The Rise of Nazism

Introduction

Nazism comes from the phrase National Socialist German Workers' Party. During  the  first  and the  second world war  a lot  of  events  were  carried  out  that  left  a lot  of  impact in  today’s  history . One of the countries which was hardly hit by such  events  is  Germany .In  Germany   one  of  the  event that  happened  during this time was  the  formation  of  the  Nazism  party. This  in  particular  was  the  practice as  well as the  ideology  of the Nazi Germany  and  the Nazi party. It involved anti-Semitism as well as biological racism. This  party  or rather  ideology  did  present itself by use  of  strategies, policicies and philosophies  meaning that  it was  ultra-right from  politics.

It  is  worth  noting  that  this  party  as  well as  its  ideology believed  in  the  mightiness of  one  race  as well as  believing  that  Germany  was  meant  for Aryan nation. It  was  also  asserted  by  those  who  were  associated  with the  Nazism  that  the  race  which  posed  greatest  risk  as  far  a  Germany’s  Aryan race  was  concerned  were  the  Jews. They  argued  that Jews  were  overdependence  race   who  attached  themselves  to  the movements  and  ideologies  so  as  to  secure  their  preservation  or  to  avoid  being  eliminated .

It  is  worth  noting also that,  the worst economic hard times popularly known  as the Great Depression was a period  which  started  prior to the second world war  and  extended  to  1940s. It  is  considered  as  the event  which  had  a lot  of  impact to  the  entire  world  economy. It  is  therefore  used  as  a  lesson  in  the  21 century  to  show  how ,  in  case  measures  are  not  taken,  economy  of  the  world can turn down. It  was  in  attempt  of saving  Germany  from  the  impacts of the  worlds economics hard time, that Germany  saw it necessary to  have  an  economy  which  was  managed  as  well  as  being  neither  communist  nor  capitalist. The   capitalist  and  the   communist  were  accused  by  Nazis that  they  were  involved  with the Jews  interests  as  well as their  influences. The support for nationalist  which  is  a kind  of  socialism  was  declared  mainly  to  provide  German economic  security, considerable wages,  taking  care  of  the  welfare  of  the  workers  as well as protection of  exploitation from  capitalist(Turner, p. 77).

One of the  greatest  crimes done  against humanity  was  done by  the  Nazis  party .It  was  the worst  crime  recorded  in  history  and  involved   millions  of  Jews  being  killed  as  well as  other   people  who  were  not  affiliate  to  the  Aryans also losing their lives. What facilitated this action was a consolidation of the following aspects.

• Passive consent  or  active cooperation  of  a  major  portion  of the population  of the Germany .
• The fact that the Nazis had control over the machinery’s state.
• Anti-Semitism  which was deeply  rooted  and  also  being  common  to  all  the  European countries affiliated to Christianity.

It is important to note that this tragic event took place after the expanded economic as well as political crisis of the early 1920s.

Germany became a democracy after the defeat of the World War I. The new  government  that was  formed  by the  liberal  parties  as  well  as  the  social  democrats .A lot  of  inflation as a result of the war  followed  and  this  had  an  enormous  impact  on  the  economy  of  Germany. Also  the  inflation  was  characterized  by  the  high  number  of  unemployed  people  at  that  time  as well as people fearing  that  the  19^th  century  poverty  would  hit  the  country  again. At  all this  time, the  Jews  were  being  blamed  as  the  root  cause  of all  these  problems.

During this  period Hitler  was  the  chief  leader   of  the  Nazi party  and  it was  gaining  popularity since it was getting  more  votes  than  the  other  parties  during the elections. This  popularity  was as a result of  the  promises  which were  being  given  to  the citizens and such  promises  included  the  restoration  of  job  opportunities, restoration  of  honor  to the  Germans  as well as restoration of  order  in  the  political arena. When  the Hitler’s  party  came  to  rule,  democracy  as  well as  all  the  human  rights  were suspended  and  thereafter  Germany  was  ruled  by  use  of  dictatorship.

Discussion

Hitler, being a leader in Germany, he is believed to have joined the German Worker’s Party at an early age of 30 years. This was in 1919 and he was determined to do anything possible to ensure its success.

