Hitler's Charisma
One of the many ways that Hitler used to garner the support of the
Germans was in his charisma and oratorical skills. Hitler had used his
oratorical skills and charisma to his advantage in justifying the
Germans' resent towards the Treaty of Versailles and sought to abolish
the Treaty. As explained by Jashant, Hitler had adopted an extreme form
of German Nationalism. Nazis subscribed to the belief that an Aryan
super race will dominate the Earth. Hitler's ideologies were
well-received by the German people. Hitler's adamance that the Treaty of
Versailles be nullified was well-received. He sought to reclaim
national pride by speaking of establishing a greater Germany. Hitler's
calls resonated and appealed to the Germans who were disillusioned with
life in Germany after WW1. In order to achieve his aims, he decided to
reorganise the Nazi Party to make it strong and credible. It would then
be able to capture the hearts of the Germans in elections. As a result,
the Nazi Party's membership increased significantly.
Under
Hitler's leadership, the Nazi Party became more efficient and gained
the respect of voters. Using his oratorical skills to his advantage,
Hitler was able to garner the support of the Germans as he knew exactly
what to say. This won him much support. Hitler's speeches and the way he
was portrayed convinced many Germans that he was able to bring Germany
to greatness.
This
is an example on how Hitler was charismatic and eloquent in his
speeches, which helped him to garner the support of the Germans.
From
the video, Hitler was charismatic and eloquent in his speeches. Hitler
gave the Germans exactly what they needed which the Weimar government
failed to accomplish. As a result, Germans felt that Hitler was the only
one who could bring Germany back to greatness. This helped Hitler to
garner support. He blames the Jews for all of Germany’s demise and
sought to exterminate them, which he ultimately did in his Holocaust.
Let’s look at sources to see how reliable is History in claiming Hitler’s charisma and oratorical skills.
Source A: An eye-witness describes the situation during Hitler's speech
At
one of the early congress, I was sitting surrounded by thousands of SA
men. As Hitler spoke I was most interested at the shouts and more often
the muttered exclamations of the men around me, who were mainly workmen
or lower middle-class types. 'He speaks for me ... he knows how I feel'
... One man particularly struck me as he bent forward with his head in
his hands and with a sort of convulsive sob said: 'He understands'
What can you learn from Source A about Hitler? Explain your answer
I
can learn from Source A that Hitler was popular amongst the people.
This can be shown in the source as there were 'shouts and ...
exclamations' as Hitler spoke. This shows that the German supported
Hitler. I can also learn that Hitler was able to capture the hearts of
the Germans by touching on topics and needs that were close to them,
thus gaining more support. This shows that Hitler was smart by targeting
at the workmen and lower middle-class people who were affected by the
Great Depression and the Terms of the Treaty. Hence, these are the
people who would be easily manipulated by Hitler's 'promises'. Based on
my contextual knowledge, in the 1930 elections, the Nazis got 107 seats
and in 1932, they got nearly 200 seats, which correlated with the
unemployment level.
Source B: Excerpt from a historian William Shirer on the Nazi rally, 1930
I'm
beginning to comprehend, I think, some of the reasons for Hitler's
astounding success ... he is restoring pageantry and colour and
mysticism to drab lives of 20th Century Germans ... The hall was a sea
of brightly-coloured flags. Even Hitler's arrival was made dramatic. The
band stopped playing. There was hush over 30,000 people packed in the
hall. A very catchy tune was used when Hitler made his big entry,
followed by his aides. He strode slowly down the long centre aisle while
30,000 hands were raised in salute. Every word dropped by Hitler seemed
like an inspired word from on high ... every lie pronounced is accepted
as high truth itself.
What can you infer from this source? Explain your answer.
I
can infer that the historian was rather critical of the speech made by
the Hitler. This is seen in Source B which states that ' every lie
pronounced is accepted as high truth itself' This shows that the
Historian pays very close attention to every details. I can also infer
that the historian had done an extensive research and had access to a
lot of information for him to come to a conclusion. This can be seen in
Source B which states 'he is restoring pageantry and colour and
mysticism to drab lives of 20th century Germans'' This shows that the
historian is resourceful as he has a lot of resources to ascertain
Hitler’s eloquence and charisma
The
Bolshevist monster, to which they want to deliver the European nations,
will someday tear them and their people to pieces. The Jew will not
however exterminate the European peoples, rather he will be the victim
of his own plot.
What can you infer from this source?
I
can infer from source C that Hitler had led the Germans to believe that
Communism and any other races are a cruel and immoral race. This can be
seen in Source C which states ‘The Bolshevist monster, to which they
want to deliver the European nations, will someday tear them and their
people to pieces’. This shows that Hitler was determined to unify
Germany under a single race and beliefs.
Source D: A Hitler Quote
Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.
What can you infer from Source D ? Explain your answer.
I
can infer that Hitler was an unscrupulous man who employs underhand
tactics to garner the support of Germans through lying. This can be seen
in Source D which states ‘Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying
it, and eventually they will believe it’. This shows that Hitler was
unethical in garnering the support of the Germans. I can also infer that
Hitler was a dishonest man. This is evident as Source D
states ‘Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it and eventually
they will believe it’ This shows that Hitler has been telling lies to
the Germans in attempt to garner support from them.
