“Adolf Hitler was one of the most influential historical figures of the 20th century” [1]as written in John Toland’s biography of Adolf Hitler. He was an extremely nationalistic rightist who wanted Germany under his leadership to become a militaristic state. His craving for power was answered in January 1933 when he was invited by President Hindenburg to become the German Chancellor.[2]He later used his influence to achieve his aspirations of forming a dictatorial empire. But before becoming Chancellor, what made him and his Nazi Party appeal so strongly to the German population? Moreover, how and why was Hitler able to attain this position of greatness? This topic is still widely debated by many historians today.
As Hitler stated, “we have already set a target, and for this struggle we will fight, until the death!”[3] This goal was Hitler accomplished in 1933 when he became Chancellor. Hitler was released from Landsburg Prison on 20 December, 1924.[4] On the 16th of February 1925 the ban on the Nazi Party was lifted as he promised to achieve power without violence.[5] But he was not allowed to speak publicly until 1928. By 1928 the Nazi Party only had 12 seats in the Reichstag. However by November 1933 they were the dominant party in the Reichstag with 196 seats. Over the course of 5 years he was able to revive the Nazi Party and bring it into power. But above all, we should ask how this was possible.? Hitler had the ability to emotionally stimulate masses of population with his remarkable speeches and influence people into completely loving him.The best example would be his speech at Zirkus where people went completely mad.. As he wrote in Mein Kampf, Hitler raised the emotional level of people to the point that they cheered insanely. “…In ever greater spontaneous outbursts” as he put it[6], and when his speech was coming to the end. Someone in the audience started to sing the national anthem and everyone followed. Hitler wrote, “Did the audience find its relaxing conclusion…”[7] Another example would be Ernst Hanfstaengl’s wife and Goebbels complete admiration of him. As we can see in “Rise of Evil”,[8] both of these people fell in love with Hitler and as written in Goebbels diary, this is confirmed. “I Love him. The social question. A completely new insight…I bow to the greater man, to the political genius,”[9] from this extraction from one of his journal entries we can notice how much Goebbels worships Hitler. This not only tells us how persuasive Hitler was, but how emotionally moving, charismatic and manipulative his speeches must have been. This was but one of his personal attributes which allowed him to stand out among many German Party spokespersons. Apart from being a magnet to the many German people who attended his speeches, another character which made him stand aloof from other politicians would be his attitude and strong beliefs. As Hitler stated in the Rise of Evil after his return from Landsburg prison: “There are only two possible out comes, either we cross over the enemy’s body, or there cross over ours…But I will not fail….” From this extraction we see how audacious a person Hitler was to an extant he confirmed to his party that they will not fail. Better proof of this would be his turning down of Hindenburg’s offer of Vice-Chancellorship; he was determined. “The chess game for power begins,” Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary. “The chief thing is that we remain strong and make no compromises.”[10] This was the exact attitude Hitler had towards everything thrown against him. However, Hitler’s personal qualities were not the only factor which encouraged the German people to vote for him. We should also take into consideration the political background of Germany at the time. In fact we could start right from the creation of Weimar Germany. As A.J.P Taylor said: “Weimar Germany was doomed from the start.[11]” This was very true and in fact William Shirer shared a very similar approach as he wrote in “The Rise and fall of the Third Reich suggesting that Germany had no democratic tradition and many parties were against the creation of a Democracy. These people were generally old monarchists, the army, the industrialists, the nationalists and many other conservative parties. In fact there were many parties in the far left and rightwing that constantly tried to overthrow it. In addition, the constitution was corrupt as the Reichstag consisted of 600 representatives and by 1930 there were no less than 28 parties competing for election. With many parties existing, compromise was impracticable. This meant that there were always elections and that the political status of Germany was astoundingly unstable. This also made it very easy for Hitler to manipulate the Reichstag because his Nazi party held 196 seats in November, 1932 making them the biggest party. [12]As shown in Rise of Evil, his party was leaving the Reichgstag building during assemblies. Because of this, nothing could get done and no votes could be cast. In the November 1932 election, for example, over 50 per cent of the votes were for the Nazi and Communist parties.[13] This shows that people wanted a strong leader as they were voting radically for the most leftist and rightist parties. This explains how Hitler was able to prosper and gain support from people such as Fritz Thyssen[14] and other leading industrialists who donated large sums of money as they wanted Hitler to fight communism which would in return benefit them as well. He also had the largest majority of Germans from all social classes voting for him. He had the power to control the fate of Germany. As Mao Zedong believed: “Only by motivating the majority of the people, you will only thereafter ensure the succession of the revolution.”[15] This is what Hitler had accomplished. Hitler also stated: “It is always more difficult to fight against faith than against knowledge.”[16] Since most of Germany already had faith in him, he was for sure to succeed in “his struggle.” Hitler’s rise to power was not a coincidence. He had gained the support of many of the German people through his speeches and use of Nazi propaganda. He also had the economical support of businessmen and since the German government was corrupt and dissolved, Hitler could easily manipulate it. This is how Hitler was able to take power and establish his own Government.
