The Creation of the Nazi Party (Edexcel GCSE History)
Revision Note
Author
Zoe WadeExpertise
History
How Involved was Hitler in the Creation of the Nazi Party? - Summary & Timeline
Adolf Hitler served as a messenger in the First World War. His role was to pass messages between regiment. Being a messenger was a dangerous job and Hitler was awarded two medals for his bravery. In October 1918, a mustard gas attack injured Hitler. He was temporarily blinded and required hospital treatment. It was in the hospital that Hitler learnt about the armistice of the First World War and Germany’s defeat. He, like many other soldiers, believed that Weimar politicians committed a ‘dolchstoss’ by agreeing to the Treaty of Versailles The abdication of the Kaiser in November 1918 led to the creation of many new political parties. The Weimar government became increasingly worried about the threat these new parties posed to public safety. As a result, the government employed Hitler as part of their intelligence operation. His job was to attend a meeting of a new political party and report back to the government how dangerous it was. This is when Hitler discovered the DAP - The German Workers’ Party Over the next two years, Hitler’s involvement in the party grew until he became leader. His skills as an orator and his political vision caused an increase in party membership. As a result, he rebranded the party to the NSDAP or the Nazi Party. Historians have debated the extent of Hitler’s involvement in creating the Nazi Party. Some state that he simply took leadership of an existing party and tweaked its aims. Others argue that his involvement changed the party from a small, insignificant group to an electable organisation |
Hitler & the DAP
Anton Drexler founded the DAP in February 1919
Drexler was a railway mechanic from Munich
In September 1919, the DAP had 23 members
It was a right-wing party that targeted the working classes
The government hired Hitler to spy on political parties in Munich
The Weimar Republic had struggled to survive threats from extremist parties
As an ex-soldier, Hitler desperately needed the work
The majority of Germany’s armed forces had been made unemployed after the Treaty of Versailles restricted the German army to 100,000 soldiers
Hitler attended his first meeting of the DAP on 12th September 1919
The ideas discussed at the meeting aligned with Hitler’s personal beliefs
On 19th September 1919, Hitler signed up as a member
This went against his government assignment
Changing the DAP to the NSDAP
By 1920, the DAP had changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (the NSDAP or Nazi Party)
Hitler implemented his takeover of the NSDAP by 1921 in five ways:
Changing the party’s policies to the Twenty-Five Point Programme
Hitler’s personal appeal
Developing the party’s organisational structure
Forcing a change of leadership and choosing members for key positions
Creating the NSDAP’s private army, the SA (Sturmabteilung)
The process that Hitler used to increase his influence on the DAP is shown below:
A flow diagram showing the process Hitler used to increase his influence in the DAP
Exam Tip
A common misconception that students have is that Hitler created the Nazi Party from nothing. Hitler took over an existing party. He changed the party’s name and formulated its policies. You will notice a recurring theme throughout this course of Hitler taking existing ideas and rebranding them as his own.
The Twenty-Five Point Programme
When Hitler became responsible for the DAP’s propaganda, he realised the party needed an official document stating its policies
The DAP already spoke on key issues such as:
The removal of Weimar politicians who had signed the Treaty of Versailles
The rewriting of the Weimar Constitution and restrictions on democracy
The blaming of the Jewish people for all of Germany’s issues
In January 1920, Hitler and Drexler wrote the Twenty-Five Point Programme, which formalised the aims of the DAP
The table below is an overview of the key policies from the Twenty-Five Point Programme
A Table showing the key policies in the Twenty-Five Point Programme
Point number | Summary of the Point | Nationalist or Socialist? |
1 | Anschluss and the union of all German speakers into one German country | Nationalist |
3 | The return of Germany’s overseas colonies to provide extra food and space for the German people | Nationalist |
4 | The belief that the Jewish people were not German citizens | Nationalist |
7 | The government’s top priority was to provide jobs for German citizens | Socialist |
9 | All citizens to have equal legal rights | Socialist |
17 | The banning of private ownership of land | Socialist |
25 | The implementation of a strong, centralised government | Nationalist |
Exam Tip
The table above highlights which Points were Nationalist or Socialist aims. This is important to understand as Hitler renamed the DAP the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Nationalism is an extreme right-wing belief whereas socialism is a left-wing belief. The Twenty-Five Point Programme tried to deliver the best of both ideologies to increase the DAP’s popularity among the workers. Communism appealed to workers as they wanted social improvements but the majority of voters considered it too extreme. Many male workers still held traditional, nationalist values. In an attempt to appeal to the masses, Hitler and Drexler had created a confused political identity with contradicting aims. For example, a centralised government (Point 25) would not give all citizens equal legal rights (Point 9).