An
example of when Hitler performed dishonest practices was when
Chamberlain misjudged Hitler. Chamberlain though that Hitler was a
reasonable man. His views were encouraged by Lord Halifax’s meeting with
Hitler in November 1937. Chamberlain came to a conclusion that Hitler’s
word was reliable. He wrongly believed that Hitler’s aims were limited
to revising the Treaty of Versailles, instead of abolishing it, and
could therefore be satisfied with negotiations and agreements. He
believed Hitler’s promise that he would cease making demands once he
controlled the Sudetenland. In actual fact, Hitler repeatedly made
promises to Chamberlain and then broke them. We will discover this more
in the Chapter 4 where we will learn about the outbreak or WW2 in
Europe.
How reliable is Source A in saying that Hitler was charismatic? Use all sources where possible.
Source
A is reliable in saying that Hitler was charismatic in garnering the
support of the Germans. This is evident as Source A states that ‘He
speaks for me … He knows how I feel.. One man particularly struck me
with his head in his hand and with a convulsive sob said ‘He
understands’. This shows that Hitler gave the Germans what they needed
to hear, which would imply that he is charismatic. By cross-reference,
this is confirmed by Source B as it supports the view of Hitler being a
charismatic person. This is evident as Source B states ‘Every word
dropped by Hitler seemed like an inspired word from on high … every lie
pronounced is accepted a s high truth itself’ This shows that Hitler was
charismatic and thus, had the support of the Germans .Therefore, Source
A is reliable.
However,
Source A is not reliable in saying that Hitler was charismatic. This is
evident as Source A states that ‘He speaks for me … He knows how I
feel.. One man particularly struck me with his head in his hand and with
a convulsive sob said ‘He understands’. This shows that Hitler gave the
Germans what they needed to hear, which would imply that he is
charismatic. By cross-reference, this is in direct contrast to Source D.
This is because Source D states that ‘Make the lie big, make it simple,
keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.’ This shows that
Hitler words were false and not true as they were lies or that the
Germans were gullible to believe Hitler. Source D contradict Source A
statement and thus, Source A is not reliable.
Hitler’s skilfulness at making deals with politicians
.
However,
Hitler’s position was stronger than many believed. Although Hindenburg
disliked Hitler, there was no realistic alternative available. Few
leading politicians supported the Weimar system of democracy; many
feared a communist revolution.
In
the cabinet, Hitler’s fellow Nazis had been placed in important
positions. Frick was Interior Minister in the Reich and Göering was
Interior Minister in Prussia, Germany’s largest and most important
region. Between them, Frick and Göering controlled the German police.
Finally,
von Papen and others seriously underestimated Hitler’s political
skills. On the day after his appointment, Hitler broadcast a radio
appeal to the German people. In it, he reassured them about the
intentions of the Nazi Party and set out broad aims designed to win
maximum support.
In
his first months as Chancellor, Hitler instituted what historians have
called a ‘legal revolution’ to extend and strengthen his control. One of
his first actions was to persuade President Hindenburg to call new
elections to the Reichstag. In doing so, Hitler hoped to improve the
number of seats held by the Nazi Party to create a government with the
necessary majority to make changes to the Weimar constitution legally.
The
election campaign lasted for five weeks. Hitler used this time not only
to spread his propaganda message about the benefits of Nazi control,
but also to undermine his greatest political enemies - the communists.
He persuaded President Hindenburg to allow the government to ban some of
their political meetings and newspapers on the grounds that they were
allegedly plotting revolution. In Prussia, Göering took control of the
police and used them to attack and intimidate political rivals.
Source E : Results of the Weimar election.
Source E : Results of the Weimar election.
How does Source E explain the support of the Nazi Party? Explain your answer.
Source
E explains the support of the Nazi Party in highlighting the increase
in support for the Nazi Party after the Great Depression. This is
evident in Source E as it shows an increase in votes and support for the
NSDAP, whereas the support for the other parties contesting in the
elections dropped as of November 1932. Source E shows statistically the
effects of the Great Depression which resulted in the shift of votes
from the Weimar to the Nazi Party.
Prior
to this relating to Hitler’s skillfulness at making deals with
politicians, Source E is a depiction where Hitler had marginalized
Weimar politicians. The increase in the support for the Nazi Party
(NSDAP) is the result of Hitler’s skills at making deals with
politicians to advance his position in order to rise to power.
Citation
Hitler picture from www.knowyourmeme.com
Source C from http://www.scrapbookpages.com/DachauScrapbook/HitlerSpeeches.html
Source D from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/adolf-hitler-quotes.html
Source A from an assessment book entitled ‘ O Level (2 in 1) Social Studies + History Elective HOT SPOTS ( Publisher : Red Spot)
Hitler picture with swastika at the background from ahitler.greyfalcon.us
Information
on Hitler’s skilfulness at making deals with politicians from
http://learning.covcollege.ac.uk/content/NLN/Humanities_(History,_Archaeology,_Religious_Studies,_Philosophy)/History/technophobia_DB62_Germany_Resources_2/g04_02/resources/g04_02_resource6.html
Source E (Result of Weimar Elections) from wvfoundations.org
Funny History meme from http://inspiredbyhistory.wordpress.com/
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