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Totalitarianism: Germany’s Third Reich

Totalitarianism: Germany’s Third Reich. Section 20.104. The Rise of Adolf Hitler. Born 1889 Not an intellectual (like Mussolini before WWI) Never a socialist Father was Austrian customs officials Died when Hit was 14 Mother passed soon after Dropped out of HS at 16

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Totalitarianism: Germany’s Third Reich

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  1. Totalitarianism: Germany’s Third Reich Section 20.104

  2. The Rise of Adolf Hitler • Born 1889 • Not an intellectual (like Mussolini before WWI) • Never a socialist • Father was Austrian customs officials • Died when Hit was 14 • Mother passed soon after • Dropped out of HS at 16 • Attempted to get into Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna but rejected • A drifter, postcard painter

  3. Hitler’s Dislikes •  In Vienna he developed a hatred for: • the Habsburg court, snobby nobility, Mixed (Hybridization) nationalities, Leftist (Marxism) leanings of Austrian workers, Jews (who had risen to prominent positions in the liberal government and assimilated into German culture) • Extremely race conscious and prided himself (incorrectly) as a pure German (Aryan) • Also hated Capitalism, Socialism, Internationalism

  4. Nazi Origins • Moved to Munich in 1913, capital of Bavaria • Volunteered for German army • Served as dispatch runner to front line • Victim of gas attack and was temporarily blinded and unable to speak • Only rose to corporal but was awarded military medals • Viewed was as thrilling, noble, liberating • War gave Hit a sense of purpose, a higher cause • Peace was boring

  5. Nazi Origins Continued • Munich of 1919 was hotbed of socialist and anti socialist activity • Bavarian Soviet Republic last only 3 weeks • Secret societies and paramilitary organizations led by discontented army officers agitated • Hitler at the army behest joined the small party called the German Workers’ party and became its leader • Was urged to join as a way of combating socialist and democratic propaganda among vets and workers • Nazis (from the German way of pronouncing 1st 2 syllables of National

  6. Treaty of Versailles

  7. Weimar’s Failure to Democratize • Government born cursed • Versailles, peace, reparations, hyperinflation of 1923 • Did not inaugurate deep social changes that may of democratized German society • Communist and more dangerous monarchist and antirepublican armed bands threatened • Kapp putsch of 1920 • Murdered Walter Rathenau in 1922 • Had organized German production during eh war and was foreign minister • Democratic and Jewish • Matthias Erzberger, moderate of Catholic Center party who had “stabbed” the army in the back by signing Versailles • Brownshirts (or Stormtroopers) was one of these private armies

  8. The “Beer Hall Putsch” • French army occupied the Ruhr in 1923 to collect reparations • Germans were indignant • Hitler and the Nazis denounced Weimar for its weakness and tried to seize power • Used the “March to Rome” as their model • Beer hall putsch in Munich • Hitler gave impassioned speech on platform of a beer hall (fired gun into ceiling) • Said “national revolution has broken out” • Quickly suppressed by the police • Hitler sentenced to 5 years (only served 1)

  9. Mein Kampf • My Struggle • Stream of personal recollections, racism, nationalism, collectivism, historical interpretation, anti-Semitism, politics • Sold widely • Book + 5 week trial put Hitler in jail; gave him national prominence • Supported by General Ludendorff • Nazis lost their steam as Dawes Plan fueled economic revival • But in ’29 the Great Depression hit and the lunatic fringe put Hitler in stratosphere of Napoleon

  10. The Crisis Confronting Germany • Germany was hardest hit by GD • Foreign loans stopped or recalled • Unemployment = 6 million • Middle class (still reeling from ’23) lost faith in government and economy • Communist gained ground • Middle class looked for an alternative to Bolshevism • Hatred and blame placed on Versailles • Democracy itself (ideology that wholly satisfied none and crushed none) seemed foreign and un-German

  11. Hitler’s Propaganda • Stirred resentment against Versailles, Weimar democracy • Called for true democracy of the Volk • Lumped all Leftist together and claimed that his was the true socialism • Denounced war profiteers, big business • Denounced Jews (only 600 thousand in all Germany) & played on nation’s lowest common denominator • 1930= Won 107 seats in Reichstag • 6.5 million voted for them • 7/1932= had 230 seats (far from a majority) • Main political rival were the communists • Had 100 seats in 11/’32

  12. Hitler Named Chancellor • Conservatives (Rhineland steel magnates, industrialist, nationalists, aristocrats, Junkers, army officers) believed that they could use and control Hitler • In spite of his anti-capitalistic ranting • Franz von Papen and General Kurt von Schleicher (both had lost chancellorships) prevailed upon President Paul von Hindenburg to name Hitler chancellor of a coalition cabinet • 1/30/1933 Hitler legally became chancellor of German Republic • Hitler’s call for new elections were halted as a mysterious fire burned down the Reichstag building • Nazis blamed the Communists • Red Scare used as excuse to suspend freedom of speech, press • Brownshirts frightened population • With the backing of Nationalist the Nazis had 52 of the votes and gave Hitler dictatorial powers (national emergency)

  13. The Nazi State • Hit called new order the Third Reich • 1st was Holy Roman Empire • 2nd empire of Bismarck • Said the 3rd was outgrowth and natural historical culmination and would last 1 thousand years • Took title of Leader (Fuhrer) • Claimed to embody the sovereignty of the German people • Democracy, parliamentarianism, liberalism were labeled as Jewish and therefore un-German • Classified anyone with one Jewish grandparent as Jewish • Drove them from public office, civil service, teaching

