The World War I Was A Parliamentary Democracy

Hans Mommsen’s book, From Weimar to Auschwitz, presented an interesting look at Hitler within the Nazi Party. The overriding themes in the chapter “Hitler’s Position in the Nazi System” were the stubbornness and charisma of Hitler and the chaos within the Nazi Party. The weak leadership of Hitler along with the inability to concentrate power to one position helped lead the Third Reich to be a very frenzied and unorganized government.

Although it is easy to say that the younger generations were easily won over closer examination revels that they might not have been so submissive. In 1936 the Hitler youth was made an a government agency which young Aryan German's were expected to join, leading us to believe that there may have been considerable numbers not attending these clubs, whether this is their parents protesting about Hitler's fascist rule or the children's personal choice is difficult to say.

According to Fredrich’s “six point syndrome”, a totalitarian state must consist of an official ideology, a single mass party, terroristic police control, monopoly control of the media and arms and central control of the economy. During the Nazi Reich between 1933-1939, under Hitler as Fuhrer (supreme leader), the Nazi regime was able to successfully achieve aspects of totalitarianism by exerting tight control of the media and police; leading to control of certain aspects of German social, political, legal, economical and cultural life. However, there are significant features of the Nazi regime that simply fail to fit Friedrich's six, all encompassing concepts of totalitarianism.

On The 30th of January 1933, President Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor. In the 18 months succeeding this, Hitler became, essentially, a dictator. This essay will look at what a dictatorship is and how it operates, how the population is brought to a point where they accept a dictatorship, and examine and analyze the vital events that took place in Germany which lead to Hitler assuming dictatorial power: the Reichstag fire, the Emergency Decree, the Enabling Act, the banning of trade unions and other political parties, the Night Of The Long Knives, the death of President Hindenburg, and the German army’s oath of loyalty to Hitler. It will

With incompetent leadership and an unhappy nation, the German people began to realize that their country was in a vulnerable situation and began to look for stable alternatives to democracy. Hitler’s

This investigation evaluates why common Germans took part in the Holocaust. In order to assess why common Germans took part in the Holocaust the investigation focuses on the participation and complacency of the German people during the Holocaust, specifically the extermination of the Jewish people, and the reasoning behind it. Different explanations for the German actions developed by a range of historians will be presented. The conventional reasons, like psychological and cultural, and the nonconventional reasons will be studied. There will be an in-depth look at the effect of Nazism and propaganda, human behavior, and anti-Semitism on the common Germans and the extent to which they led to the participation in the Holocaust. The scope will allow for analysis and conclusion to the most valid reason why common Germans took part in the Holocaust.

The Nazis succeeded to a great degree in establishing a totalitarian state in Germany in the years between 1933 and 1939.

During the time of the Nazis coming to power, some of German citizen soon questioned the Nazi empires authority. Then soon after the German citizens at the time question if they went against the Nazi Empire what would happen. “Most Germans worried primarily about their own survival and thus, as information began to leak out about the deportation of Jews and the other Nazi abuses, they kept any concerns they might had to themselves” (Hoffmann 1). Showing the oppression of the Nazi empire affecting their citizens and not only the Jews. This however started to oppress the people that did not agree with the Nazi ideology at the time. Than citizens were questioning why no one would go against the Nazi rule and try to rebel against their ideas and the

To fully answer this question one must look at the underlying philosophies behind Hitler’s leadership. What did he stand for and did his ideologies have any redeeming characteristics? Indisputably he had an ability to lead and motivate. He was revered with almost God – like fanaticisms by his people. This essay will set out to establish the basis of his leadership and within that framework, the nature of the man and his vision for the world.

A further argument within this controversy is that the regime relied on the selective nature of terror in the regime between 1933-1939. Johnson in Source 6 says that “Nazi terror lies in its selective nature”. Though it is undoubtedly true that Nazi terror had a selective nature, Johnson goes on to say that the regime “dismissed expressions of non-conformity and mild disobedience on the part of other citizens”. He is therefore implying that the Nazis viewed active opposition as a threat but didn’t see non-conformity as an act of opposition. However, this can be argued as members of the Swing Youth were punished and Himmler and Heinrich actually wanted to put the ringleaders into concentration camps. However, the Swing Youth didn’t politically oppose the Nazi regime but simply wanted to avoid the German hit tunes at the time in order to listen to jazz and

Totalitarianism alsogrew during the 20th century. A totalitarian government is one in which a single party rules over the entire state and has complete control. The people in a totalitarian society have no say in anything. This was the type of society that Hitler controlled. Everyone under Hitler was controlled by his rules and power. When Hitler rose into power, the Germans were still recovering from the aftermath of World War 1. Hitler promised the people radical changes and an end to all their sufferings and before long they came to love him. As a cause for all their sufferings, Hitler blamed the Jews and thus the Holocaust began. Hitler made many promises and told the people whatever he knew they wanted to hear. Before long, the people were brainwashed by him and started to submit to whatever Hitler told them to do. Germany quickly became a totalitarian state. The people were made to think

‘To what extent did support for the Nazi party change between the years of 1923-33?’

He urged the people, “go into your churches, kneel before God, and implore his help for our brave army.”(25) This moment hinted at a more independent minded approach to traditional authority. When coupled together, the emotions of the crowds and the ability of groups like the Fatherland Party to find a footing in the political arena, gives reason to believe that the German people were ready to make a change that served their newfound interests. Fritzche explicitly makes this point, “the patriotism that Germans displayed was of their own making and suited to new conceptions of nation and citizenship which invited rather than discouraged public participation.” (66) At the conclusion of the war, millions of people were at a loss, and the Nazis stepped in to fill a void left by their opposition who had stoked the flames of nationalism but failed to capitalize on its apparent momentum. This included a strong message that laid blame for the German surrender at the feet of those in charge. Also, previous notions of class were turned upside down or, for the Nazis, right side up, making it possible for an illiberal, fascist community to become the norm. Simply put, “Basic elements of the Nazi message spoke to the political aspirations that burghers had held for more than ten years.” (192) Germans became Nazis by their own choosing, they were not forced to

The rise and subsequent take-over of power in Germany by Hitler and the Nazi Party in the early 1930s was the culmination and continuation not of Enlightenment thought from the 18th and 19th century but the logical conclusion of unstable and cultural conditions that pre-existed in Germany. Hitler’s Nazi Party’s clear manipulation of the weak state of the Weimar Republic through its continued failure economically and socially, plus its undermining of popular support through the signing the Treaty of Versailles all lead to the creation of a Nazi dictatorship under the cult of personality of Hitler. This clear take-over of power and subsequent destruction of any

In “Village Life in Nazi Germany,” essayist Gerhard Wilke discusses the rise of Nazism in the small village of Korle, discussing how with the rapid political changes in Germany from an empire to a democratic nation also affected the power balances of small villages. Despite the efforts of the older generations to keep some sort of semblance of the old traditions, it was their children who wanted change and found themselves attracted to Nazism and formed the first local branch of the party in 1928. The reason for this, Wilke says is that they “wanted radical solutions to three “existential” and “ideological” problems: the survival of their generation as independent farmer, the preservation of their political dominance, and the suppression of their “enemies” (The Jews and the working class).” And the youth of villages came together in