The Death of Democracy and the Rise of Hitler Germany: 19181933

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The Death of Democracy and the Rise of
HitlerGermany 1918-1933
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Focus Questions

• 1. What was Hitlers role in WWI?
• 2. What is 'NAZI' short for?
• 3. What is the origin of the Swastika?
• 4. What was the Beer Hall Putsch and what did
  Hitler learn from it?
• What was Hitler's book, and what did it say?
• 8. What is a "Coalition Government"?
• 9. What did Hitler become in 1933?
• 10. What were the Enabling Acts?

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Its 1918

• Germany has lost WWI and the King (Kaiser) has
  fled to Holland.
• The new government is weak and unpopular.
• Many spoke of the "Stab-in-the-Back" theory.
• (That Germany had not been defeated on
  thebattlefield, but betrayed at home by Jews,
  Communists, etc.)

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Germany in Chaos!

• In the streets of Germany, gangs of Communists
  (called the "Red Front"), following orders from
  Moscow, tried to set up German "Soviet" states.
• They fought bitter battles in the street with
  ex-German army troops who called themselves
  "Freikorps".

The image is a Freikorps group taking a Red
Front flag in battle.
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Adolf Hitler
For a while Hitler led a liberal life. He was a
vegetarian and had aspirations to be an artist.
His dreams were crushed however, when an art
school in Vienna denied him admission. His
artwork quickly changed and he became enamored
with architecture and symmetry to the point of
obsession. When Hitler comes to power in
Germany he has many plans for new city designs.

• One of the veterans of WWI who came home
  believing in the "Stab-in-the-Back" theory was a
  Corporal Adolf Hitler.
• Hitler had been born in Austria (and would not
  actually become a Germancitizen until 1932).
• He had done average in school, and tried to be an
  artist for a time in Vienna.

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• As a young man he celebrated the start of WWI as
  a chance for Germany to take its rightful place
  as the worlds greatest power.
• Even though he was still an Austrian citizen,
  Hitler joined the German Army and fought in the
  Great War as a runner, bringing messages from
  trench to trench.

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• Hitler received 2 major medals for bravery and
  was wounded twice, once being temporarily blinded
  by a mustard gas attack.
• He was never promoted past Corporal though,
  probably due to the fact that he was not a German
  citizen.

After the war was over Hitler would head back to
Germany truly believing Germany had been robbed
of victory!
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• After coming back to Germany, Hitler was ordered
  by German Army Intelligence to infiltrate a small
  radical political party, the German Workers
  Party, and report back on their activities.
• Hitler joined the party under membership 55.
• The party was founded by Anton Drexler, an
  anti-semitic former metal worker.

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Angry, shady man

• Hitler ignored his job for German Military
  Intelligence and decided to join the party, as he
  was very impressed by the ideas of Drexler.

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Origin of the Word Nazi

• Hitler quickly rose to the top of the party, and
  even replaced Drexler as head of the party within
  2 years.
• He added the names "National Socialist" to German
  Workers Party, to form the National
  SocialistGerman Workers Party, or NSDAP, in
  German.
• Shortening National Socialist(in German) gets
  Na-zi, or Nazi.

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The Swastika

• Hitler also wanted to use symbols from Germany's
  past, from the old Nordic/Viking history of
  northern Europe.
• From this he decided the symbol of the NSDAP
  would be the 'bent cross' or swastika.

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Beer Hall Putsch

• After taking control of the NSDAP (the Nazis),
  Hitler decided to it was time to take power by
  force.
• In October of 1923 the Nazis tried to take over
  the government of the German state of Bavaria by
  marching on the capital city of Munich.
• This was the Beer Hall Putsch.

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Beer Hall Putsch, cont.

• Hitler and a group of dedicated Nazi's marched on
  city hall where they expected the local army and
  police forces to support them.
• They were really wrong!
• The troops opened fire on the Nazis and 16 of
  them were killed.
• Hitler was arrested and thrown into jail
• He should have been executed for treason, but was
  saved by the fact that he was still popular in
  the area.