  14. Anti-Semitism • Nuremberg laws of 1935 deprived them of citizenship and forbade intermarriage • Kristallnacht (11/9/38) “night of broken glass” • A 17 year old Polish Jewish student assassinated a German diplomat in Paris • Storm troopers smashed and looted Jewish stores, synagogues and beat up thousands • 30 thousand were sent off to concentration camps • Government issued Billion mark fine of the Jewish community for provoking the assault and collected the insurance payments for property damage • US and Europe closed their doors to those who wanted to flee Germany

  15. Coordinating German Society • Totalitarian state eliminated other parties, old states (Prussia, Bavaria) • Nazi party purged itself (6/30/34) • Old Brownshirts were accused of plotting against Hitler and were executed • Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei) was a secret political police who with the People’s Courts suppressed decent and imprisoned thousands in concentration camps • Church leaders under state control • Old Teutonic gods were resurrected & worshipped • Nazi Youth Movement & schools indoctrinated new generation • National Labor Front replaced labor unions • “leadership principle” set up employers as mini- Fuhrers • Public works projects eliminated unemployment • Strength Through Joy subsidized low incomes with paid vacations, entertainment

  16. Economic Autarky and Self-Sufficiency • Four Year Plan (1936) • Other nations in the Great Depression followed policy of economic nationalism • But Nazis sought complete independence from foreign trade • Chemist developed artificial rubber (Buna), plastics, synthetic textiles • Planned to eliminate trade barriers (tariffs) by relegating neighboring countries to dependence on Germany products or by conquering them outright • Germany was transformed into a war machine with Hitler viewed as a savior • “Today Germany, tomorrow the whole world.”

  17. Totalitarianism: Some Origins and Consequences • Term 1st used by Mussolini but his regime was not as all encompassing to merit it • 1st appeared in Bolshevik Revolution • Appearance after WWI was not a historical accident • State had been gathering power since the Middle Ages, assumed jurisdiction over law courts, armies, taxes, religion, economic activity, education, infrastructure • 20th century totalitarian state was monolithic and insinuated itself on all aspects of life

  18. Reliance on Historic Nationalism • Tot greatly exaggerated historic nationalism • Rejected individualism (liberalism) • Promoted organic theory of society • The state was a living organism and the individual was a cell • The individual had no independent existence but received life from the nation (state) • Individual “reason” or “freedom” or opinions were meaningless • Claimed that event science was different • Nazi science v Bourgeoisie science • Soviets dialectic materialism v capitalistic science • Ideas of truth, beauty, morality were determined by the people • Enlightenment concepts of natural law, reason, unalienable rights, progress of mankind were gone

  19. Propaganda • Totalitarian regimes sought to shape people’s minds • Had existed but now became total • Formerly ideas were suppressed via censorship of books, people • Tot manufactured thought • Manipulated opinion and rewrote history • Books, newspapers encouraged whole ideologies • Loudspeakers blared in streets • Billboard size posters of the Fuhrer appeared everywhere • Constant repetition fostered the belief in the most fantastic rubbish • People actually began to lose ability to use reason

  20. Racism • Defined the nation in a tribal sense (a biological entity) with people sharing a common ancestry • Anti-Semitism was present since the Middle Ages but Nazis Anti-Sem had nothing to do with religion • Jews had risen to prominent positions • Propagandist used Jews as a means of getting “racial pure” forget real problems of poverty, unemployment • Made differences b/t rich and poor seem unimportant • Blamed problems on “outside” forces and placed dictator up as indispensable unifier of all classes • Trotskyism, imperialism, international Jewry • Blamed economic disparities on other countries and made war seem like a solution for social ills

  21. The Glorification of Violence • Use and glorification of violence is most glaring difference b/t democracies and Tot • The cult of violence (struggle) emerged before WWI and was nurtured by war • Bolsheviks used war to gain power • Muss used the threat of Revolution to seize power • 1920s in most civilized nations of Europe private armies marched, bullied, and murdered with impunity • By 1930 torture would return

  22. The Cult of the Body • Ethically it was violent and neopagan • Distorted Nietzsche's philosophy which called for people to get off their laurels and live dangerously • Hitler Youth • Played on the juvenile idea that by joining a group, wearing a uniform, and exercising in the outdoors the nation would be rise • Body Cult= Physical toughness, procreation were encouraged • Euthanasia was adopted to rid the ill, aged and insane • Eugenics were used to explain apparent differences b/t the races and rationalize the extermination of lesser races

  23. The Spread of Dictatorship • 1938 only 10 of 27 European nations remained democratic • Included GB, Fran, Holland, Bel, Swit, Czech, Fin, Den, Nor, Swed • Why? • Weak democratic traditions + Poor education + power of reactionaries + Red Scare + discontented national minorities + economic depression • Generic fascism emerged in Portugal, Spain, Latin America • Strong central leader, Military supported government, One party systems, repressed individual liberties, abolishment of parliamentary institutions • Corporative state organization • Outlawing labor organization • Acceptance and glorification of violence • War was a noble thing • Love a peace a sign of decadence • Recurrent international crises paved the way to war in ‘39

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