In 1924 Hitler was released and the Nazi began to campaign to win seats in the next election. They used propaganda and violence against other parties. However they did badly but they won 14 seats out of 615 seats in 1924.In 1928, they won 12 seats. The Nazis won 107 seats in 1930.in 1933, they won 288 seats. Although Hitler stood for elections as president, he lost. But was made Chancellor.
CHILDREN ARE THE FUTURE
The Nazi planned a long-term rule of the Third Reich. They wanted hardworking, obedient, healthy Aryan citizens for their empire. Just like Stalin, Hitler and the Nazi wanted people to follow them willingly, to absolutely believe Nazi propaganda. They wanted children to grow up believing in Nazi ideals and loving and obeying the Fuhrer. To ensure this, the Nazi tried to control children’s lives from the moment they were born. Mothers were told to bring children up with toys reflecting their future-soldier or mother. The toy soldiers boys played with wore uniform of the Germany army, navy, air force. Girls had toy tea sets, prams and dolls. Colouring books had pictures of Hitler playing with little children and rhymes that stressed how children should love the Fuhrer.
HOW DID NAZIS USE PROPAGANDA TO CONTROL PEOPLE?
The Nazis made careful use of propaganda in their rise to power. They kept things simple, repeating slogans such as ‘Work and Bread’. They used words like ‘we’ and ‘our’ to suggest they and German people were on the same side. As soon as they came to power, the Nazis set up a Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda, run by Joseph Goebbels. Nazis spread propaganda through mass rallies, censoring books, plays and all other media, radio, posters, newspapers, through Nazi organizations for adults and children and in schools and in workplace.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Adolf Hitler's rise to power
Hitler's rise to power began in Germany (at least formally)in September 1919 when Hitler joined the political party that was known as the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (abbreviated as DAP, and later commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). This political party was formed and developed during the post-World War I era. It was anti-Marxist and was opposed to the democratic post-war government of the Weimar Republic and the Treaty of Versailles; and it advocated extreme nationalism and Pan-Germanism as well as virulent anti-Semitism. Hitler's "rise" can be considered to have ended in March 1933, after the Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act of 1933 in that month; President Paul von Hindenburg had already appointed Hitler as Chancellor on January 30, 1933 after a series of parliamentary elections and associated backstairs intrigues. The Enabling Act—when used ruthlessly and with authority—virtually assured that Hitler could thereafter constitutionally exercise dictatorial power without legal objection.
Hitler rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Being one of the best speakers of the party, he told the other members of the party to either make him leader of the party, or, he would never return. He was aided in part by his willingness to use violence in advancing his political objectives and to recruit party members who were willing to do the same. The Beer Hall putsch in 1923 and the later release of his book Mein Kampf (usually translated as My Struggle) introduced Hitler to a wider audience. In the mid-1920s, the party engaged in electoral battles in which Hitler participated as a speaker and organizer,as well as in street battles and violence between the Rotfrontkämpferbund and the Nazi's Sturmabteilung (SA). Through the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Nazis gathered enough electoral support to become the largest political party in the Reichstag, and Hitler's blend of political acuity, deceptiveness and cunning converted the party's non-majority but plurality status into effective governing power in the ailing Weimar Republic of 1933.
Once in power, the Nazis created a mythology surrounding the rise to power, and they described the period that roughly corresponds to the scope of this article as either the Kampfzeit (the time of struggle) or the Kampfjahre (years of struggle).
Hitler rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Being one of the best speakers of the party, he told the other members of the party to either make him leader of the party, or, he would never return. He was aided in part by his willingness to use violence in advancing his political objectives and to recruit party members who were willing to do the same. The Beer Hall putsch in 1923 and the later release of his book Mein Kampf (usually translated as My Struggle) introduced Hitler to a wider audience. In the mid-1920s, the party engaged in electoral battles in which Hitler participated as a speaker and organizer,as well as in street battles and violence between the Rotfrontkämpferbund and the Nazi's Sturmabteilung (SA). Through the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Nazis gathered enough electoral support to become the largest political party in the Reichstag, and Hitler's blend of political acuity, deceptiveness and cunning converted the party's non-majority but plurality status into effective governing power in the ailing Weimar Republic of 1933.
Once in power, the Nazis created a mythology surrounding the rise to power, and they described the period that roughly corresponds to the scope of this article as either the Kampfzeit (the time of struggle) or the Kampfjahre (years of struggle).
Hitler organizing the Party
Hitler set about organizing his new political party. In 1920 it was renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party -- the "Nazi" party for short. In 1928 the party won eight hundred thousand votes. Even then it was more than just a political group. Hitler had already begun turning it into a kind of military force. He trained "storm troopers" to act as militia at his command. And many leaders who remembered past German military might began to support the Nazi party and its troops.
