: Assess the View That the Most Important Element in Maintaining Hitler’s Regime in Power Between 1933 an 1945 Was the Consent of the German People.

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Assess the view that the most important element in maintaining Hitler’s regime in power between 1933 and 1945 was the consent of the German people. Interpretation D and to some extent A argue that the German people supported the regime while B and C suggest that other factors such as repression, propaganda and economic conditions played a vital role in Hitler’s maintenance of power. The German nation as pointed out in source A (“A”) had a “long tradition of obedience to authority” so we can assume that the circumstances that were created in the 1920-1930s led to the willing establishment of a new regime. This is supported by the argument that the people gave their vote to Hitler and his followers repeatedly, as argued by Flenly in “A.” Historical evidence has shown us that Hitler gained support even from Germans living outside Germany. His occupation of Austria was an outstanding achievement as Austria welcomed their German neighbors and 200,000 Austrians gathered to welcome Hitler and hear his speech. Similarly, Sudetenland Germans also greeted German soldiers with flowers and everyone was delighted with Hitler. In a plebiscite that the Nazis organized for a union with Germany, 98% of the population voted for Adolf Hitler. This implies that Hitler had won the consent of the German people to lead them. However, as Rothfels puts it in B, no one will be tempted to consider the 100% plebiscites in favor of Hitler as genuine expressions of support, reckoning the totalitarian methods and practices. Indeed it can be argued that the vote was biased as space on voting paper for “yes” was much bigger than “no”. Taking into consideration this fact, it remains doubtful whether Hitler really gained the consent of the Germans. In contrast to this, Johnson in D stresses that the German civilian population played a large part in its own control and in accommodating and colluding
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