Chapter 3: Nazism and the Rise of Hitler
• 1. Introduction: Helmuth's Story
• The chapter opens with the story of Helmuth, whose Nazi father commits suicide in 1945
fearing Allied revenge for Nazi crimes.
• Nazism was not just isolated acts but a system of ideas and practices.
• After Germany's surrender, an International Military Tribunal was set up at Nuremberg to
prosecute Nazi war criminals for Crimes against Peace, War Crimes, and Crimes Against
Humanity.
• Nazi Germany waged a genocidal war, murdering 6 million Jews, 200,000 Gypsies, 1 million
Polish civilians, 70,000 disabled Germans, and innumerable political opponents.
2. Birth of the Weimar Republic
• Germany lost WWI. The abdication of the Emperor gave an opportunity to parliamentary
parties.
• A democratic constitution with a federal structure was established at Weimar.
• The republic was unpopular because it was forced to sign the harsh and humiliating Treaty of
Versailles.
• Germany lost its overseas colonies, 13% of its territories, 75% iron, 26% coal.
• War Guilt Clause held Germany responsible for the war.
• Forced to pay huge reparations (£6 billion).
• Allied armies occupied the resource-rich Rhineland.
• Supporters of the Weimar Republic (Socialists, Catholics, Democrats) were mockingly called
the 'November criminals'.
3. The Effects of the War and Political Radicalism
• The war had a devastating psychological and financial impact. Europe turned from a
continent of creditors to debtors.
• The Spartacist League (inspired by the Bolsheviks) uprising in 1919 was crushed with the
help of the Free Corps (war veterans organisation). The Spartacists later founded
the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).
• Economic Crisis (1923): Germany printed currency recklessly to pay reparations, leading
to hyperinflation. The value of the Mark collapsed; prices soared. The US intervened with
the Dawes Plan.
4. The Years of Depression
• The Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression hit Germany the worst.
• By 1932: Industrial production fell to 40% of the 1929 level. Unemployment reached 6
million.
• The middle class, small businessmen, and peasants were filled with the fear
of proletarianisation.
• Weakness of Weimar Constitution:
• Proportional Representation: Made stable majority governments impossible, leading to rule
by weak coalitions.
• Article 48: Gave the President powers to impose emergency, suspend civil rights, and rule by
decree. This made it vulnerable to dictatorship.
5. Hitler's Rise to Power
• Hitler joined the German Workers' Party and renamed it the National Socialist German
Workers' Party (Nazi Party).
• The Nazis could not mobilise mass support until the Great Depression.
• Nazi Promises:
• Build a strong nation.
• Undo the injustice of Versailles.
• Restore dignity.
• Provide employment and a secure future.
• Nazi Propaganda and Spectacle: Used massive rallies, rituals, the Nazi salute, red banners
with the Swastika to create a sense of unity and power. Hitler was projected as a messiah.
• By 1932, the Nazis became the single largest party in the Reichstag.
• On 30 January 1933, President Hindenburg offered Hitler the Chancellorship.
6. The Destruction of Democracy
• Reichstag Fire (Feb 1933): A mysterious fire facilitated Hitler's move. The Fire
Decree suspended civic rights like freedom of speech, press, and assembly.
• Enabling Act (3 March 1933): Established dictatorship. Gave Hitler all powers to sideline
Parliament and rule by decree. All political parties and trade unions were banned except the
Nazi Party.
• Special Surveillance Forces: Gestapo (secret state police), SS (protection squads), SA (Storm
Troopers), SD (Security Service). People could be detained in concentration camps without
legal procedures.
7. Reconstruction & Foreign Policy
• Economist Hjalmar Schacht aimed at full production and employment through state-funded
work-creation programmes (e.g., superhighways, Volkswagen).
• Foreign Policy Successes:
• Pulled out of the League of Nations (1933).
• Reoccupied the Rhineland (1936).
• Integrated Austria and Germany - Anschluss (1938).
• Seized German-speaking Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia.
• Hitler chose war to accumulate resources. Invaded Poland (1 Sept 1939), starting WWII.
8. The Nazi Worldview
• Key Ideas:
• Racial Hierarchy: Blond, blue-eyed, Nordic German Aryans were at the top. Jews were at
the bottom, considered an anti-race. Others were placed in between.
• Lebensraum (Living Space): Need to acquire new territories in the east (e.g., Poland) for
settlement and resources.
• This ideology was used to justify the elimination of 'undesirables'.
9. Establishment of the Racial State & The Holocaust
• Nazis aimed to create an exclusive racial community by eliminating those deemed
'undesirable'.
• Steps to Death:
• Exclusion (1933-39): Nuremberg Laws (1935) stripped Jews of citizenship, forbade
marriage/relations with Germans. Boycott of Jewish businesses, expulsion from
services. Night of Broken Glass (1938) - pogrom against Jews.
• Ghettoisation (1940-44): Jews were forced to wear a yellow Star of David. They were
confined to marked houses and ghettos (e.g., Warsaw, Lodz), which became sites of misery.
• Annihilation (1941 onwards): 'Final Solution' - mass murder in gas chambers at purpose-
built killing centres like Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor. Jews were brought from all over
Europe in freight trains and killed.
10. Youth in Nazi Germany
• Hitler was fanatically interested in controlling the youth.
• Nazi Schooling:
• 'Undesirable' children (Jews, disabled, Gypsies) were thrown out.
• Textbooks were rewritten. Racial science was introduced.
• Children were taught to be loyal, submissive, hate Jews, and worship Hitler.
• Youth Organisations:
• Jungvolk: For children below 14 years.
• Hitler Youth: For boys above 14. They learnt to worship war and aggression.
• After training, they joined the Labour Service and then the armed forces.
11. The Nazi Cult of Motherhood
• Nazis believed men and women were radically different.
• Girls were told to become good mothers and rear pure-blooded Aryan children.
• Honour Crosses were awarded: bronze for 4 children, silver for 6, gold for 8 or more.
• Women who deviated from the code of conduct were severely punished.
12. Ordinary People and the Crimes Against Humanity
• Reactions:
• Many common Germans saw the world through Nazi eyes, reported Jews, and marked their
houses.
• Some organised active resistance.
• The large majority were passive onlookers and apathetic witnesses, too scared to protest.
This is captured in Pastor Niemoeller's famous poem ("First they came for the
communists...").
• The world came to know the full extent of the horrors of the Holocaust only after the war
ended.