The Creation of the Nazi Party

Word bank Nationalistic/ Nationalism: Taking extreme pride in your country to the point where you believe it is superior to all others. Anti-Semitic/ Anti-Semitism: A hatred of Jews

Hitler joins the Party The Nazi Party was originally called the German Workers Party by Anton Drexler, Dietrich Eckhart and Gottfried Feder in 1919. Drexler was the original leader of the party. He had strong nationalistic views and was anti-Semitic. Although the party was small, the armed forces were worried it might be a potential Socialist threat (this is just after the Spartacist Revolt) so Adolf Hitler was sent to investigate it and assess how much of a threat they were. However Hitler found he agreed with many of the Party’s views and decided to join it.

NSDAP In early 1920, the party changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). The first two words in German were Nationalsozialist, so the Party was nicknamed 'Nazi' by both enemies and supporters alike . They were based in the Southern State of Bavaria.

The Swastika The swastika is an ancient symbol which is thousands of years old. It is a Hindu good luck symbol, used widely in Hindu holy books. It is also used in many other Eastern religions such as Buddhism. The British writer Rudyard Kipling (author of Jungle Book) was strongly influenced by Indian culture, and had a swastika on the dust jackets of all his books until the rise of Nazism made this inappropriate. It was also a symbol used by the scouts in Britain, although it was taken off Robert Baden-Powell's 1922 Medal of Merit after complaints in the 1930s. http://www.scouting.milestones.btinternet.co.uk/swastika.htm

The Nazis and the Swastika Hitler was attracted to the links between the Swastika and the Aryan people he believed the Germans were descended from. He therefore took the ancient symbol of the Swastika and made it the official symbols of the NSDAP.

Nazi Ideology

Why people supported the Nazis

Hitler’s Public Speaking People quickly saw how skilled Hitler was as a public speaker. His speeches attracted huge crowds who not only agreed with what Hitler said, but were impressed with how he said it. Hitler would spend hours rehearsing in front of a mirror. This picture, taken by his personal photographer, shows him rehearsing gestures intended to look spontaneous while listening to a recording of one his speeches.

Truman Smith, an American spy based in Germany, wrote this in 1922 Karl Ludecke, who published a book called "I knew Hitler", wrote the following about the first time that he heard Hitler speak: The most important political force in Bavaria at the present time is the National Socialist German Workers Party....Adolf Hitler...is the dominating force in the movement ...his ability to influence a large audience is uncanny. Hitler was a slight, pale man with brown hair parted to one side. He had steel-blue eyes...he had the look of a fanatic...he held the audience, and me with them, under a hypnotic spell by the sheer force of his conviction.

Hitler’s skills- public speaking Hitler had a peculiar power over people. His speeches were passionate where he could easily hold the attention of a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people. He would wait until the crowd fell silent before he began. He would then build slowly into a frenzy.

Fear of Communism The Nazis had something to appeal to many different groups of people: They were anti-Communist so appealed to the middle classes. The financial support of wealthy businessmen gave Hitler the money to run his propaganda and election campaigns The rich businessmen hoped Hitler would revive the dying German economy and destroy Communism This included men like IG Farben the chemical manufacturer who gave Hitler half the funds for the 1933 election campaign (and later manufactured the gas chambers)

Jobs Hitler promised to created jobs to solve the unemployment problems created by the Wall Street Crash. This included within his own organisation, the SA (Brownshirts).

Anti-Semitism The Nazis were anti-Jewish (anti-Semitic) and blamed the Jews for Germany losing WWI and then later for Germany’s economic problems. Nazi propaganda persuaded the German masses to believe that the Jews were to blame for all Germany’s problems and that Hitler was their last hope. They also said the Jews were responsible for spreading Communism in Germany.

Pride- Treaty of Versailles The Nazis claimed Germany had not lost WWI and instead had been betrayed by the November Criminals who had signed the armistice. They promised to destroy the Treaty of Versailles, rebuild the army, take back the land and restore German pride.

Use of propaganda Hitler put Josef Goebbels in charge of Nazi propaganda. Methods of campaigning that the Nazis used in the 1920s included radio, mass rallies, newspapers (eg. Der Sturmer), Hitler's speeches and posters. The Nazis used simple slogans to introduce their ideas and to make them appeal to the ordinary people of Germany.

Why would these election posters be effective?

Exam question Explain why people supported the Nazi party up to up 1933? (6 marks) In an exam you would have 9 minutes to complete this question.