Adolf Hitler’s rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei. He rose to a place of prominence quickly in the early years of the party.
Adolf Hitler soon became chancellor of Germany in January 1933, but the Nazis still did not have a majority of the votes in the Reichstag. Regardless, Hitler began practicing and aiming to remain his titles over the citizens and creating a totalitarian state through various means and by 1934 he had created a dictatorship with him as its fuhrer.
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Propaganda persuasion.
Propaganda persuasion had a huge impact on how the Nazi part stayed in power. Joseph Goebbles was the minister of propaganda and has effectively organised and controlled the spread of the Nazi message through newspapers, cinemas, radios and posters.
This was important in keeping the Nazis in power because he was able to manage the nazi message and ensure Germans only heard and saw the positive messages, helping Hitler keep control. However this was less important as there could never be a complete ban on information from other countries and sources, and negative information about the nazis still got in.
The Nazis provided cheap radios for German families which could only be turned into Nazi approved channels.This was important in keeping the nazis in power as this was important because it brought the nazi message directly into millions of homes and controlled what Germans listened to.
Huge Nazi rallies took place at Nuremberg every year, and almost 1 million attended in 1934. This was important in keeping the Nazis in power because it made them look like they had huge support, little opposition and made them look more appealing.
Scaring people into supporting
Scaring people into support was another important reason why the Nazis stayed in power. The SS were Hitlers private bodyguards who became the state security service who used extreme brutality and immigration against opponents of the Nazis.
This was important in keeping the Nazis in power as their use of violence scared people speaking out about the Nazis as they feared harsh consequences for them and their family. However this was less important as opposition groups such as communists and socialists continued to meet secretly which showed not everyone was scared by Hitlers fear and his bodyguards.
The Nazis set up the Gestapo who were known as the secret police, they didn’t wear uniform and had a reputation for using torture to get confessions from their suspects. This was important in keeping the Nazis in power as they created an atmosphere and distrust among the German people and made opposition to the Nazis more difficult as they didn’t know who was listening or who they could really trust.
However this was less important as realistically the Gestapo were a fairly small organisation and less of a threat than people believed as they were too underfunded, under-resourced and too over stretched to do their job effectively by 1939.
Elimination other parties
Elimination of other parties was a very important reason why the Nazis stayed in power. On the 27th of February, the Reichstag building was burned down and a Dutch communist was blamed for it. Hitler used this as an opportunity to ban the communist leaders and suspend the constitution, taking away freedoms of speech, press and privacy.
This was important in keeping the Nazis in power as the Nazis presented this as an attack on Germany and persuaded Germans that Hitler was the only one that could protect them, so they didn’t question these harsh measures.
However this was less important because the Nazis hoped the Reichstag fire would give them a majority vote in the March election but they only received 44% which showed many Germans were still uneasy about the Nazis and their policies and they had to rely on other political parties to give them total control to pass laws without consulting the Reichstag for 4 years.
This was important in keeping the Nazis in power as Hitler was now able to make any laws he wanted without any opposition from those in government, giving him freedom to turn Germany into a totalitarian state with him as dictator. President Hindenburg died in August 1934 and Hitler announced himself as president, chancellor and he made the army swear an oath of loyalty to him and declared himself ‘fuhrer’ and took on complete dictatorial powers.
This was important in keeping the Nazis in power as Hitler now had full control of Germany and could remove all opposition towards the Nazis.
Society aspects and brainwash.
Society aspects were a partly important reason as they basically trained children into being the ‘perfect Nazi’. The Hitler youth groups were used to control and brainwash the young. Young boys were trained for their futures as soldiers learning military skills, survival techniques and physical fitness.
Young girls were prepared for their lives as wives and mothers learning the importance of housekeeping, health and how to raise children.
This was important in keeping the Nazis in power as it allowed the Nazis to gain the loyalty and obedience of children thus reducing the chances of them opposing and also prepared them for the future roles in society.
The Nazis also controlled the education system and made changes to school subjects e.g. teaching the superiority of the German race through history and biology and increasing the amount of PE to improve fitness.
This was important in keeping the Nazis in power because this brainwashed the next generation of Germany into believing the Nazi party and following their way of life which ensured control of the population in the future and reduced the chances of opposition.
However this was less important as many young people in Germany did resist Nazi control of their lives, such as opposition groups like the edelweiss pirates and the swing kids so therefore they did not have total control over young people.
Many inspections also happened in schools where the teachers would quiz the children to make sure these were being taught, and if teachers were opposing the Nazi party, they would instantly be fired and suffer the harsh consequences like I discussed about he Gestapo and SS.
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