forbade intermarriage

• Kristallnacht (11/9/38) “night of broken glass”

• A 17 year old Polish Jewish student Polish Jewish student assassinated a German diplomat assassinated a German diplomat in Paris

• Storm troopers smashed and looted Jewish stores, synagogues and beat up thousands

• 30 thousand were sent off to concentration camps

• Government issued Billion mark fine Billion mark fine of the Jewish community for of the Jewish community for provoking the assault provoking the assault and collected the insurance payments for property damage

• US and Europe closed their doors to those who wanted to flee Germany

Kristallnacht