The SA
The SA is a troop of semi-military men that Hitler created. The main purpose of the SA was to protect the Nazi members and party at meetings
and to intimidate and harass the rival parties and organizations. The group had a uniform of brown shirts and more often, they were referred as
the Brownshirts. The SA troops were a huge boost to the Nazi party as they would fight with groups of the opposite parties. In addition, they would
bully and threaten voters at the nearby balloting place and harass the Jews and other oppositions. The power of the SA was upgraded and enhanced
when Hitler became the chancellor. They were converted to the national political police force.
The Great Depression
When the New York stock market crashed in October of 1929, the Great Depression struck Germany like a thunder bolt splitting a tree.
Unemployment rate, poverty, hunger, and chaos increased rapidly. On the other hand, the Nazi party was delighted to see this occur.
Bad times for Germany meant good times for the Nazis. Before the depression, the Nazi party was never much of a factor in the politics of
Germany without much success in winning the government over the new Weimar Republic. However, when the depression hit, it gave the
party a wonderful chance to shine and it ultimately paved a passage for the Nazis to ride all the way to the top.
By 1930, millions and millions of unemployed and poverty strickened citizens wanted changes to be made by the new Republic to help with
the bad conditions. The Republic, however, was unable to make any effective changes to assist the people. At the same time, both sides of
the extremist, with the communists on one end and the Nazis on the other end, promised extreme and drastic changes that might resolve the
bad situations. In the 1930 election, both extreme parties won big over the Republic. However, the Nazis were extremely overjoyed as they
beat the communist party by more than two million votes. This would begin a stretch of Nazi rule. Three years later, Hitler's dream finally
came true. He was finally appointed as the chancellor or the head of the government. This would begin a reign of terror.
Propaganda
The propaganda of the Nazi party during and after the Great Depression was very successful. It appealed to many German citizens especially to their needs during those poor conditions. The propaganda ususally stressed improvements on unemployment, social security, war reparations to foreign countries and tariffs. However, the Nazi propagandist also influenced the general public on the Nazi concept of antisemitism against the so called "inferior race." The propaganda throughout the Nazi regime were mainly antisemitic against the Jews. However, the success of the propaganda and the great influence of the Nazis all led to the horrifying event of the Holocaust.
Nazi Theories
After Hitler's rise to the seat of the chancellor, the Nazi party fully adopted the racial theory of a race being more superior than another. It was
this theoretical basis that led to the destruction of so many millions of Jews, Gypsies, handicapped, Soviet P.O.Ws, homosexuals, and other so called
"inferior race." The idea of the Aryan race being the purist was fully planted into the minds of many Nazis including Hitler. Another theory Hitler
believed in is total dictatorship. In his book Mein Kampf Hitler described the concept of unconditional authority belonging to the leader which
in turn creates a totalirarian government and a dictatorship. Besides that, he also mentioned the Darwinistic concept of survival of the fittest with life
always being a struggle. Again, his Darwinistic concepts allowed him and the Nazi to rise to the top creating a dominant and dictatorial government and also to terminate the so called "weaker race" and that was one of the reason that enabled the Nazis to be a huge success.
Hitler in Control
After Hitler came to power, situations began to change in the country of Germany. For beginners, Hitler called for a free election to be held in March.
It was the last free election until 1949. Nazis, trying to ensure on the winning side, did everything to gather voters. Besides that, they also tried to eliminate their opponents. Just one week before the election, the government building of Reichstag caught fire. The Nazis, who most likely set the fire, blamed and accused the Communists for the fire. This way, the Communist were prevented from being at the election and the seats in the government.
Hitler then slowly took control of the government after the election , but was able to do it without gaining power illegally. He, somehow was able to pass the Enabling Act through the cabinet which gave hime dictatorial power. The provisions of the legislature was unable to stop Hitler to become a dictator. Thus the legislature gave Hitler the absolute power to the country.