Hitler's rise to power: 1919-1933

Question 1

What was Adolf Hitler’s child life like?

Answer 1

-Born and raised in Austria
-He didn’t have a happy upbringing yet later stated how close he was with his mother
-He wanted to become an artist and tried to enter Art school but was rejected
-He spent time as a vagrant
-He went to Germany to avoid Austrian military service
-His early experiences influenced what he wrote in Mean Kampf

Question 2

What was Hitler’s experiences in WW1?

Answer 2

-He joined the war due to the excitement and wanted to get involved
-He was badly wounded twice and won two Iron Crosses for bravery
-He was shocked by Germany’s surrender which had a profound effect on his political views
-He believed in the ‘stab in the back’ theory

Question 3

What are the origins of the Nazi party?

Answer 3

-Hitler went to Munich
-1919- He joined the DAP, a right-wing group led by Anton Drexler
-1920- Hitler became the Party’s leading public speaker and propagandist
-1920- The group changed its name to the Nationalist Socialist German Workers Party/Nazi
-1921- Hitler was elected party chairman and the leader

Question 4

What did the 25-point programme state?

Answer 4

-A strong Germany- TOV should be abolished
-A Fuhrer- A single leader with complete power rather than a democracy
-Social Darwinism- The aryan race is superior and Jews are inferior
-Autarky- Germany should be self-sufficient
-Germany was in danger- From communists and Jews, who needed to be destroyed
-Lebensraum- The need for ‘living space’ for the German nation to expand

Question 5

Why did the 25-point programme appeal to socialists?

Answer 5

-Farmers should be given more land
-Pensions should improve
-Industries such as electricity and water should be owned by the state

Question 6

Why did the 25-point programme appeal to nationalists?

Answer 6

-All German speaking people should be united
-TOV should be abolished
-There should be special laws for foreigners

Question 7

Why did the 25-point programme appeal to racists?

Answer 7

-Jews should not be German citizens
-Immigration should be stopped

Question 8

Why did the 25-point programme appeal to fascists?

Answer 8

-Focused on creating a strong central government
-Government should have control over newspapers

Question 9

What was the membership and its growth like for the Nazi party from 1919-1923?

Answer 9

-Hitler joined as its 55th member
-At the end of 1920, the membership was at 2000
-In November 1923, the membership grew to 20,000

Question 10

What were the role of the impact of the SA?

Answer 10

-Created in 1921, containing a large group of unemployed men and former soldiers, known as storm troopers
-They were nicknamed the ‘brownshirts’ after their uniform
-Had to protect party meetings, march in rallies and intimidate political opponents
-After the failure of the Munich putsch, the were used to intimidate voters into voting for them
-In 1933, there was an estimated two million members

Question 11

What was the Munich Putsch?

Answer 11

-November 1923, Hitler tried to take advantage of the hyperinflation and tried to launch a revolution
-He poorly planned and misjudged which resulted in failure

Question 12

What are the causes of the Munich Putsch?

Answer 12

-By 1923, the Nazi party had 55,000 members
-The weimar was in crisis due to hyperinflation
-In September 1923, the Weimar called off the general strike, and German nationalists were furious with the government
-Hitler thought he would be helped by he nationalist politicians in Bavaria
-He had a huge army of SA members, who he would’ve lost control of, if he didn’t give them anything to do
-Hitler wanted to copy Mussolini, who successfully revolted

Question 13

What are short term consequences of the Munich Putsch?

Answer 13

-The Nazi Party was banned, and Hitler was prevented from speaking in public until 1927
-Hitler was tried for high treason and sentenced to five months in prison

Question 14

What were the long term successes of the Munich Putsch?

Answer 14

-During his comfortable stay he wrote, Mein Kampf, a propaganda book which set out Nazi beliefs, Millions read it
-The judge was lenient with the sentence showing how they had sympathy for Hitler
-Hitler realised he would never gain power from revolutions so he re-organised the party for democratic means

Question 15

What were the Nazi party statistics in the lean years?

Answer 15

-The membership increased from 27000 in 1925, to 130000 in 1929
-May 1924- 32 Seats
-Dec 1924- 14 Seats
-May 1928- 12 Seats

Question 16

What was the new structure of the Nazi party?

Answer 16

-Hitler
-The SS
-The Leadership corps
-The SA
-Party Membership
-Hitler Youth

Question 17

Why was the propaganda used by the Nazis?

Answer 17

-Mein Kampf was written and contained his political beliefs and ambitions
-Jews are an inferior race to the German Aryans and represented a threat to the German state
-They need to destroy the parliamentary system of government and replace it with a strong dictator
-Germany’s requirement for Lebensraum to house its growing population

Question 18

What were the developing techniques used by the Nazis for propaganda?