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Hitler learned two important things from the
failed Beer Hall Putsch
1. It was too early for Hitler to gain power, he
still did not have enough support.
2. He would have to take power legally, not by
force.
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• After the failure of the Putsch, Hitler spent the
  next year in jail with other top Nazis.
• It was more like a large "house arrest" and
  Hitler spent the time writing and planning the
  next stage of taking power, this time through the
  weakness of democracy elections.

Rudolph Hess
Crazy eyed guy
Hitler
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During this period of bitter wrestling between
inner education and cold reason, the visual
observation of Vienna's streets had rendered
invaluable services. There came a time when I no
longer as before wandered blindly through the
mighty city. Now with eyes opened I looked at
people as well as buildings. As I was once
strolling through the inner city, I suddenly
happened upon an apparition in a long caftan with
black hair locks. Is this a Jew? was my first
thought. They surely didn't look like that in
Linz. I observed the man stealthily and
cautiously. But the longer I stared at this alien
face, examining it feature for feature, the more
my first question was transformed into a new
conception Is this a German?
Mein Kampf

• The works of Hitler were all bound into a book
  called "Mein Kampf" (my struggle).
• Mein Kampf became THE book of the Nazi Party.
• A Blue print for what they wanted to do.

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Rudolph Hess
Really behind Mein Kampf.
Became Hitlers deputy head of the Nazi Party
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• Hitlers political ideas were

Germany had been betrayed and must regain its
world position.
Jews must be removed from positions of power.
Communists must be arrested.
The German economy must be rebuilt
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Impact of the Airplane

• Hitler was the first politician to use an
  airplane to travel all around Germany to
  campaign.
• By 1932 The Nazi party became one of the
  threelargest political parties in Germany.

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German Government

• The German system used 'coalition governments',
  where two or more parties would join together to
  run the government.
• The Nazis were part of this coalition in 1933,
  and Hitler was appointed Chancellor, or the man
  responsible for actually running the government.

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Hindenburg

• The man who appointed Hitler, Hindenburg, was
  President, and could fire him as well.
• He did not like Hitler, but thought he could
  control him.
• Thus, in this system, power was split between the
  Chancellor and the President.

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Death of Hindenburg

• In 1933, Hitler was Chancellor of Germany when
  President Hindenburg died.

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Reichstag on Fire

• German parliament (The Reichstag)
• The Nazis claimed that the nation was under
  threat and needed strong leadership with the
  death of Hindenburg.

One night a fire breaks out at the Reichstag. It
is clearly arson and quickly blamed on a
communist angry at the rise of the NAZI party.
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Enabling Acts

• Hitler used both events to have the "Enabling
  Acts" passed in the Nazi dominated Parliament.
• The Enabling Acts
• Took the offices of President and Chancellor and
  had them combined into one office, that of
  Fuhrer, or Leader.
• Gave the Fuhrer powers to pass laws simply by
  edict
• He just had to write them and they were law, no
  matter what.

Now Hitler had full and complete authority!
Yikes!
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Hitler Fuhrer
When the Führer took power in 1933, the German
people's body was severely ill. The poison of
foreign worldviews ran through the veins of all
the people's organisms. Hardly anyone was immune.
Then Providence sent the German people a doctor,
the Führer. He knew the disease he know that the
German people suffered from a corruption of its
racial strength. Using every possible medication,
including if necessary the most radical, the
bacterium was removed from the people's body. Our
people is becoming racially healthy once
more. But our people is not alone in the world.
It is surrounded by a ring of peoples. Most
peoples today still suffer from the same disease
that the German people once suffered. They are
nearing racial collapse, especially the European
peoples. Therefore, the Führer wants other
peoples to follow the holy laws of blood that we
follow, for mixing with widely foreign races
means the betrayal of the blood of each people,
and eventual decline. The fundamental reason for
excluding foreign-raced groups from a people's
body is not discrimination or contempt, but
rather the realization of otherness. Only through
such thinking will the peoples again become
healthy, and able to respect each
other. -Excerpt from a 5th Grade Textbook,
Germany, 1935.

• Adolf Hitler was now Fuhrer, Dictator, and German
  democracy was dead.

"One People, One Empire, One Leader"