It is important for the writer to mention that the Worker’s party ad a total of seven members at the time who formed its committee. Hitler at the moment was one of them. Hitler had to come  up with a brilliant idea which would see the members of  his party increasing so as to form a larger party  and  eventually  form a  government  which  would  be  endorsed  by the  people. To do this he had  to come  up  with  means  of  ensuring  that  his  party  was  popular  and  in  this  regard  enjoy  the  largest  portion of  the votes  during  elections(Redles, p. 12). To achieve his objectives,  he saw  it  necessary to ask  the  seven  members committee, including  him to   look  for  more  people  to  join the  party. This  was  to  be  realized  by  ensuring  that  each  member  had  to  convince  their  friends  to  join the  party. This saw only afew of more friends attending the public rallies that followed. They also tried to print invitation cards  but all this effort was in vain.

An  advertisement  was  also  planned  to be placed  in  a  newspaper  and Hitler had to assist in  achieving  this.  Also, with  his  assistance  a public  meeting  which  was attended  by  a  significantly  high  number  of  people  was  conducted .The  committee  members  were  worried  that  there  would  be  no  enough  people  to  fill  the  place  but  as  a result it  was  attended  by  more  audience than  expected. This  meeting  was  held  on  16^th October,  1919.During the   meeting,  it  was  scheduled  that  Hitler  would  be  the second  speaker. This  was  his first  time  to  appear  in  such  meeting  and also  the  audience were in doubt that he was in a position to hold such high profile  positions. To  their  surprise ,  Hitler  was  in a position  to address  them  and  astound  them  with  high  emotions  and  at  time he was being hysterical  when making speech. This emerged to be an important move as far as his political career was concerned.

He was even quoted commenting on the manner in which he was pleased and satisfied to have addressed such a crowd for the very first time during his political career. The  people  who  attended  the  public  meeting  were  generous  enough  to  donate  some money  which  in  return  would be  used  to  advance  the  popularity  of  Hitler’s  party. The  money  got  in  use  and  this  time  round ,  the  leaders, Hitler  included  saw  it  necessary  to  use it  to  buy  more  printing  leaflets  for  advertising. Since  Hitler identified himself as worth  and   also  proved  to  be  charismatic  during the  public  meeting,  he was made by the party of the German Workers’ to  be  the  main figure  during the  meeting. It  is  during  his  meeting  that he started paling against the  Versailles Treaty  as well as delivering  lecture which  were  considered  to  be  against Semitic. Jews  started  to  be  blamed as  the  ones causing  problems  in  Germany .This  eventually  resulted  to  more  people  attending  the  public  meetings  as  well as more  and  more  people  joining  the  party.

In 1920, Hitler moved an extra mile by taking the control of the party. He also decided to make   young people to join the party. Those  people  were  from  the  army which  he was  previously  serving  before  joining  the  party. A colleague by the name Captain Ernst assisted him to recruit the young men to the party. Captain Ernst also played a very crucial part in the rise of Hitler to power.

In  Munich,  there  were  many estranged troops as well as ex-troops  who  were  craving  for  exploration as well as  a aversion for  calm  which  was  brought  about  by  the  Versailles  Treaty and  the  consequential democratic  republic. All  of  them  ended  up  joining  the  party  of  German  workers  in  large  numbers  making  the  party  more  popular  as  well  as  powerful. This  was  also  regarded  or rather  considered  as  a  very  crucial  part  towards  popularizing  the  German’s  Workers  Party. Again, this put Hitler  in  a  better  position as it was now becoming much easier for him to rise to power.

At this juncture, there were other several groups affiliated to other political parties which were interested in having more members in their political groups. Marxists in this case were more successful and as a result, a lot of anxiety started to grow among the German people fearing that the  situation  might  turn  to  be  worse  like  in  Russia-Emerging  of  Communist  rebellion  in Germany. Hitler resolved to detest it by associating Jews with Marxism (Goodrick-Clarke, p. 42). Hitler  was  also  aware  of  the  manner  in  which  a  political  group  which  does  not  support  possible  Communist  rebellion  may possibly  take part on the Germans people anxiety of  and  ultimately  gain  support.

It  was  in  February 1920  when  Hitler became delighted  due  to  the  fact that  he  conducted  a  public meeting  which  was  attended  by  many  people than  expected  as  well as  a high  number  of  Communists. This, according to  Hitler  was  translated  to  be  a  success  towards  achievements  of  his  stipulated  goals  and  now  he  had  no  doubt  that  he  was  almost  to  achieve  what  he  was  after; power.

