The Nazis became the largest party with seats. Hitler demanded to be made Chancellor but Papen remained. November — Reichstag elections called by Von Papen to try to win a majority in parliament. Nazis lost 34 seats but remained the largest party with seats.
December — Von Papen resigned. Hitler wanted to reunify the party, and set out a plan for the next few years. Whilst some small differences remained, Hitler was largely successful in reuniting the socialist and nationalist sides of the party.
Firstly, the Nazi Party adopted a new framework, which divided Germany into regions called Gaue. Each Gaue had its own leader, a Gauleiter. Each Gaue was then divided into subsections, called Kreise. Each Kreise then had its own leader, called a Kreisleiter. Each Kreise was then divided into even smaller sections, each with its own leader, and so on. Each of these sections were responsible to the section above them, with Hitler at the very top of the party with ultimate authority.
The Nazis also established new groups for different professions, from children, to doctors, to lawyers. These aimed to infiltrate already existing social structures, and help the party gain more members and supporters. These political changes changed the Nazi Party from a paramilitary organisation focused on overthrowing the republic by force, to one focused on gaining power through elections and popular support. Initially most members were ex-soldiers or unemployed men.
If Hitler was to gain power democratically, he needed to reform the SA. He set out to change their reputation. A new leader, Franz von Salomon, was recruited. Rather than the violent free rein they had previously enjoyed, Salomon was stricter and gave the SA a more defined role. In , Hitler also established the Schutzstaffel , otherwise known as the SS.
The SS were a small sub-division of the SA with approximately members until In , Heinrich Himmler took over the organisation, and expanded it dramatically. By , the SS had 35, members. They terrorized and aimed to destroy any person or group that threatened this. The SA and the SS became symbols of terror.
The Nazi Party used these two forces to terrify their opposition into subordination, slowly eliminate them entirely, or scare people into supporting them. Whilst the SA and the SS played their part, the Nazis primarily focused on increasing their membership through advertising the party legitimately. They did this through simple and effective propaganda. The Nazis started advocating clear messages tailored to a broad range of people and their problems.
Jews and Communists also featured heavily in the Nazi propaganda as enemies of the German people. Joseph Goebbels was key to the Nazis use of propaganda to increase their appeal.
Goebbels joined the Nazi Party in and became the Gauleiter for Berlin in Goebbels used a combination of modern media, such as films and radio, and traditional campaigning tools such as posters and newspapers to reach as many people as possible.
It was through this technique that he began to build an image of Hitler as a strong, stable leader that Germany needed to become a great power again. Goebbels success eventually led to him being appointed Reich Minister of Propaganda in Germany was particularly badly affected by the Wall Street Crash because of its dependence on American loans from onwards.
As the loans were recalled, the economy in Germany sunk into a deep depression. Investment in business was reduced. People in full time employment fell from twenty million in , to just over eleven million in In the same period, over 10, businesses closed every year.
As a result of this, the amount of people in poverty increased sharply. The Depression associated economic failure and a decline in living standards with the Weimar democracy. By , Germany had reached breaking point. The economic crisis, which in turn had led to widespread social and political unrest in Germany, meant that it could no longer afford to pay reparations.
This concession helped to give the economy a small boost in confidence. One example of this was the work creation schemes which began in the summer of He had been kept waiting while Hitler and conservative leader Alfred Hugenberg argued over Hitler's demand for new elections. It was the final argument in what had been a huge tangled web of political infighting and backstabbing that finally resulted in Adolf Hitler becoming Chancellor of Germany. Germany was a nation that in its history had little experience or interest in democracy.
In January , Adolf Hitler took the reins of a year-old German democratic republic which in the minds of many had long outlived its usefulness. By this time, the economic pressures of the Great Depression combined with the indecisive, self-serving nature of its elected politicians had brought government in Germany to a complete standstill.
The people were without jobs, without food, quite afraid and desperate for relief. Now, the man who had spent his entire political career denouncing and attempting to destroy the Republic, was its leader. Around noon on January 30th, Hitler was sworn in. But by this time, that oath had been repeatedly broken by previous chancellors out of desperation and also out of personal ambition.
Chancellors Schleicher and Papen had seriously suggested to Hindenburg the idea of replacing the republic itself with a military dictatorship to solve the crisis of political stagnation. He had turned them both down. When a teary-eyed Adolf Hitler emerged from the presidential palace as the new chancellor, he was cheered by Nazis and their supporters who believed in him, not the constitution or the republic.
He was to preside over a cabinet that contained, including himself, only 3 Nazis out of 11 posts. Nazi, Wilhelm Frick, was Minister of the Interior. The small number of Nazis in the cabinet was planned to help keep Hitler in check. Franz von Papen was vice-chancellor. Hindenburg had promised him that Hitler would only be received in the office of the president if accompanied by Papen. This was another way to keep Hitler in check.
0コメント