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The Rise of Hitler and The Nazism

Read more about Hitler’s rise to power, the destruction of democracy, reconstruction of economy, and the expansion of Nazi power in Europe.

Adolf Hitler and his Nazi propaganda were born right after the First World War was over. It was the frustration of Germans in the region and the economic crisis that gave a push to the rise of this mass movement.

End of the First World War and The Great Depression

Germany fought the First World War (1914-1918) alongside the Austrian empire. They were fighting against the allies England, France and Russia when Germany was defeated in November 1918. The defeat for Germany came after the allies strengthened their resources in the United States and won the war in November 1918 against Germany. After the defeat of Imperial Germany in the first World War, the German polity was formed by the parliamentary parties at Weimar. A democratic constitution was established forming the Weimar Republic. 

After the war, Europe turned into the land of debts when the Weimar Republic also paid the price. They were forced to carry the burden of war guilt and had to pay the compensation of losing the war. The political atmosphere in the region became worse as the Communist and Socialist party became enemies as both craved radical solutions. In 1923, the French had occupied Germany’s leading industrial area when they refused to pay back. Germany, on the other hand, recklessly started printing paper currency which led the region into hyperinflation, and the German currency price was phenomenally rising. 

In 1929, when Wall Street Exchange crashed, the German economy suffered the most as the country was dependent on short-term loans from the United States. The effects of this recession were felt worldwide and Germany also faced an economic hit. And thus, the year 1929 was called the year of the Great Depression. 

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The Nazism

As the economic crisis worsened after 1929, a man was silently working in the background to write another chapter for Germany in the history of the world. Adolf Hitler, born in 1889 in Austria, was enrolled in the army and earned many medals for his bravery. It was after the defeat of Germany that horrified him. It was in 1919 when he joined the German Workers Party. This party was later called the Nazi Party. The rise of Hitler began when he started preaching Nazism to Germans. 

During the Great Depression, the Rise of Hitler and Nazism became a mass movement as Germans were suffering to even break bread when all the businesses in the country shut down, and all banks collapsed. It was the Nazi propaganda that stirred hopes for the people in Germany. In 1932, Nazi Party became the largest party with 37% votes in the German parliament.

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Destruction of Democracy

Hitler, without a doubt, was an excellent powerful speaker whose passion moved the people of Germany. He convinced people to trust him to restore the dignity of the German people. It was his strong determination and passion when President Hindenburg offered him the higher position in the minister cabinet, the Chancellorship. After being the Chancellor, he was ready to dismantle the domestic rules structures. 

On 3 March 1933, he enabled the popular Enabling Act that established a dictatorship in the country. He also suspended civic rights like freedom of assembly, speech, and press by the Weimar constitution.

He introduced other armies and groups other than the regular police in a green uniform. He established groups like Storm Troopers, Gestapo, SS (protection squads), Security Service (SD), and the criminal police. These groups gave the Nazi state its reputation as the criminal state of Germany. This was just one segment in the era of the rise of Hitler and Nazism.

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Racial State under Hitler’s Leadership

Under the leadership of Hitler, these Nazi groups established concentration camps to prison all the communities that stood lower on Hitler’s racial hierarchy. 

Only the ‘pure and healthy Nordic Aryans’ were only considered ‘desirable’ during the Rise of Hitler and Nazism. Jews, gipsies and black living in Lazi Germany were known to be racial ‘inferiors’ and they were persecuted publicly by the Nazis. Nazis considered Poles and Russians as subhuman and thus, they didn’t deserve any humanity by the Nazis and Adolf Hitler.

Some of the Polish children who used to look like ‘Aryans’ were snatched by the Nazis and were examined by the race experts. When they pass the test, they will be sent to Germany to be raised as pure Germans while the others will be thrown away in the orphanages. 

Expansion of Nazi Power

When Hitler came into power, he assigned the economic recovery responsibility to Hjalmar Schacht. The country aimed to provide full employment through different programs. At that particular time, Germany came with superhighways and a popular brand of people’s car called ‘Volkswagen’. 

Other than economic recovery, he was also interested in the youth of Germany. He established children’s Nazi ideology. Under the Rise of Hitler and Nazism, all the schools were purified where Germans’ and Jews’ children were not allowed to sit or play together.

Conclusion

While many Germans did not like the Nazi ideology, they were too scared to protest against the same. An uncanny silence was established in the region where Nazis performed cruelty against Humanism while the whole world watched the ideology in silence until the Second World War was over and the nazis were punished and sentenced to death for actions against humanity. 

The cruelty against Jews was popularly known as the ‘Holocaust’ and how they suffered the cruel actions of the Nazis. The ones who survived grew their town is now known as Israel. After the war was over, Jews wanted the world to remember the suffering amid Nazi killing operations and called it ‘the Holocaust’. The entire Nazi ideology has been written and documented in the form of diaries, poetry, pages, and pictures for the whole to remember.