The  shouting  between  the  German  Worker’s  and  the  Communists  is  what  preceded  the  speech  of Hitler  during  that  meeting. During  his  speech,  he  delineated what  the  German Worker’s party  was  after  and  these  are  commonly  known as  the  25 points  of  the  Germans  Workers  Party. He also stated the platform of the political party and  included reforms  in  education,  rejecting  of the  Versailles Treaty, Union  of  all  the German Reich, claim for  more  additional  territories,  rejecting  Jews  citizenship  or  rather  Jews were  not  considered   to  be  Germans ,rejection  of  religions which were  considered  to endanger German race and  lastly  to  establish  a strong government which  would  over see  implementation of  the  required legislation. The crowd was also asked to approve all the twenty five points and as they did, Hitler counted the meeting as a major achievement in his political career.

He  also saw  it  necessary  to  identify  a  symbol  which  would  be  associated  with  his  movement  and  what  he  chose  was  the  infamous  swastika(Allen, p. 58). This  symbol  was  not  invented  by  Hitler  but  used  to  exist  even  when  he  attended Benedictine  school. The  name  given  to  it  was  mainly  because  the monetary  was  beautified  using the  swastikas. This was an important symbol since  upon  being placed in the  white  circle  bearing  a  red  background, it  eventually  made  the  party  more popular than  it was  before. According to Hitler, the red in the symbol was a representation of social idea while national idea was represented by the white color. Hitler identified the mission of the party as a struggle for victory as well as success in creative work. The  idea  of  creative  work  was  considered  to  be  anti-Semitic ever and  always.  

After  meeting  some  of  his  achievements  and  eventually  realizing  that  he was  on his  way  to  power,  he  decided  to  change   the name  of  his party  from  German  Workers’ Party  to  National  Socialists  German  Workers’ Party. The  short  form  of  the  name  of  this  party  is  Nazi. The party that was now strong was composed of people who were against Christianity, racist as well as being anti-Christian. As seen  in  the  discussion  above,  the  leaders  of  the  Nazi  party  were  very  aware  that if  they  used  people to  gain  popularity,  they would  definitely   rise  to  power  and  eventually  achieve their  egos.

During  the  upshot of  the  Great  depression  in  the  year  1929, the Nazi  party had a very  good  chance  of  snatching power in Germany  and  eventually started  to carry  out  genocide. This is because  they  had  the right people  in  the  office and  this  facilitated  their  rise to  power. It  is worth noting  that although  Hitler was so much involved  with helping  Germans  rise  to power,  he was  not a German  himself. Hitler was an Australian. This was very ironical considering all the efforts that he put as well as sacrifice so as to see his party becoming the German government.

In 1933, Hitler’s party rose to power in January (Read, p. 142). Hitler now had all the power of Germany. He  had  now  to  organize  how to head  Germany  while  in  the  position where  he  worked  over  the line  of his life. This  is  when  the  Nazi-led German started  to  experience  Hitler’s  government  which  was dominated  by  his dictatorship. The massacre of Jews eventually started upon Hitler assuming the office. It  is  during  this period when  Hitler was  in  office  that the  Jewish community were denied all their  rights and  also executed by Hitler’s  government. This period spanned for more than 12 years and during this time Jews’ properties were destroyed, many were killed and others lost their citizenship. Among the other  things  which  they  were  denied included  using  of  public  telephones,  using  transport  systems  as  well as being denied  the  right to  use public  infrastructure including  public  amenities such as schools  and  hospitals. This  means  they  were  not  being  treated  as Germans,  they  were being  looked at by  Germans as inferior human beings.

Conclusion

The rise of Nazism was  mainly  facilitated by the  efforts  of  Hitler who  was  determined  to do  everything  he  could  to ensure that he  was in power. He played politics by promising people things which he could not deliver once in power. The workers were convinced to join and support his party upon hearing that Hitler’s party would ensure economic recovery and increase job opportunities. Although these were the positive promises, there were also negative promises such as those in favor of Germans and at the same time against Jews. Once in power, he became a dictator and facilitated exploitation of Jews. All these things were done using Nazi party.