Authorization Regimes

Case Study: Nazi Germany

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This chapter has two parts:
1. Hitlers Rise to Power
2. The Impact of Hitlers Rule in Germany

1. The Rise of Hitler
Factor 1:
The weakness of the Weimar Government
The Weimar Government contributed significantly to Hitlers rise to power:
Signing of the Treaty of Versailles
When it was first set up, one of the first things that it did was to sign the Treaty of
Versailles. Many Germans saw this as a betrayal to the country. The Weimar government
stabbed the German Army in the back, when they agreed to stop fighting and sign the
treaty. The Germans believed that the army could have fought on.

By signing the treaty of Versailles, it had brought suffering upon the whole of Germany.
The people of Germany lost hope and trust in the Weimar Government.

Unable to keep order in the country
The government spend too much of its time trying to suppress the riots and attempts to
overthrow the government. The revolutions were led by the communist in Germany who
wanted a Communist government. The Weimar government had to many a times rely on
the Free Corps to settle the Communist revolt.

The government was hence seen as too week to handle and control the violence and
chaos in the country

Lost the support of the middle class
At the end of the war, Germanys financial position was in dire. It had incurred huge
debts during World War I and had to pay reparations to the Allied Powers (as part of the
treaty of Versailles). In order to pay off the debt, the government printed money, in doing
so this caused inflation. The occupation of Ruhr, Germanys industrial heartland, and the
subsequent campaign of passive resistance drastically reduced production. Inflation
worsened into hyper-inflation in 1923. Savings became worthless overnight, the rich
became poor.

Authorization Regimes
Case Study: Nazi Germany
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Although the economy recovered after 1924, the government had lost the support of the
middle class, who felt the government and its democratic system failed.

Lost a capable leader
The government had a capable leader, Chancellor Gustav Stresemann. He served in 4
Weimar governments from 1924-1929 and was an influential politician.

On behalf of the Weimar government, he negotiated the Dawes and Young Plan, to be
allowed more time to pay the allies. In 1925, he also help end the Ruhr occupation and
helped improve Germanys relation with her enemies. Germany was eventually allowed
to join the League of Nations. This positive development made some people believe that
it was the golden age of Germany after the war.

However when Stresemann died of a heart attack, Germany lost a capable politician who
brought stability and prosperity back to Germany. However, the economic prosperity of
Germany depended on the US loans. When US was hit with the Great Depression in 1929,
the loans to Germany soon dried up. Businessman could not afford to pay their workers
nor had money to buy raw materials. Many businesses were forced to close down and
millions of Germans were out of job.
Factor 2:
Hitlers Abilities
Excellent Speaker and Charismatic Leader
He was a charismatic leader and people would listen to him talk for hours as he seemed
to understand their problems/ Hitler told them what they wanted to hear. He promised to
bring back order to Germany and make the country great again.
He tried to overthrow the Weimar Government by force 1923 in the Munich Beer Hall
Putsch. He escaped the death sentence as the judges felt sympathetic towards him after
his speech. He was able to win the supports of Germans with his charisma and excellent
speeches.

Reorganized the Nazi Party
Hitler concentrated his efforts on reorganizing the party so that he could win power
through the elections. He setup branches of the Nazi party in different parts of Germany,
created a youth movement to get support of the young and arranged large public meetings
to attract new members.

Authorization Regimes
Case Study: Nazi Germany
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Although through 1924-1929, the Nazi Party had very little support from the people.
Things changed in 1929, when many Germans suffered from the Great Depression and
the Weimar Government lost a lot of support. With a well-organized party, Hitler was to
take this advantage to gain power.

Exploited the Fear of Communism to win support
The hardship of the Great Depression made many Germanys more willing to support
extremist politicians who seemed to offer more effective ways of solving their problems.
Both the Nazi Party and the Communist rose in popularity as the people felt that the
Weimar government had failed them.

Hitler used propaganda to spread fear of the Communist party. He told the people that the
Communist were only interested in creating disorder and starting a revolution in
Germany. He assured the people that he could prevent such a revolution of a Communist
dictatorship. The rich people were very support of Hitlers anti-communist views, as
Hitler himself told the rich that the communist would take away their property.

With financial support, Hitler raised a small army called Stormtroppers. These people
were responsible for committing violent acts against the communist.

Skilful at making deals with politicians
Through the years, at each election, the Nazi party became increasingly popular amongst
the people of German. Until in 1932, the Nazis won the most number of seats in the
government. He could have joined any coalition but he refused unless he was given the
position of Chancellor or President.

President von Hindenbur did not think Hitler should be Chancellor because Hitler was
seen as a dangerous Nazi leader, backed by thugs.

When the advisor Schleicher failed as a Chancellor, Hitlers demand for Chancellorship
was granted. He was appointed in 1933. The cabinet thought that with Hitlers help could
use it to win support for their policies and control the communist in Germany.

They were wrong. Within months, Hitler ended Weimar Germany and started the Third
Reich.





Authorization Regimes
Case Study: Nazi Germany
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2. The Impact of Hitlers Rule in Germany
Factor 1:
Political Impact
Democracy in Germany was destroyed
Hitler used his power to wipe out democracy in Germany, believing it was hindering
Germany from becoming stronger:

Reichstag Fire
o Hitler wanted the Nazi party to gain full control of the Reichstag so he could
rule without the need to get approval from the Reichstag or the President. He
dissolved the Reichstag and called from a new election. However, a month
before the vote, the Reichstag building was set a blazed. The Nazis
immediately pointed fingers at the communist, accusing them of wanting to
overthrow the government. A young communist later confess to the fire,
however, many still believed that the Nazis had a something to do with it as
they stood to gain the most.

He claimed that the country was in grave danger and convinced the
President to give up his emergency powers. Hitler used this power to arrest
all the communist and opponent of the Nazi.