Hitler never had more than 37 percent of support from honest elections, whereby the opposition stood strongly with 63 percent support.[17] So if at the time, Germany was truly democratic, why was Hitler able to become Chancellor in 1933? First of all, Tthe German government had many fatal flaws which contributed to ineffective decision making or in fact, you could say complete failure in decision making. There were never less than 28 different parties competing for election which made it impossible to attain a majority vote on many issues. Apart from that, many German leaders had a weak devotion to democracy. Even the elected President, Hindenburg strongly detested democracy as he constantly used Article 48 as a way of maintaining power In contrast with Fredrick Ebert, Hindenburg used Article 48 as a means of dictatorially ruling Germany. But The Great Depression which hit Germany harder than any other nation was what truly simulated masses of people into voting radically for leftwing and rightwing parties and especially the Nazi’s. In 1928 there were 2 million unemployed in Germany and The Nazi Party had 12 seats in the Reichstag.[18] By 1932 when there were 6 million unemployed people, both the Nazi and Communist Party had significant increases in numbers but most outstanding would be the increase in numbers of the Nazi Party to 196 seats in the Parliament by November, 1932. [19] However, modern historians question the “true” reason behind why he became Chancellor in January, 1933. Many historians such as Lord Bullock argue that it was not really by great rise in his supporters but in fact:” “Hitler came to office in 1933 as the result, not of any irresistible revolutionary or national movement sweeping him into power, nor even of a popular victory at the polls, but as part of a shoddy political deal with the 'Old Gang' whom he had been attacking for months… Hitler did not seize power; he was jobbed into office by a backstairs intrigue.”[20] In other words what Bullock is arguing is that with the decrease in number of Nazi representatives in the Reichstag, President Hindenburg believed that since Hitler was losing support he could be manipulated. So Hindenburg by Presidential powers invited Hitler to become Chancellor. Hitler did not gain Chancellorship by election as he did not gain majority support of the Reichstag. However, he got Chancellorship because of “backroom deals.” In brief, the reason why Hitler was given the position of Chancellorship was a “mistake” made on behalf of Hindenburg, but not by democratic elections. Hitler was invited to become Chancellor of Germany.
In January 1933, Hitler was officially made Chancellor of Germany. This was a true turning point in German history as Hitler later began the creation of Nazi dictatorship. As Goebbels wrote in his Journal: “Now it will be easy to carry on the fight, for we can call on all the resources of the State. Radio and press are at our disposal. We shall stage a masterpiece of propaganda. And this time, naturally, there is no lack of money.”[21] Hitler’s rise to power was more than a coincidence of events and timing. Even though Hitler’s personal attributes did play a big part of his rise to power and influence over masses of people. But what truly allowed him to attain this position was in fact the social and political background of Germany and the Weimar Government.
[1] John Toland, “Adolf Hitler”, prologue.
[2]http://www.japanweb.info/browse.php?u=aHR0cDovL2VuLndpa2lwZWRpYS5vcmcvd2lraS9BZG9sZl9IaXRsZXI%3D&b=31
[3]http://www2.laohekou.com.cn/dispbbs.asp?boardid=25&ID=13166 : Translation from Chinese.
[4]http;//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler's_rise_to_power
[5]http://www.japanweb.info/browse.php?u=aHR0cDovL2VuLndpa2lwZWRpYS5vcmcvd2lraS9IaXRsZXIlMjdzX3Jpc2VfdG9fcG93ZXI%3D&b=31
[6] Mein Kampf , page 561-562.
[7] Ibid
[8] Rise of Evil directed by Christian Duguay
[9] The Devil’s Disciples, Anthony Read, page 150-151
[10] The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William Shirer, page 148
[11] The origin of the Second World War, A.J.P Taylor, page 149
[12] http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-hitlerdemo.htm
[13]
[14] The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William Shirer, page 137
[15] The Little Red Book, Mao Zedong
[16] http://thinkexist.com/quotes/adolf_hitler/
[17] http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-hitlerdemo.htm
[18] http://www.johndclare.net/Weimar7.htm
[19] http://www.johndclare.net/Weimar6.htm#Elections%20and%20decline
[20] Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, Lord Bullock, page 137.
[21] The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William Shirer, page179
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