Adolf Hitler's Rise to Power  
by: Michael

After WWI, Germany was devastated. The people were poor and dying of starvation and disease. The country was broke from fighting the war and as stated in the Treaty of Versailles had to pay the Allies large sums of money to compensate for the suffering caused by the war. The only way the country could come up with the funds needed was to tax its people heavily.

The pride of the country was also lost. They were forbidden to raise an Army. The government grew weak and the people felt defeated.

 

They needed someone or something to blame for the defeat. The Jews were singled out, as they seemed an easy target.

 

Hitler began his rise in 1919 by joining the Germans Workers’ Party. This group talked about the state of the government, the country before WWI, the communists that now led Russia and the Jews (the new enemy).

 

Hitler wanted change. He needed followers. He began by holding meetings and giving speeches, each time gaining a larger audience. He found his power in his speaking ability and in the messages he delivered about Anti-Semitism. He focused on the working class, and it began to work. People responded to him and his message.

 

In 1920 Hitler reorganized the party and named it the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, the Nazi Party for short. With Hitler in charge this party grew. He began to train his own kind of military and many former army leaders began to support him. In 1923, he tried and failed to take over the government and was sent to prison. He was sentenced to five years.

 

Hitler only served nine months because he had many sympathizers. While in prison he wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle). It was to become the Nazi Bible.

 

This book was filled with hate for the Jewish people. He blamed them for of all the German suffering, and declared them the natural enemy of the Aryan race. It was Hitler’s belief that the Jews had too much money, land and the power of the press. They had, in his opinion, bad blood and would try to mix it with Aryans by marrying Christians, thereby turning their children into Jews. He believed that this would lead to the takeover of Germany by the Jews.

 

By 1930 the Nazi Party became the second largest political party in Germany.

 

How did it get so large? In 1929 the United States economy crashed, and this had an effect all over the world. Germanys economy after WWI was built on loans, especially for the United States. When the U.S. economy collapsed so did Germanys. Millions were out of work, their savings disappeared, they had to sell their homes and inflation was incredibly high. They felt hopeless.

 

Hitler saw his chance. He spoke and people began to really listen. He held his audience captive by telling them his dreams for Germany - to rebuild the army and prepare to fight communism. He promised jobs for everyone, and intended to once again instill pride in the homeland and the Aryan race. At the same time he aroused Germans to hate Jews, Communists and any other political enemies.

 

By 1932 over 3 million Germans were out of work and more leaders looked to Hitler for answers. They looked to the military for the promise to rebuild, the industry/business leaders for factories to support the rebuilding and the people for the jobs it all would bring.

 

 Hitler’s military, called the brown shirts, was about a half a million strong. They kept growing when other Anti-Semitic parties joined them. The government needed leadership and the President of the German Republic called on Hitler to form a new government and to become chancellor of Germany.

 

Hitler would make sure that the Nazi Party would gain control in the next election in any way he could. They would arrest any political enemies, burn buildings and blame it on the Communists and instill fear that Russia was trying to invade Germany. With all this turmoil Hitler called on the President of Germany to sign an emergency decree “for the protection of the people and the state."

 

The emergency decree was signed in February of 1933. This gave Hitler and his party total power. He and his party could control what was written in the papers and said on the radio. They could open mail, read telegrams and listen to phone conversations. The German people could not express their opinions freely for any reason. Homes could be searched and property taken without reason.  

 

This decree made Hitler the supreme ruler, the dictator over all of Germany, and these are the major factors that allowed Hitler to rise to power. and as dictator he started WWII.

 

Citations 

 

Web Sites

 

School History. "The rise of Hitler/why did people support Hitler." at <http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/lessons/riseofhitler/whysupport.htm> (December, 2002).

 

Seymour Rossel. "Holocaust and end to innocence chapter 1." at <http://www.rossel.net/holocaust01.htm> (December, 2003).

 

Images

 

Images of speech and map of Germany from "Microsoft Office Design Gallery Live" <http://dgl.microsoft.com/?CAG=1> Images free for non-profit and personal use. (December-March, 2003). 

 

Image of Hitler and swastika from "ArtToday.com" <http://members.clipart.com/en/index> (2003).

 

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