The Rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party

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

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

• 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

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)

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 1925-1934

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

Hitler’s Rise to PowerThe Enabling Act

• After the 1933 election, Hitler proposed the Enabling Act, which would essentially give him a dictatorship – 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

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

Why Vote for Hitler?1. True believers

– These people shared the same ideology as Hitler and believed he was their savior – from the depression, the Jews, the Communists, and the Treaty of Versailles

2. Ignorance– People did not consider Hitler to

be a real threat

3. Did not take him seriously– People just thought Hitler was

‘odd’4. New party needed

– The depression and hyperinflation highlighted the need for new political leadership

The Nazi PartyHistory 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

HinduismJainism Nazism

The Nazi PartyThe 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

The Nazi PartyThe 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

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

The Nazi PartyHitler 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

The Hitler State

• “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 overhead 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!

Nazi Propaganda

“The task of propaganda is not making an objective study of the truth….but to convince the masses.”

- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

The Role of Propaganda in Nazi Strategy

Nazi Propaganda• The Nazi’s quickly recognized the value of

the media. From the early days of the party they used aggressive advertising to promote the Nazi ideology

• Goebbels was in charge of ‘enlightening’ the German public

Book Burnings

Nazi students unload confiscated materials for the public book burning that is to take place on the Opernplatz in Berlin. The banner on the back of the truck reads: "German students march against the un-German spirit."

Book Burnings

Link to Book Burnings

Nazi Propaganda: Methods

• Word of the Week• Posters• Radio• Film• Newspapers

Nazi Control of Press

Newspapers• Censoring newspapers ensures that only

the news you want people to read is available to the public

• Nazi party members wrote many articles for the press, ensuring that the message was always positive

• Many publications were banned

Der Sturmer

Der Sturmer

Joke of the Times

• “I told my wife that if I die, don’t let them put it in the newspaper, because no one will believe it”

Nazi Control of Radio

• Hitler’s SpeechesHitler is considered to have been one of the greatest public speakers of all time.

Nazi Control of Film• Film was used to show Hitler in a positive light

as often as possible• The Nazi’s commissioned several films, each

carefully portraying a certain image• Triumph of the Will

– Directed by Leni Riefenstahl– taken at Nazi Party Rally in Nuremburg-1934– considered a documentary masterpiece

Film: The Eternal Jew

Film: The Eternal Jew

Winning the Masses

• “One people, one government, one leader.”

Posters Creating One People

• Posters are cheap and easy to distribute

• Placed in prominent positions they act as a constant reminder of ideology

• Can be used for many purposes

Examples of Nazi Posters

PostersGlorifying“Aryans”

Nazi Youth

“All Girls Join Us”Youth Serves the Fuhrer. All ten-year-olds join the Hitler Youth.”

Nazi Men

Nazi Women

Nazi Women

• "Healthy Parents have Healthy Children."

Anti-Jewish Propaganda Campaigns

• Nazi’s had to determine who was and who wasn’t a full-fledged member of the national community.

Then and Now

“You are Sharing the Load! A Genetically Ill Individual Costs Approximately 50,000 Reichsmarks by the Age of Sixty”

Propaganda

Propaganda

• 'The Costs of the Congenitally Diseased'.

Propaganda

• '60.000 reichsmarks is what this hereditarily ill person will cost the national community over the course of his life. Citizen, this is also your money!

Race Propaganda

Race Propaganda

• "The result! A loss of racial pride."

Race Defiler1936

Language of Propaganda

• Employment office- “labor mobilization”• Worker- “Soldier of Labor”• Work- “Service to Fuehrer and folk”• Factory Meeting- “Factory Roll Call”• Production- “The Production Battle”

Education

Don't Trust the Fox in the Green Meadow or The Jew On His Oath.

Der Fiftpilz:The Poisonous Mushroom

• Link to The Poison Mushroom

Education

Education

Education

State of Deception

Themes of the Exhibit

Online Exhibit: Making a Leader

Guiding Question

• Some have said that Hitler would not have come to power without the work of Goebbels. Look at the posters in this section and determine what traits for Hitler are being promoted?

Online Exhibit: Rallying the Nation

Guiding Question• What does the Nazi

Party offer the German people that propels it to dominate the multitude of other political parties?

Online Exhibit: Indoctrinating the Youth

Guiding Question

• What are the messages used to educate (Nazify) the youth?

Online Exhibit: Defining the Enemy

Guiding Question

• What strategies were used by the Nazi government to move the masses to the Nazi Utopian society?

Online Exhibit: Writing the News

Guiding Questions• How was the Nazi

use of media a systematic strategy to control the masses?

• What was their goal? The tools used?

The outcome?

Online Exhibit: Deceiving the Public

Guiding Questions

• What were the deceptions?

• What did the deceptions offer the German nation?

Online Exhibit: Assessing Guilt

Guiding Question1945 = Denazification

of Germany• What was the

International outcome of the prosecution of Julius Streicher, Hans Fritzsche, and Leni Riefenstahl?

Propaganda for War

• 1936 Olympics• Kristallnacht• Invasion of Poland

Propaganda for Mass Murder

• Theresienstadt• Between July 1943 and May 1944,

German battlefield deaths averaged 70,000 per month– Did not report these figures– Instead propaganda focused on what would

happen if Germans lost