Taroona High School, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.

The German people have often been blamed as the reason for the rise of Nazism, but in actual fact Hitler and his magnetic charisma were helped to power by internal political and economic problems in Germany. People looked to the political extremes and for a strong leader to replace the failing Weimar Republic constitution. Hitler was underestimated as a fad by German politicians, but he successfully pulled off a ‘legal revolution’ under their noses.

In 1929, with a drop in world agricultural prices and the Wall Street crash, Germany was plunged for the second time in the decade into economic chaos. The 5 main banks of Germany crashed and Germany became the worst hit nation in the world. The collapse of the middle class’s business enticed them and much of the rest of the population of Germany to look to the far right wing and the Nazis to recover Germany’s economy. Many others looked to the communists at the other end of the political spectrum to bring order.

The Weimar Republic was the replacement for the monarchical system of the Kaisers after the Great War. It had some major constitutional flaws that caused political instability throughout its existence and enabled Hitler to cement his dictatorship on Germany. The proportional representation in the Reichstag (parliament) meant that it was very rare that one party could hold majority and that the country was ruled by loose coalitions. The second flaw was that the president ruled by decree - he, in effect, could make laws - which meant that when Hitler became president on the death of President Hindenburg, he was able to pass acts banning other political parties and giving himself absolute power, cementing himself as Fuhrer, or dictator, through legal revolution.

Hitler was able to cement himself by exploiting the flaws in the Weimar Constitution, but what got him to the position of Chancellor (PM) was the carelessness of Hindenburg and other German politicians. Hitler was not at all taken seriously, even though the Nazi vote had gone from 2.6% in the 1928 elections to 37% in 1932, and instated chancellor among a cabinet and vice-chancellor who intended to tame him to their wills, and on Hitler’s instatement stated “We are hiring him”1. Hitler did not show himself incompetent in the position as they had thought he would, but instead subjected them to his will along with the whole of the country.

General political and economic instability in Germany during the Weimar Republic and the feeling of regret and cheatedness over the Treaty of Versailles caused the German people to look apon democracy as a failed system. “Democracy is achieving nothing...”2 was the view of Emil Klein and most of Germany’s people. They needed someone strong to bring stability to the country and looked to political extremities promoting autocratic government to provide this, especially after the 1929 crash.

Nazi propaganda and populist views were believed by German people who hoped for national recovery and were ready to believe anything by the 1930’s. Preachings of delivery from the ‘inequity of Versailles’, a rebuilding of the country on national unity and work and bread for all were what came from the Nazis and just what the people wanted. The Nazis were a “...sight of discipline in a time of chaos, the impression of energy in an atmosphere of universal hopelessness...”3 Nazi propaganda played on German anit-semitism and the fact that many high ranking communists were Jews. They took away communist votes and established further hatred for Jews and communists, saying they were attempting the ‘World Jewish Conspiracy’.

Hitler’s irresistible persona was the face and a main attraction of Nazism. “His persuasiveness, the peculiar magic of his by no means pleasant voice...the seductive simplicity with which he attacked the complexity of our problems...”4 in his speeches and his strength of character were what made him in those unstable times, what allowed him to rise to the head of the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers Party, or Nazis). His sparkling, hypnotic blue eyes and enthusing speeches brought many to believe that he was the man to repair Versailles damage and restore German dignity, a man of ‘honourable intentions’.

The Nazis were lucky to be in a time of such instability and economic and political crisis. Their vote went from 2.6% to 37% in just 4 years because of severe economic depression as Germany looked to the extremes to solve her problems. Circumstance, constitutional flaws and Hitler's magnetic charisma were taken advantage of to the full to bring about a rise from obscurity to dictatorship in only 6 years.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• (1) World at War episode 1: A New Germany, BBC network, 1972.
• (2) Nazis, A Warning from History, BBC/A&E Networks, 1997.
• (3) Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich, Macmillan Company, 1970, page 49. Selected Bibliography
• “Nazis, A Warning from History”, BBC/A&E Networks, 1997.
• “World at War” episode 1: “A New Germany”, BBC Network, 1972.
• Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich, Macmillan Company, 1970, page 49.
  

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