Nazi Germany: Origins, Power, and Legacy
Roots of National Socialism
After the First World War, the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) fueled a German desire for revenge against France. The instability and exhaustion following the treaty facilitated the rise of National Socialism to power. This was due to two primary causes that occurred in the post-war period:
Excessive Harshness of the Versailles Treaty:
Territorial losses, heavy economic reparations for the war, and the fact that leaders of the new Weimar Republic were blamed by Germans for accepting the treaty’s terms.
Economic Improvement and Subsequent Decline:
Economic improvement since 1924, especially after the Dawes Plan, declined sharply after the Great Depression of 1929. When Hitler came to power in 1933, this period saw a significant increase in unemployment, which in turn boosted membership in the National Socialist party.
The Rise of Nazism
In 1920, Hitler joined the German Workers’ Party and wrote the 25 Points of the party program, which formed the core of Nazi ideology: rejection of the Treaty of Versailles, military buildup, racism, anti-Marxism, and anti-parliamentarianism.
In 1921, Hitler, as head of the Nazi party, created the SA (Sturmabteilung or Storm Detachment) and changed its mode of action, resorting to violence to gain control.
In 1923, a failed coup attempt in Munich (the Beer Hall Putsch) led to his imprisonment. During this time, he wrote the first part of Mein Kampf (My Struggle), concluding that to win elections, he would have to operate within the democratic system.
Following the Great Depression of 1929, the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) grew stronger and gained more members, as people sought an end to the crisis and a charismatic leader who could provide it.
Establishing the Nazi State
Once appointed Chancellor, Hitler launched a policy aimed at destroying democracy through various acts:
The Reichstag fire in 1933, provoked by the Nazis but blamed on a communist militant, was used as an excuse to eliminate opposition and revoke democratic rights.
New elections were held, which the Nazis won, securing all powers and initiating the persecution of political enemies.
The Gestapo (political police), the Hitler Youth, and the SS were created to enforce social repression, as the SA had become revolutionary and difficult to control.
A new Nazi symbol, the swastika, was created.
On June 30, 1934, the Night of the Long Knives occurred. During this purge, leaders of the SA, the only group that could potentially challenge Hitler, were murdered.
Following the death of President Hindenburg in 1934, Hitler declared the establishment of the Third Reich.
Core Objectives of the Nazi Regime
From this point, Nazism pursued two main goals: autarchy (national self-sufficiency) and an expansionist policy to secure Lebensraum (living space) for the German people.
Racism and Anti-Semitism
One of Nazism’s main ideological elements was its virulent anti-Semitism and racial ideology:
These policies were based on anti-Jewish racist thinking prevalent in the nineteenth century.
As defined by Hitler in Mein Kampf, Jews were considered enemies of Germany and held responsible for the defeat in the First World War. Moreover, they were deemed an inferior race to the Aryans, and sections of the German population were to avoid ‘contamination’ by them. Jews were forced to wear a badge (the Star of David), and mixed marriages were prohibited.
The Nuremberg Laws were established in 1935, legally stripping Jews of their citizenship and excluding them from the ‘Aryan’ population.
Anti-Semitism escalated further on the Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht), November 9, 1938, during which thousands of Jewish businesses, synagogues, and homes were attacked.
The Holocaust and Nuremberg Trials
The climax of the anti-Jewish policy culminated in their systematic imprisonment and murder in death camps. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the Nazis launched the “Final Solution,” where millions of Jews were exterminated using techniques of mass murder. Germany’s defeat in the Second World War led to the conclusion of the Nuremberg Trials, which condemned key Nazi leaders as war criminals and mass murderers.