Answer 18

-Josef Goebbels, the Berlin Gauleiters at the time was clever as he experimented with new techniques and methods to share the Nazis messages
-Posters started to show Hitler as a strong leader, speeches were arranged in public places and rallies were held to capture people’s enthusiasm

Question 19

What were the disagreements while Hitler was in jail?

Answer 19

-The northern section, led by Gregor Strasser, was keen to emphasise the socialist elements of the 25-point programme to attract support from the workers
-The southern section was more interested in nationalist and racist policies and attracting attention from the middle class and farmers

Question 20

What happened at the Bamberg conference?

Answer 20

-Occured at 14 February 1926 in Bamberg, in southern Germany
-Hitler insisted the policies which could be painted as communist would not be pursued
-The conference reaffirmed the 25-point programme, with its socialist ideas
-Established the Fuhrerprinzip, the idea that the party’s leader was in absolute control

Question 21

What happened in the Nazi’s lean years?

Answer 21

-Gustav Stresemann economic policies helped Germany a lot
-The new currency and the Dawes plan had helped to turn the Weimars economy around
-Germany became more politically stable
-Germans started to vote for more moderate parties like the republic rather than the extremist parties
-Playing on people’s fear was less likely to work
-The Nazi’s racist ideologies fell on deaf ears
-Hitler was jailed and banned from speaking meaning he prevented the party from speaking effectively
-The party was under constant pressure from the republic

Question 22

What was the impact of the Depression on Germany?

Answer 22

-American banks had to recall loans on a short notice
-The Dawes plan had made Germany stabilise its economy
-A huge amount of unemployment from 1.4-2 Million
-One in three Germans were unemployed and in 1933, it reached 6.1 Million
-Industrial production had halved

Question 23

What was the impact of unemployment?

Answer 23

-The rise in unemployment raised government expenditure on unemployment insurance and other benefits
-Germans began to lose faith in democracy and looked to extreme parties for quick and simple solutions

Question 24

What was the political failure in the Weimar after the wall street crash in 1930?

Answer 24

-The chancellor, Hermann Muller, resigned as him and the Reichstag couldn’t agree on how to tackle unemployment
-Replaced by Heinrich Burning, who also wasn’t effective
-In July 1930, Burning cut government expenditure, wages, unemployment pay which added to the decline and unemployment continued to rise, whilst making them even poorer
-Bruning could not get the Reichstag to agree, so Hindenburg had to use article 48 to get it to pass
-This undermined democracy and made the Reichstag look weak

Question 25

Why did extremism rise within the depression?

Answer 25

-Many people were affected and poverty hit Germany
-Extreme parties offered simple solutions to peoples problems

Question 26

What was the attraction to the nazi party in the Depression?

Answer 26

-The 25-point programme appealed to many people
-Other extremist groups only appealed to workers and did not keep up
-Wealthy Businessman: Were frightened communists would take away their wealth, they started donating to the Nazi’s
-The Middle-class: Normally traditional, Hitler promised a strong government
-Nationalists: Blamed the TOV and the reparations for causing the depression so lent their support to the Nazi’s
-Rural: The Nazi’s appealed to people in the countryside

Question 27

What were the effects of the Nazi’s use of propaganda?

Answer 27

-Created the Fuhrer cult- Hitler was portrayed as Germany’s saviour
-Volksgemeinschaft- The idea that the Nazi’s would create one German community and religion and social class were less relevant
-Used the Jews as a scapegoat who were inferior and a threat
-Goebbels was very effective, using aeroplanes to bring Hitler across the country, radios to broadcast speeches and organised rallies
-He targeted specific groups of people with different slogans and policies

Question 28

What was the work of the SA?

Answer 28

-The SA intimidated Nazi political opponents
-Provided opportunities for young, unemployed men to get involved
-To protect Hitler and other key members

Question 29

Why was the role of the chancellor weak?

Answer 29

-Proportional representation meant political parties found it hard to gain seat, meaning the chancellor found it difficult to control the reichstag
-In 1932, Hindenburg had to use Article 48 on almost every law

Question 30

What happened in 1932 which helped Hitler become chancellor?

Answer 30

-April- Presidential election- Hitler came second to Hindenburg
-May- Burning resigned, Hindenburg appointed Von Papen
-July- Reichstag election, the Nazis became the largest party with 230 seats, Hitler demanded chancellor, but Von Papen remained
-November- Reichstag elections called by Von Papen to try to win a majority, the Nazis lost 34 seats but remains largest
-December- Von Papen resigned, Hindenburg appointed von Schleicher an army general, Von Schleicher asked Strasser to be vice chancellor, to split up the Nazis, Hitler forced him to decline

Question 31

What happened in 1933 which allowed Hitler to become chancellor?

Answer 31

-January- Von Papen and Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor and Von Papen as vice chancellor, the believed they could control Hitler