Due to the Depression making people want a drastic change in political party in ower there was an increase in communist support and as a result an increase in Nazi support because people were scared of communism and the Nazi's promised to deal with them. The depression was taken advantage of by Nazi propaganda and they convinced a lot of people that electing Hitler would solve their problems. This means that the Depression was the most important factor in the election of Hitler because with out it then nobody would want to change the current party in power because before the depression then German was extremely prosperous. Therefore, the Depression was the most important factor that lead to the election of Hitler. It could be argued that the Hitler attributes was the most important reason for why Hitler was appointed Chancellor in 1933.
Why was opposition to the Nazi’s so weak? In Germany, it was obvious that the Nazi party could not please everyone and they faced opposition to the their policies. However, this opposition was very weak for a range of reasons; including the current state of the economy, the Nazi propaganda methods and their brutal terror campaigns. Following the Weimar government, a large majority of the German people wanted one strong leader to bring Germany back to its former glory – and Hitler offered this. One predominant reason many backed Hitler and the Nazi’s was on the basis that they believed they could restore Germany to its former strong and internationally-dominant state.
By convincing Hindenburg that there was a large communist threat the country was put into a state of emergency and, with Hindenburg’s backing, Hitler was allowed to pass decrees to govern Germany anyway he liked, with the financial backing of krupp and bosch etc, which in this case is fortunate for the question at hand. Consequently this is why I believe it was the most important event to dictatorship because it was the “spark” that allowed any other event to happen and without it democracy may have just struggled on. One of these events was the election in 1933. Now Hitler had the power to convince Hindenburg to allow him
Assess the importance of propaganda in the maintenance of Nazi power between 1933 and 1939. Propaganda is information put out by an organization or government to promote a policy, idea, or cause. It was a fundamental element in the maintenance of the Nazi Government power between the period of 1933-39. Joseph Goebbels was an important key figure in utilising Propaganda in Germany. Though it wasn't the only key element in the maintenance of power, Nazi Government also used other factors including; fear and the success Hitler turning Germany socio-economy around.
Hitler could not achieve the solid control over the masses which he had, if he did not have the help of the so called powerful propaganda machine. Propaganda had been vital in winning the Nazis support that helped them come into power. As Goebbels stated in 1934 “Propaganda was [their] sharpest weapon in conquering the state, and remains [their] sharpest weapon in maintaining and building up the state”. The reason why Nazis relied on propaganda was first to keep the population contented and second win support for particular policies. Another rather ambitious aim of theirs was to indoctrinate the people with their Weltanschauung or in other words they were aiming to turn the population into committed members of their Volksgemeinschaft (a community whose members would be Aryan, genetically healthy, socially useful and politically committed to the regime).
Some historians say it was the consent and willingness of the German people that took him to Fuhrer but there are other strong arguments such as the Enabling Law, the demolishment of other political parties and trade unions, his agreements with the church, media and industrialists and the Night of the Long Knives. One of the main reasons Hitler was able to come into power was the consent from the German people. Without their willingness to believe and back Hitler, he wouldn’t have been able to gain any real momentum. On the 5th of March in 1933 the Nazis increased their vote from 33.1% to 43.9%, securing them 288 seats. One of the ways Hitler got the backing of the German people was by telling them what they wanted to hear.
Some synonyms for propaganda include falsehood, deceit, and brainwashing. The Nazis, as well as the Allied forces used propaganda to impel the emotions of citizens all over the world. The main focus of propaganda was to convince large numbers of people that their cause was righteous. Even though the propaganda in World War II was usually biased and distorted, many people believed it. The Nazis in Germany had the Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda; the Soviets had the Propaganda Committee of the Communist Party; the Ministry of Information was in Britain; and the Americans had the Office of War Information.
This made him popular because most Germans were against the treaty too. Hitler knew how to make himself popular amongst the Germans. He gave responsibility to some of his most trusted followers the job to spread the ideas of the Nazis throughout Germany. He intended to do this by splitting Germany into districts. To convince children, teachers and students there were Nazi clubs which told them about the ways of the Nazis.
The Weimar Republic looked to be collapsing from the beginning. All the events that finally led to the ending of democracy in Germany were seemed to be caused by the Treaty of Versailles. The loss of the war for the Germans was a huge turning point as it was seem that the Allies wanted to crush Germany. They were unable to pay the reparations, as extremists from both the right and left wing found the war guilt clause unacceptable. When the Germans had lost World War I, had a huge impact back in Germany.
Concentration camps in Nazi Germany Concentration camps in Nazi Germany served a number of purposes. First, these camps were used to jail those who opposed Hitler’s government or were thought to threaten it. Second, knowledge of what life was like in a concentration camp was allowed to leak out – or came out when someone was released. The fear of ending up in such a camp was sufficient for a great many Germans to openly declare their loyalty to Hitler even if this was not the case. Therefore for the Nazi leaders, concentration camps served the dual purpose of controlling the majority of the population because of the fear they engendered and also locking away those who crossed the line- a line imposed by the Nazi government.