With former army leaders on his side, Hitler felt the time had come for direct action. On November 8, 1923, he and his storm troopers surrounded a group of government officials in a beer hall in Munich. Hitler told them that he wanted to turn the government over to the military. He forced them to swear loyalty to his "revolution." To gain their release, the officials agreed. But when they were freed, they had Hitler arrested. He was tried, given a sentence of five years, and sent to prison. His "beer hall Putsch" had failed, but news of it spread and Hitler's name was heard far and wide for the first time.
Hitler’s Ideas
Hitler served only nine months of his prison term; then he was set free by the authorities, many of whom were sympathetic to his cause. While he was in prison, Hitler organized his ideas into a book. He dictated the book to his prison mate, Rudolf Hess. This was the book called Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"), destined to become the Nazi bible.
Like most extremists Hitler was filled with prejudices. And the greatest prejudice of all he saved for the Jewish people. From the beginning of his book to the end, Hitler spoke of the Jewish people as the cause of the troubles and ills that Germany was suffering:
If we pass all the causes of the German collapse in review, the ultimate and most decisive remains the failure to recognize the racial problem and especially the Jewish menace. [Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf]
Hitler believed that the Jews were natural enemies of the "superior" Aryan race (to which the Germans belonged). It was, he felt, unnatural for Jews and Aryans to intermarry and have children:
Any crossing of two beings not at exactly the same level produces a medium. ... Such mating is contrary to the will of Nature... [Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf]
Hitler argued that the Jews were dangerous because, in his view, they controlled the German nation. He said that they controlled not only money and land, but the press as well. And the Jews, he maintained, were using the press to tell people what to think:
With all his perseverance and dexterity [the Jew] seizes possession of [the press]. With it he slowly begins to grip and ensnare, to guide and to push all public life, since he is in a position to create and direct that power which, under the name of "public opinion," is better known today than a few decades ago. [Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf]
But for Hitler the greatest danger was what he called the danger of the "blood." He was afraid that Jewish blood would poison the pure blood of the Aryan Germans:
[The Jew] poisons the blood of others, but preserves his own. The Jew almost never marries a Christian woman; it is the Christian who marries a Jewess. The [children] however, take after the Jewish side. ... In order to mask his activity and lull his victims ... [the Jew] talks more and more of the equality of all men without regard to race and color. The fools begin to believe him. [Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf]
And what did Hitler conceive of as the goal of the Jews? What did the Jews wish to accomplish?
[The Jew's] ultimate goal in this stage is the victory of “democracy,” or, as he understands it: the rule of parliamentarianism. [Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf]
Hitler's Power Grows
Freed from prison, Hitler turned back to the work of building and expanding his party and its troopers. In the elections, of 1930 the Nazi party won six and a half million votes. They had become the second largest political party in Germany, and where before they had held only twelve seats in the Reichstag (Germany's parliament), now they held more than a hundred.
With former army leaders on his side, Hitler felt the time had come for direct action. On November 8, 1923, he and his storm troopers surrounded a group of government officials in a beer hall in Munich. Hitler told them that he wanted to turn the government over to the military. He forced them to swear loyalty to his "revolution." To gain their release, the officials agreed. But when they were freed, they had Hitler arrested. He was tried, given a sentence of five years, and sent to prison. His "beer hall Putsch" had failed, but news of it spread and Hitler's name was heard far and wide for the first time.
Hitler’s Ideas
Hitler served only nine months of his prison term; then he was set free by the authorities, many of whom were sympathetic to his cause. While he was in prison, Hitler organized his ideas into a book. He dictated the book to his prison mate, Rudolf Hess. This was the book called Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"), destined to become the Nazi bible.