The Appeal of Hitler
The DAP experienced a rapid increase in membership in 1920
By June 1920, the DAP had 1,000 members
By the end of the year, this increased to 3,000
The main cause of this increase in membership was the appeal of Hitler
Hitler spent a considerable amount of time practising his speeches
Hitler developed a unique pattern of oration, increasing his tempo of speaking until he reached a frantic and aggressive crescendo. This made his arguments very persuasive
He would practice hand gestures to utilise in certain sections of his speeches. To ensure these had maximum impact, he took pictures of how he looked as he practised them
As propaganda minister, he created images and posters of himself speaking
In the first year of his DAP membership, he delivered 31 speeches
Exam Tip
The power of Hitler’s oration skills cannot be underestimated. Historical sources state that, in a few sentences, Hitler could turn a room full of people who hated him into his supporters. You should use Hitler’s skills as an orator as evidence for why the Nazi Party became the biggest party in Germany by 1932.
Worked Example
Give two things you can infer from Source A about Hitler’s personal appeal in the 1920s
4 marks
Source A: A description by German citizen Kurt Ludecke. Ludecke watched Hitler speak in 1922
“Leaning for the rostrum as if he was trying to impel his inner self into the consciousness of all these thousands, he was holding the masses, and me with them, under a hypnotic spell by the sheer force of his conviction… I forgot everything but the man; then glancing around, I saw that his magnetism was holding these thousands as one”
Answers:
i) What I can infer:
I can infer that Hitler’s speeches captivated the audience (1)
Details in the source that tell me this:
“He was holding the masses, and me with them, under a hypnotic spell” (1)
ii) What I can infer:
I can also infer that Hitler used body gestures to persuade his audience (1)
Details in the source that tell me this:
“Leaning for the rostrum as if he was trying to impel his inner self into the consciousness of all these thousands” (1)
Exam Tip
In this style of question, be careful not to repeat your first inference twice. You will only gain 2 marks per inference you make. With a shorter source like this one, try to consider different pieces of evidence that the source provides for the focus of the question.
Nazi Party: Organisation & Leadership
Hitler used his influence over Drexler to make key changes in the organisation of the party
In January 1920, the DAP created a headquarters in Munich
Rudolf Schüssler, a friend of Hitler, took over the party’s administration
Meetings became better organised and funds for the party increased
Hitler suggested that the party be called the NSDAP to represent the nationalist and socialist elements
The intention behind the new name was to appeal to multiple groups of people
The NSDAP adopted the swastika and straight-armed salute to distinguish it from other nationalist parties
The swastika derived from Asia to symbolise prosperity
The Nazi salute originated from Ancient Rome
In December 1920, the NSDAP began producing a newspaper called Völkischer Beobachter (the ‘People’s Observer’)
Within a year, the NSDAP was distributing 17,000 copies of the newspaper
The party’s influence was spreading beyond Munich
In July 1921, Hitler triggered a leadership contest
Hitler’s popularity meant he defeated Drexler to gain control of the NSDAP
Hitler needed to consolidate his position as leader of the party. He made some key changes to the inner circle of the NSDAP:
The structure of the NSDAP
A flow diagram showing how Hitler organised the leadership structure of the NSDAP
What was the SA?
The Sturmabteilung (‘Stormtroopers’ or ‘SA’) was the NSDAP’s private army
The political violence in the streets of Weimar Germany made many political parties adopt a paramilitary force
The SA was formed in August 1921
They gained the nickname ‘Brownshirts’ due to the colour of their uniform
Hitler hired the unemployed, students and ex-soldiers into the SA
These groups were very angry with the Weimar government
Hitler offered them money and a daily structure
Hitler used the SA to:
Control crowds at meetings
Start fights on the streets
Disrupt the meetings of opposition groups like the KPD
Strengthen the image of the NSDAP
The SA became problematic
By 1922, there were 800 Brownshirts. This number was increasing
Ernst Röhm became the leader of the SA in 1923
The SA was not under Hitler’s direct control
Ernst Röhm was popular amongst the stormtroopers
To combat this, Hitler created the Stosstrupp or ‘Shock Troop’
These were Brownshirts specially selected by Hitler as his bodyguards
The Impact of Hitler on the NSDAP
In January 1922, Hitler called a party conference. Hitler established his autocratic control of the party
He spoke for two and a half hours
He persuaded the NSDAP members to surrender their right to elect the leader of the party
This effectively made the NSDAP a dictatorship
The popularity of the NSDAP accelerated in 1923
By November 1923, the NSDAP had 50,000 members
The Weimar government was dealing with the hyperinflation crisis. Many Germans began to look at extremist parties like the NSDAP for solutions
Exam Tip
It is important to link parts of the course together to understand the historical context. The hyperinflation crisis caused a surge in popularity for the Nazi Party. Without this event, the NSDAP would have remained a small, extremist party. The party also benefited from the Wall Street Crash in 1929. This would eventually lead to them becoming the biggest political party in Weimar Germany in 1932.
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