The Nazi Party, 1933 (OCR GCSE History B (Schools History Project)): Revision Note

Summary

Hitler was the leader and by far the most important figure in the NSDAP. However, he was supported by a range of other key individuals, including Joseph Goebbels and Ernst Röhm. Goebbels controlled Nazi propaganda and Röhm was in charge of the Nazi private Army (SA).

Both men were key in helping the Nazis achieve the enormous successes in the 1932 elections. However, the broad appeal that the Nazi policies had was also key. These policies meant people from all areas of society voted for them.

Who were the key individuals in the Nazi Party?

Adolf Hitler

• Hitler was the head of the party

  • He had reshaped it into exactly what he wanted it to be after he became the leader in 1921

• He was charismatic and very effective public speaker

• To make the most of this skill, during the 1932 general election, Hitler travelled around Germany by plane, giving speeches

  • This enabled him to reach as many people as possible

  • His book, Mein Kampf, had also become a bestseller

Joseph Goebbels

• Goebbels was highly skilled in creating and spreading effective propaganda

  • This involved using radio and film, which were new forms of media in the 1920s and 1930s

• Goebbels ensured the Nazi message was put across in simple terms and in ways that ordinary people could understand

  • He also repeated these messages as often as possible

  • For example, 'Bread and Work' was an election campaign slogan that greatly appealed to the millions of unemployed

    • He also created a cult of personality around Hitler

    • This portrayed Hitler as being heaven-sent to save Germany

Wilhelm Frick

• Wilhelm Frick was a long-serving Nazi Party member

  • When Hitler was made Chancellor, Frick was one of only two Nazis who were invited to become members of the cabinet

Ernst Röhm

• Röhm was a working-class man who had risen to become an officer in the German Army

• He became the leader of the Sturmabteilung or Storm troopers, also known as the SA or the brownshirts, which was the Nazi private army

• The number of brownshirts had risen to 400,000 by 1933

  • The Nazis used the SA to help them win elections

    • The SA intimidated voters, physically attacked opponents and marched through towns and villages

    • In times of chaos and uncertainty, they represented order and discipline to many voters

Hermann Göring

• Göring was a former flying ace in the First World War and was regarded as a national hero

• He was Hitler's second in command

  • When Hitler became Chancellor, Göring was made a minister and put in charge of the police in the province of Prussia

  • He founded the secret police organisation known as the Gestapo

Heinrich Himmler

• Himmler was the leader of the Schutzstaffel or SS (their name literally means Protection Squadron)

• They began as Hitler's elite bodyguards

  • Under Himmler, the blackshirted SS expanded enormously, especially after the Night of the Long Knives (opens in a new tab)

• The SS went on to play a central but terrible role in the Nazi regime

  • It was the SS who ran the Nazi death camps and committed the massacres in Eastern Europe during World War 2

Rudolph Hess

• Hess had fought in the First World War and was imprisoned with Hitler for his part in the Munich Putsch

  • Whilst in prison, Hitler had dictated his book, Mein Kampf, to Hess

• Hess was made Deputy Leader of the Nazi Party and worked in party organisation and administration

The SA and Nazi propaganda

• The SA appealed to many Germans

  • Having an "army" in uniform made the NSDAP look disciplined

  • In an economic crisis, the Nazi Party had the manpower to keep law and order

• The NSDAP’s paramilitary forces were much stronger than the KPD

  • The SA had 400,000 members

    • The KPD’s Red Front Fighters numbered 130,000

  • The elections of 1930 and 1932 were violent

    • The SA intimidated candidates, broke into rival political parties' headquarters and disrupted their rallies

• As well as posters, Goebbels produced leaflets and radio broadcasts to spread Nazi propaganda

  • Goebbels designed much of Nazi propaganda to appeal to people's emotions and to make them angry or upset

  • This, Goebbels argued, was much more effective than presenting facts or figures to back up an argument

"Arguments must therefore be crude, clear and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not the intellect"

Joseph Goebbels

Nazi policies

• The key to the Nazi Party's success in the election was that their policies appealed to many different groups in German society

• Some policies, such as promising to ignore the Treaty of Versailles, appealed to people of all backgrounds and ages

  • Other policies were targeted at specific groups

  • This contrasted with political parties like the German Communist Party (KPD), which mainly appealed to the working classes

Big businesses

• Hitler persuaded big businessmen like Benz and Krupps to fund the NSDAP

Working-class support

• The NSDAP tried to become the party of the workers

  • They were named the National Socialist German Workers’ Party

  • The NSDAP targeted many of their policies towards the working classes. These include the redistribution of land and improved working conditions

• The NSDAP had some election success with the workers, but never gained the majority of the working-class vote

Middle-class support

• The middle classes contained teachers, lawyers and smaller business owners

  • They often owned property and had savings

• From 1929 to 1933, the middle classes no longer supported moderate parties

Farmers

• Farmers were poorly treated under the Weimar Republic

  • High debt, low prices and increasing taxes damaged the standard of living in farming communities

  • By 1929, the income of agricultural workers was 44% below the national average

• Farmers initially did not like the NSDAP

  • The Twenty-Five Point Programme created a policy of confiscating all private land. Under this policy, farmers would lose their income

  • The Nazi Party changed their policy to say that, if the people voted for the NSDAP, it would only confiscate land owned by the Jewish people 

• In 1930, the Nazi Party gained 60% of the rural vote in some areas

Young people

• Young people suffered greatly from the economic crisis in the 1930s

  • By January 1933, unemployment hit 6.1 million people

  • Half of all 16 and 30-year-olds did not have a job

The elections of 1932

Presidential elections

• In 1932, Hindenburg’s seven-year term as German President came to an end

  • Aged 84, Hindenburg was becoming increasingly frail

  • Moderate politicians persuaded Hindenburg to stand for re-election to try to stabilise the Weimar Republic

  • Hitler decided to enter the presidential election

• In March 1932, the first round of presidential elections began

  • Hindenburg achieved 49.6%. This was not the 50% required to become president

  • Hitler achieved 30% of the votes

• In April, the government repeated the election

  • Hitler had relentlessly campaigned in the run-up to the election

    • Hitler hired an aeroplane to travel around Germany, making speeches

    • The SA performed parades and disrupted communist meetings

  • Political opponents fought in the streets across Germany

• The results of the election gave Hindenburg the presidency

  • Hitler increased his share of the votes to 36% and showed he was a political force to be reckoned with

The July 1932 Elections

• In the July 1932 election, the NSDAP became the biggest party in the Reichstag

  • The Nazi Party received 38% of the vote

    • This was not the 50% needed to have a majority in the Reichstag

    • The NSDAP’s share of the votes had increased from 18% in 1930

• Hitler demanded that Hindenburg appoint him as chancellor

• Hindenburg ignored Hitler’s request and kept his friend von Papen as chancellor

  • Hindenburg disliked Hitler and hoped public opinion would turn against the NSDAP

The November 1932 Elections

• Hindenburg called for another election in November 1932

  • The NSDAP retained their position as the biggest party

  • However, their share of the votes had reduced to 33%

    • NSDAP support from the middle class was reduced because Hitler verbally attacked von Papen

    • The KPD had grown their representation in the Reichstag, achieving 17% of the votes

• Von Papen could no longer remain the chancellor of Germany because the SPD did not have a majority in the Reichstag

  • Hindenburg persuaded von Papen to resign