The Nazis felt like this political group was trying to undermine their “people’s community”. Hitler made it very clear that he did not want the communists in his people community when he and the Nazi party realised their 25 point programme of 1920.However the Nazis also portrayed the socialist and any other party of which had taken part in coalition governments during the Weimar republic as they collaborated with communism and Jewish democracy. Hitler wanted to introduce the policy of volksgeminschaft in this case because if he could eliminate the communists and the other parties who were associated as collaborating with them, the Nazis could then get their votes as they had a high amount of supporters, which would mean them having the majority and coming into power. Anybody who the Nazis believed that represented a threat to the racial purity of which Hitler wanted would come under the socialism categories. This included, Jews, gypsies and those who were seen as mentally or physically unfit.
The Reichstag Fire led to the Enabling Act because Hitler had managed to convince Hindenburg that it was a ‘communists uprising’. This manages Hitler to prove to Germany that communists were bad people and he would have get more votes, in the next elections. However, I also disagree with the statement ‘the Reichstag Fire more important than the Enabling Act in allowing Hitler to consolidate power’ because of other several reasons. Firstly, the Enabling Act made a Hitler a virtual dictator. Nobody could stop him, even Hindenburg.
n 1919, Anton Drexler, Gottfried Feder and Dietrich Eckart formed the German Worker's Party (GPW) in Munich. The German Army was worried that it was a left-wing revolutionary group and sent Adolf Hitler, one of its education officers, to spy on the organization. Hitler discovered that the party's political ideas were similar to his own. He approved of Drexler's German nationalism and anti-Semitism but was unimpressed with the way the party was organized. Although there as a spy, Hitler could not restrain himself when a member made a point he disagreed with, and he stood up and made a passionate speech on the subject.
Another similarity between Hitler’s and Stalin’s struggles to power is their method of gaining the people’s support. Both Hitler and Stalin promised their country improvements in the economy, government, and living conditions. Hitler used the failing economy, strong western influence, and weak Weimar Republic to offer the German people
Hitler’s authority was derived from his personal qualities as opposed to being vested in the office which he held. “All authority within the Party was ultimately concentrated in the hands of the leader, Hitler.” The party was organised around the idea of the Fuhrerprinzip. This laid down that power was concentrated in the hands of one leader and that his authority was absolute. This gives the impression of a very ordered power structure, but in reality it was more complex. Even before 1933, the Nazi Party leadership, Hitler aside, was undermined by its inability to exert control over the regional Gauleiters, who saw themselves as Hitler’s personal representatives responsible only to him.
Source A is about removing opposition and the use of propaganda to control what the population thought and did this is challenging the question as the consent is not given but actually forced out of the none Arian people of Germany. The source suggests that the Nazis removed the peoples basic rights like freedom of speech because they feared that the people would speak out against the laws that had been created to keep them under control. This is a strong argument against the Germans giving support towards the regime because it suggests that the Germans. Source A also suggests that after the war Germany still wasn’t ready politically so Hitler had an easy task in taking power the
As well, the only way that the Wilson plan would have survived the political intrigue of the Europeans was either through a league that had real teeth, or a super power willing to intervene as a worldwide police officer. Neither of which existed in 1918. Clemenceau’s views represented the average sentiment of the European Allies after the war. In the closing days of the war, a war weary European population must have tried to make sense of the carnage, of the loss. Clemenceau casts a pale light on the German population, blaming the war on the aims of “the intolerable German Aristocracy.” (Clemenceau, p. 73) The entire argument for the French and nay, European view, was the perceived threat that Europeans felt of German arrogance.
Hitler's racial ideas did contribute much to his defeat. They made enemies for the reich and contributed to its isolation. When nazi armies invaded the USSR, some Germans thought that the bulk of its citizens would be glad to be rid of Stalin and would support them. Many did but for the most part the Russians and other slavs could not support a racist system which relegated them to inferior status. Ergo, they not only opposed the reich but did so strongly.
Assess the significance of the “Night of the Long Knives” The Night of the Long Knives is significant, because it can be seen as the event that shut down Hitler’s opposition from both sides, through forcibly removing the Conservative elite and the SA as a political threat, while simultaneously gaining the armies support. The event in itself set a bad precedence for Nazi rule and can be seen as the beginning of the Nazi terror state. However, it is suggested Hitler’s removal of the SA, was necessary to stop revolution, on the other hand, it could be said the Night of the Long Knives was Hitler’s way of taking complete control of Germany. One effect of the Night of the Long Knives is its significance in the rise of the SS, led by Himmler, from its minimal standing as an extension of the SA, to independence. Bullock says that: “Himmler’s SS were now given their independence of the SA, and placed directly under Hitler’s orders with Himmler as SS Reichsfuehrer”# this source suggests that Himmler and the SS only became powerful through Hitler’s direction.
What contribution did Joseph Goebbels and Leni Riefenstahl make to Nazi propaganda ? Intro Goebbels and Riefenstahl had an immense effect on Nazi propaganda, Although Hitler came to power in 1933 through democratic means he had to avail of many forms of propaganda in order to grip all aspects of peoples lives; Social, Political, Economic and Personal. With the help of Goebbels and Riefenstahl along with other film makers, Hitler found a way to indoctrinate and brainwash most germans into both following and agreeing with his policies, this paved the way for his totalitarian regime, with the help of Goebbels. Goebbles Goebbels was Hitlers Minister for Propaganda, he was definitely one of the most influential people in Nazi Germany as it was up to him to ensure that the nation was gripped by Hitlers cult of personality, which I personally think Goebbels was more than partly responsible for creating. Goebbels used many means in order to create the personality cult which is credited for keeping Hitlers third reich united.