Like most extremists Hitler was filled with prejudices. And the greatest prejudice of all he saved for the Jewish people. From the beginning of his book to the end, Hitler spoke of the Jewish people as the cause of the troubles and ills that Germany was suffering:
If we pass all the causes of the German collapse in review, the ultimate and most decisive remains the failure to recognize the racial problem and especially the Jewish menace. [Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf]
Hitler believed that the Jews were natural enemies of the "superior" Aryan race (to which the Germans belonged). It was, he felt, unnatural for Jews and Aryans to intermarry and have children:
Any crossing of two beings not at exactly the same level produces a medium. ... Such mating is contrary to the will of Nature... [Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf]
Hitler argued that the Jews were dangerous because, in his view, they controlled the German nation. He said that they controlled not only money and land, but the press as well. And the Jews, he maintained, were using the press to tell people what to think:
With all his perseverance and dexterity [the Jew] seizes possession of [the press]. With it he slowly begins to grip and ensnare, to guide and to push all public life, since he is in a position to create and direct that power which, under the name of "public opinion," is better known today than a few decades ago. [Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf]
But for Hitler the greatest danger was what he called the danger of the "blood." He was afraid that Jewish blood would poison the pure blood of the Aryan Germans:
[The Jew] poisons the blood of others, but preserves his own. The Jew almost never marries a Christian woman; it is the Christian who marries a Jewess. The [children] however, take after the Jewish side. ... In order to mask his activity and lull his victims ... [the Jew] talks more and more of the equality of all men without regard to race and color. The fools begin to believe him. [Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf]
And what did Hitler conceive of as the goal of the Jews? What did the Jews wish to accomplish?
[The Jew's] ultimate goal in this stage is the victory of “democracy,” or, as he understands it: the rule of parliamentarianism. [Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf]
Hitler's Power Grows
Freed from prison, Hitler turned back to the work of building and expanding his party and its troopers. In the elections, of 1930 the Nazi party won six and a half million votes. They had become the second largest political party in Germany, and where before they had held only twelve seats in the Reichstag (Germany's parliament), now they held more than a hundred.
Hitler's Rise to Power
Once released from prison, Hitler decided to seize power constitutionally rather than by force of arms. Using demagogic oratory, Hitler spoke to scores of mass audiences, calling for the German people to resist the yoke of Jews and Communists, and to create a new empire which would rule the world for 1,000 years.
In 1924, Hitler promptly reestablished the NSDAP in Munich. The party was organized according to the Führer principle: it was headed by the Führer, his deputy, and the national leadership with the Reichsleiter heading nation wide departments of the party. The regional political organization descended from the provincial level (Gau), to the county (Kreis), local district (Ortsgruppe), and cell (Zell) to the local bloc (Block). Party organizations, in part para-military, such as the SA (Brownshirt storm troopers), SS (Blackshirt storm troopers), HJ (Hitler Youth), and the BdM (League of German Girls), which were also organized according to the Führer principle, were closely linked to the party, as were the affiliated associations (DAF (German Workers' Front), NSV (National Socialist People's Welfare), and the professional organizations of physicians, teachers, lawyers, civil servants, etc.).
The Nazis gradually devised an electoral strategy to win northern farmers and white collar voters in small towns, which produced a landslide electoral victory in September 1930 (jump from roughly 3% to 18% of the votes cast) due to the depression. Refused a chance to form a cabinet, and unwilling to share in a coalition regime, the Nazis joined the Communists in violence and disorder between 1931 and 1933. In 1932, Hitler ran for President and won 30% of the vote, forcing the eventual victor, Paul von Hindenburg, into a runoff election. After a bigger landslide in July 1932 (44%), their vote declined and their movement weakened (Hitler lost the presidential election to WWI veteran Paul von Hindenburg in April; elections of November 1932 roughly 42%), so Hitler decided to enter a coalition government as chancellor in January 1933.
Upon the death of Hindenburg in August 1934, Hitler was the consensus successor. With an improving economy, Hitler claimed credit and consolidated his position as a dictator, having succeeded in eliminating challenges from other political parties and government institutions. The German industrial machine was built up in preparation for war. In November 1937, he was comfortable enough to call his top military aides together at the "Führer Conference," when he outlined his plans for a war of aggression in Europe. Those who objected to the plan were dismissed.
In 1924, Hitler promptly reestablished the NSDAP in Munich. The party was organized according to the Führer principle: it was headed by the Führer, his deputy, and the national leadership with the Reichsleiter heading nation wide departments of the party. The regional political organization descended from the provincial level (Gau), to the county (Kreis), local district (Ortsgruppe), and cell (Zell) to the local bloc (Block). Party organizations, in part para-military, such as the SA (Brownshirt storm troopers), SS (Blackshirt storm troopers), HJ (Hitler Youth), and the BdM (League of German Girls), which were also organized according to the Führer principle, were closely linked to the party, as were the affiliated associations (DAF (German Workers' Front), NSV (National Socialist People's Welfare), and the professional organizations of physicians, teachers, lawyers, civil servants, etc.).
