Isabella Ortega Hernández - A01178595

Key Activity part II

Topic: Nazism

Subtopic: Nazism’s rise in popularity

Research question: How did the nazism ideology gain popularity amongst the German

population?

One of the most studied time periods is Nazism, a totalitarian movement led by Adolf

Hitler in Germany, which forcefully spread to many European countries because of

expansionist ideals. This movement had its start in 1919, reached its peak in 1939 with the

beginning of WW2, and ended with Hitler’s suicide in 1945. This ideology was characterized

by many inhumane and unethical dilemmas that have brought people to ponder, how did the

nazism ideology gain popularity amongst the German population?

While Nazism was full of personalities who gave power to this movement, it can mainly be

divided into two groups: the Nazi party, its leader and their organizations, and the Jews and

other minorities. The people who would alienate with the mass movement of Nazism

belonged to the NSDAP, commonly known as the Nazi Party. This political group was led by

Adolf Hitler, an important political figure that became Germany’s chancellor and Führer

through mass manipulation and terror. In his regime, he selected a group of people to act as

his enemy, the Jews. In fact, in his book Mein Kampf (A. Hitler, 1925) he writes “Here he

[the Jew] stops at nothing, and in his vileness he becomes so gigantic that no one need be

surprised if among our people the personification of the devil as the symbol of all evil

assumes the living shape of the Jew.” Nazism made use of an organization known as the SS
to enforce this division, it had many subgroups like the Gestapo, concentration and

extermination camps, security and foreign espionage, etc.

The main objective of the Nazi ideology was the purification of the Aryan race, and the

necessity to prove their superiority by annihilating the contrasting enemy, the Jewish

population. To further enforce this, Hitler made use of Darwinism, a theory that states

“survival of the fittest”, claiming that the supremacy of the Aryan race gave them the right to

rule whomever they considered weak. This ideology, present in Hitler’s book “My Struggle”

had no regard for human rights and created an unethical inequality between races. These

ideas as well as the mass manipulation in propaganda appealed to the German population

through their nationalistic claims, and brought many citizens to become blind subjects of the

Führer. It’s important to note that while the Nazi ideology was made by Hitler, antisemitic

ideas had been present in Germany since the Middle Ages, and this sentiment had been

previously expressed by countless European intellectuals.

Although there is no concrete event that marks Nazism’s uprising, a series of cumulative

factors can be identified as the causes for this movement and its sudden gain in popularity. In

the first place, the loss of the so-called great war, which came along with massive monetary,

territorial, and military losses on Germany’s part, as well as the war-guilt clause in the Treaty

of Versailles, had a major resentment from German citizens. The Nazi party exploited

people’s humiliation through propaganda, claiming the general feeling that the diplomats of

the Weimar Republic had conceded to the armistice too easily. Added to this, Nazis took

advantage of people’s fear of a Communist revolution; a devastating war had just taken place

and the thought of an internal conflict that imposed a radical government drove many to

support the Nazis. This propaganda was slowly incorporated into every part of German life,
and it was tailored to sympathize with every social class. For example, the military would be

approached by highlighting the importance of regaining the territory lost, while lower class

citizens would be addressed by claiming that the Jews were responsible for their

unemployment, etc. On another note, the economic depression suffered worldwide had an

especially devastating toll on Germany; inflation made the currency drop, and unemployment

rates reached historical figures, which made many voters start seeking a change of

government. All of these aspects were successfully implemented by the paramilitary groups

of the SA and later on the SS, which not only protected Nazi members but also sabotaged and

attacked other parties.

A movement so full of authoritarianism such as Nazism is bound to have immense effects, for

starters its reach to political power in 1933 in Germany came along with antisemite laws,

concentration and extermination camps, and full control of the German life, ranging from the

youth to the military, businessman, and average citizens. In 1939, we can see this movement

expand to European countries following Hitler’s expansionist ideas and successfully starting

WW2. In short, the most dominant effect was the mass genocide and violation of the human

rights of a whole race and other minorities.

However rapidly did the rise of Nazism occurred, the decay, starting in 1945, was even faster.

While the sentiments that this movement carried didn’t die overnight, without a leader to

impose power and the force of The Allies, the Nazis lost strenght and gained resentment.

Nonetheless, remnants of this anti-semitic ideology can be identified in the 40s, 90s, and even

extreme radical groups of the 21st century.

The times before and during Nazi Germany were drastically different, for starters after WW1

Germany became the Weimar Republic, a democratic party that worked under a constitution.
After Hitler rose to power, German territory became a totalitarian regime ruled under an

oppressive autocratic government. On an economic spectrum, the Weimar republic had to

deal with the decadence left after the war, added to the sanctions of the Treaty of Versailles,

and a hyperinflation that left the country in shambles. During the Nazism movement, there

was a mixed economy and a focus on stabilizing the economy. As promised, Hitler lowered

the unemployment rates and became an influential financial power through the exploitation of

their occupied regions. Socially, the Weimar republic saw a low in morale, citizens were

exhausted and disappointed from the war and weren’t too enthusiastic with their new

government, that’s not to say that social revolutions didn’t occur, like the feminist movement

that gave women the right to vote in 1918. Contrary to this, Nazi Germany saw the

opportunity to restore the nation’s power, the invasion of other countries was celebrated, and

their leader was put on a pedestal despite the horrors of the holocaust.

In conclusion, Nazism and everything that came with it was a mass coercive movement based

on antisemitic ideals that were enforced in a massive genocide. This movement gained

popularity in the German population due to propaganda, militarism, the Treaty of Versailles,

and the fear of a revolution; its study is most important to understand, and not repeat history.

References:

Hitler, A. (1925). My struggle. Https://biblioteca.tec.mx

Kiel, 1928-1933. German Studies Review, 26(1), 43–62. https://doi.org/10.2307/1432901

Editors of Encyclopaedia, Britannica, (2020, November 12). Nazism. Encyclopedia

Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Nazism

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, (n.d). The Nazi Rise To Power. Holocaust

Encylopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nazi-rise-to-power

Editors of Encyclopaedia, Britannica (2021, August 19). Treaty of Versailles. Encyclopedia

Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Versailles-1919

Anne Frank House, (2022, 14 february). Why did Hitler hate the Jews? Anne Frank Website.

https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/go-in-depth/why-did-hitler-hate-jews/

Editors of Encyclopaedia, Britannica, (2021, July 28). Weimar Republic. Encyclopedia

Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Weimar-Republic

McDougall, W. A. (2022, February 28). The German economy and the Jews. Encyclopedia

Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/20th-century-international-relations-2085155

Anne Frank House. (2020, 13 enero). Germany 1933: from democracy to dictatorship. Anne

Frank Website.

https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/go-in-depth/germany-1933-democracy-dictatorship