1. The Rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party Unit 4 Part II. AP EURO CBHS. Mr
The Rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party Unit 4 Part II AP EURO CBHS Mr. Buttell

2. Adolf Hitler’s Early Life
Hitler was born on April 20th, 1889 in AUSTRIA
He had a poor relationship with his father and was very close to his mother
He was an aspiring painter, and was twice rejected by the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna
It was at this time, in 1908, that Hitler
began a
movement
based on the
beliefs that
Germans were
the master
race

3. Hitler in WWI
Hitler pleaded to be in the Bavarian (a state in Germany) Army and was granted his request
He served as a messenger in a regiment that exposed him to enemy fire (story)
He was shot in the leg and suffered from a poison gas attack
He was awarded the Iron Cross – the highest military honour in Germany

4. Hitler and Early Politics
Hitler helped form the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi) in 1919 and assumed leadership in 1921
Beer Hall Putsch (‘pooch’) November 8th, 1923
Attempt by Hitler to seize power and overthrow the Bavarian government for signing the Treaty of Versailles
The attempt failed and Hitler was imprisoned for five years for high treason (but he was released after only serving one year – he was not considered a threat to the public)

5. Mein Kampf
Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (“My Struggle) in 1925 while he was in prison
This became the Nazi ideology – and it attacked Jews, Communists, democracy, and the Treaty of Versailles
Hitler also wrote that Germany needed to destroy the French Nation and conquer Russia, among other things
The book sold/distributed 10 million copies between

6. Hitler’s Rise to Power
By 1932, the Nazi Party was the biggest political party and held 230 seats
Hitler demanded to be appointed the position of chancellor – he was initially refused, but then given the position
Just before the 1933 election, the Reichstag (parliament) was burned to the ground. The president of Germany granted the Nazi Party the power to quash any political opposition, and they intimidated and arrested socialist and communist party members

7. Hitler’s Rise to Power The Enabling Act
After the 1933 election, Hitler proposed the Enabling Act, which would essentially give him a dictatorship for four years – and it passed!
The Enabling Act…
Banned all political parties
Germany was declared a one
party state
Jews were not allowed to be
in civil service professions
Local and state governments
were staffed by Nazi members

8. Hitler Secures Absolute Power
When the president of Germany died in 1934, Hitler’s cabinet passed a law proclaiming the presidency to him (rather than holding elections)
The military swore an oath to Hitler, not the state
Hitler had obtained absolute power, and Germany became known as the Third Reich

9. Why Vote for Hitler? True believers Ignorance
These people shared the same ideology as Hitler and believed he was their saviour – from the depression, the Jews, the Communists, and the Treaty of Versailles
Ignorance
People did not consider Hitler to be a real threat
Did not take him seriously
People just thought Hitler was ‘odd’
New party needed
The depression and hyperinflation highlighted the need for new political leadership

10. The Nazi Party History of the Swastika
The Swastika is a religious symbol used by the Egyptians, Chinese, Roman armies, and many others
The Swastika means good luck!
The Nazi Party used the Swastika because they felt it had connections to original caste systems that avoided racial mixing
The Swastika is banned in most countries, except for religious or scholarly reasons
Jainism
Hinduism
Nazism

11. The Nazi Party The SA (“Brown Shirts”) Hitler’s private army
They bullied opponents into obeying
the Nazi Party
However, once Hitler rose to power, he had the SA replaced by a new organization – the SS
Night of the Long Knives
Leaders in the SA (Rohm) were killed
The SA was destroyed
Ernst Rohm

12. The Nazi Party The SS (“Black Shirts”)
The SS were Hitler’s private bodyguards
and were led by Heinrich Himmler
They arrested and killed anyone who challenged Hitler
The SS took over law enforcement in Germany and implemented the ‘Final Solution’
Himmler

13. The Nazi Party The Gestapo
The Gestapo were the secret police of Nazi Germany
They investigated treason, espionage, and sabotage cases against the Nazi Party (i.e. Valkyrie)
The Gestapo also set up and administered the concentration camps

14. “Coordination” Policy called Coordination
Forced existing institutions to conform to National Socialist ideology
Life became violently anti-intellectual under a brutal dictatorship characterized by frightening dynamism and obedience to Hitler

15. Racial Purity “Racial State”
Nazis began persecuting those incapable of contributing to the “master race”
Undesirables included Jews, Slavs, Sinti and Roma, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and handicapped people
Barbarism and race hatred were institutionalized with the force of science and law
New university academies wrote studies that presented prejudice in the guise of enlightened science to create a strong national race

16. Racial Purity “Racial State”
Forced people with disabilities into special hospitals to be segregated from healthy Germans
Imprisoned homosexuals and “asocials” in concentration camps for “re-education”
Sterilization laws were forced on some 400,000 undesirables
By 1934, most Jewish professionals had been banned from their occupations
1935 Nuremberg Laws classified as Jewish anyone having three or more Jewish grandparents, outlawed marriage and sexual relations between Jews and those defined as Germans
Deprived Jews of all rights of citizenship
In late 1938, the assault on Jews accelerated into violence known as Kristallnacht (night of broken glass)

17. The Nazi Party Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was an organization under the Nazi Party
By 1936, they had over five million
members in the organization
They were indoctrinated in anti-Semitism, and even drafted into the military ranks during WWII

18. The Hitler State
FEAR
“Otto Bauer, a 56 year old business man, said on a train in June 1942 that Germans had two alternatives: to kill Hitler or be killed by him. He was overheard by a married couple who reported him [to the Gestapo]. He was beheaded on September 16, 1943 for causing discontent and unrest.”
It was by using fear that Hitler had stopped freedom of speech and expression – everyone had to obey Nazi policy, or face the consequences!

19. Support for Nazism
The Nazi Party used a combination of coercion and reward to enlist popular support for the racial state
German citizens (who were not Jews/Communists/Undesirables) experienced new opportunities and benefited from Nazi ideology
Hitler launched a massive public works program and by 1938 unemployment had fallen to 2%.
Standard of living increased and business profits had risen sharply
Ordinary Germans benefited from Jewish persecution: as Jews were forced out of their jobs, homes and businesses, Germans replaced them – Aryanization
Social and cultural innovation to construct the Volksgemeinschaft—a people’s community for racially pure Germans—spread the ideology and enlisted volunteers for the Nazi cause.

20. Women/Family and Supporters
Promising to “liberate women from women’s liberation”, Nazi ideologues championed a return to traditional family values by:
outlawing abortion
discouraging women from holding jobs or obtaining higher education
glorifying domesticity and motherhood
Yet, the millions of women enrolled in Nazi mass organizations experienced a new sense of freedom and community.
Historians debate whether this brought about a real social revolution
Yet, Hitler’s rule promoted economic growth, and Nazi propagandists continually trumpeted the supposed accomplishments of the regime
The vision of a people’s community, national pride in recovery, and feelings of belonging created by racial exclusion led many Germany to support the regime
Hitler remained popular with broad sections of the population well into the war
Not all Germans supported Hitler after 1933.
Opponents’ lack of success was due to a failure to unify efforts and the regime’s relentless repression, arrest, and execution of political enemies