The Nazis gradually devised an electoral strategy to win northern farmers and white collar voters in small towns, which produced a landslide electoral victory in September 1930 (jump from roughly 3% to 18% of the votes cast) due to the depression. Refused a chance to form a cabinet, and unwilling to share in a coalition regime, the Nazis joined the Communists in violence and disorder between 1931 and 1933. In 1932, Hitler ran for President and won 30% of the vote, forcing the eventual victor, Paul von Hindenburg, into a runoff election. After a bigger landslide in July 1932 (44%), their vote declined and their movement weakened (Hitler lost the presidential election to WWI veteran Paul von Hindenburg in April; elections of November 1932 roughly 42%), so Hitler decided to enter a coalition government as chancellor in January 1933.
Upon the death of Hindenburg in August 1934, Hitler was the consensus successor. With an improving economy, Hitler claimed credit and consolidated his position as a dictator, having succeeded in eliminating challenges from other political parties and government institutions. The German industrial machine was built up in preparation for war. In November 1937, he was comfortable enough to call his top military aides together at the "Führer Conference," when he outlined his plans for a war of aggression in Europe. Those who objected to the plan were dismissed.
How did Hitler come to power?
By 1923 Hitler was the leader of the Nazi Party. With inflation running high, Hitler thought the time was ripe for his party to seize control in Germany. With a group of ex-soldiers, including a war time air ace Hermann Goring, and Field Marshall Ludendorff, the Nazis plotted to seize control of Munich, the capital of Bavaria, and then stage a march on Berlin.
It was a disaster. The plotters had not planned things carefully enough and Hitler lost his nerve. He spent most of the crisis making speeches to his own supporters in a beer hall. When Ludendorff finally persuaded him to lead a march through the streets, the police fired on the marchers and Hitler and the Nazis ran away. Two days later Hitler was arrested.
Hitler received a five year prison sentence for the Munich Putsch, but prison was very comfortable and he was let out after serving less than a year. He spent the time writing a book about his ideas
It was a disaster. The plotters had not planned things carefully enough and Hitler lost his nerve. He spent most of the crisis making speeches to his own supporters in a beer hall. When Ludendorff finally persuaded him to lead a march through the streets, the police fired on the marchers and Hitler and the Nazis ran away. Two days later Hitler was arrested.
Hitler received a five year prison sentence for the Munich Putsch, but prison was very comfortable and he was let out after serving less than a year. He spent the time writing a book about his ideas
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Hitler and the rise of the Nazi party
As Minister of Enlightenment, Goebbels had two main tasks:
to ensure nobody in Germany could read or see anything that was hostile or damaging to the Nazi Party.
to ensure that the views of the Nazis were put across in the most persuasive manner possible.
To ensure success, Goebbels had to work with the SS and Gestapo and Albert Speer. The former hunted out those who might produce articles defamatory to the Nazis and Hitler while Speer helped Goebbels with public displays of propaganda.
To ensure that everybody thought in the correct manner, Goebbels set up the Reich Chamber of Commerce in 1933. This organisation dealt with literature, art, music, radio, film, newspapers etc. To produce anything that was in these groups, you had to be a member of the Reich Chamber. The Nazi Party decided if you had the right credentials to be a member. Any person who was not admitted was not allowed to have any work published or performed. Disobedience brought with it severe punishments. As a result of this policy, Nazi Germany introduced a system of censorship. You could only read, see and hear what the Nazis wanted you to read, see and hear. In this way, if you believed what you were told, the Nazi leaders logically assumed that opposition to their rule would be very small and practiced only by those on the very extreme who would be easy to catch.
Hitler came to power in January 1933. By May 1933, the Nazi Party felt sufficiently strong to publicly demonstrate where their beliefs were going when Goebbels organised the first of the infamous book burning episodes. Books that did not match the Nazi ideal was burnt in public - loyal Nazis ransacked libraries to remove the 'offending' books. "Where one burns books, one eventually burns people" commented the author Brecht.
The same approach was used in films. The Nazis controlled film production. Films released to the public concentrated on certain issues : the Jews; the greatness of Hitler; the way of life for a true Nazi especially children, and as World War Two approached, how badly Germans who lived in countries in Eastern Europe were treated. Leni Riefenstahl was given a free hand in producing Nazi propaganda films. A young film producer, she had impressed Hitler with her ability. It was Riefenstahl who made "Triumph of Will" - considered one of the greatest of propaganda films despite its contents.
What was seen in the cinemas was controlled. "Hitlerjunge Quex" was made in 1933. This film told the story of a boy brought up in a communist family in Germany who broke away from this background, joined the Hitler Youth and was murdered by the Communists in Germany for doing so. "The Eternal Jew" was a film that vilified the Jews - comparing the Jews in Europe to a hoard of rats, spreading disease etc. "Tarzan" films were banned because the Nazis frowned on so little clothing being worn especially by women. One film that celebrated the might of the German Navy was not screened as it showed a drunken German sailor. However, the cinemas were not full of serious films with a political message. Goebbels ordered that many comedies should be made to give Germany a 'lighter' look.
The ensure that everybody could hear Hitler speak, Goebbels organised the sale of cheap radios. these were called the "People's Receiver" and they cost only 76 marks. A smaller version cost just 35 marks. Goebbels believed that if Hitler was to give speeches, the people should be able to hear him. Loud speakers were put up in streets so that people could not avoid any speeches by the Fuhrer. Cafes and other such properties were ordered to play in public speeches by Hitler.
Goebbels and his skill at masterminding propaganda is best remembered for his night time displays at Nuremberg. Here, he and Speer, organised rallies that were designed to show to the world the might of the Nazi nation. In August of each year, huge rallies were held at Nuremberg. Arenas to hold 400,000 people were built. In the famous night time displays, 150 search lights surrounded the main arena and were lit up vertically into the night sky. Their light could be seen over 100 kilometres away in what a British politician, Sir Neville Henderson, called a "cathedral of light".
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/propaganda_in_nazi_germany.htm
to ensure nobody in Germany could read or see anything that was hostile or damaging to the Nazi Party.
to ensure that the views of the Nazis were put across in the most persuasive manner possible.
To ensure success, Goebbels had to work with the SS and Gestapo and Albert Speer. The former hunted out those who might produce articles defamatory to the Nazis and Hitler while Speer helped Goebbels with public displays of propaganda.
To ensure that everybody thought in the correct manner, Goebbels set up the Reich Chamber of Commerce in 1933. This organisation dealt with literature, art, music, radio, film, newspapers etc. To produce anything that was in these groups, you had to be a member of the Reich Chamber. The Nazi Party decided if you had the right credentials to be a member. Any person who was not admitted was not allowed to have any work published or performed. Disobedience brought with it severe punishments. As a result of this policy, Nazi Germany introduced a system of censorship. You could only read, see and hear what the Nazis wanted you to read, see and hear. In this way, if you believed what you were told, the Nazi leaders logically assumed that opposition to their rule would be very small and practiced only by those on the very extreme who would be easy to catch.
Hitler came to power in January 1933. By May 1933, the Nazi Party felt sufficiently strong to publicly demonstrate where their beliefs were going when Goebbels organised the first of the infamous book burning episodes. Books that did not match the Nazi ideal was burnt in public - loyal Nazis ransacked libraries to remove the 'offending' books. "Where one burns books, one eventually burns people" commented the author Brecht.
The same approach was used in films. The Nazis controlled film production. Films released to the public concentrated on certain issues : the Jews; the greatness of Hitler; the way of life for a true Nazi especially children, and as World War Two approached, how badly Germans who lived in countries in Eastern Europe were treated. Leni Riefenstahl was given a free hand in producing Nazi propaganda films. A young film producer, she had impressed Hitler with her ability. It was Riefenstahl who made "Triumph of Will" - considered one of the greatest of propaganda films despite its contents.
What was seen in the cinemas was controlled. "Hitlerjunge Quex" was made in 1933. This film told the story of a boy brought up in a communist family in Germany who broke away from this background, joined the Hitler Youth and was murdered by the Communists in Germany for doing so. "The Eternal Jew" was a film that vilified the Jews - comparing the Jews in Europe to a hoard of rats, spreading disease etc. "Tarzan" films were banned because the Nazis frowned on so little clothing being worn especially by women. One film that celebrated the might of the German Navy was not screened as it showed a drunken German sailor. However, the cinemas were not full of serious films with a political message. Goebbels ordered that many comedies should be made to give Germany a 'lighter' look.
The ensure that everybody could hear Hitler speak, Goebbels organised the sale of cheap radios. these were called the "People's Receiver" and they cost only 76 marks. A smaller version cost just 35 marks. Goebbels believed that if Hitler was to give speeches, the people should be able to hear him. Loud speakers were put up in streets so that people could not avoid any speeches by the Fuhrer. Cafes and other such properties were ordered to play in public speeches by Hitler.
Goebbels and his skill at masterminding propaganda is best remembered for his night time displays at Nuremberg. Here, he and Speer, organised rallies that were designed to show to the world the might of the Nazi nation. In August of each year, huge rallies were held at Nuremberg. Arenas to hold 400,000 people were built. In the famous night time displays, 150 search lights surrounded the main arena and were lit up vertically into the night sky. Their light could be seen over 100 kilometres away in what a British politician, Sir Neville Henderson, called a "cathedral of light".
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/propaganda_in_nazi_germany.htm
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