Hitler's Charisma and Oratorical skills + Skilfullness at making deals with politicians

                                                 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

 

Source C: An excerpt of Hitler’s speech on January 30, 1942

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

 Just like Stalin, Hitler also manipulated his ways to his rise to power, waiting for favourable circumstances to pounce at. Hitler was skilful at making deals with politicians to advance his position. Von Papen and his allies had no support in the Reichstag and thought that they could make use of Hitler to gain support of the Germans by making use of Hitler. Hitler found this as an opportunity to get rid of Weimar politicians. Hitler ruled in a coalition government as a result of a deal made by politicians who underestimated his abilities and capabilities. In January 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. The thought of using Hitler to gain support in the Reichstag proved to be wrong as they did have not met the TRUE Hitler. When the time was ripe, Hitler acted decisively to take complete control over the entire government.

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President Hindenburg reluctantly appointed Hitler Chancellor on 30 January 1933. Those, like von Papen, who had supported his appointment, were confident that Hitler could be tamed. The Nazis did not have a majority in the Reichstag and Hitler’s cabinet of 12 contained only two other Nazis - Göering and Frick. In these circumstances, von Papen felt confident that Hitler would have to make compromises.

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.

 

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/

               

Exploiting the fears of communism

"We are socialists, we are enemies of today’s capitalistic economic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly evaluation of a human being according to wealth and property instead of responsibility and performance, and we are determined to destroy this system under all conditions."

Reading one of Hitler‘s Quote today has made me realise how determined and racist he was. He hated Communism and sought to unify Germany and rid of Europe of all Jew which he had done so in his Holocaust. Today, we’ll be exploring how Hitler exploited the fears of Communism in Germany to garner support to enable him to rise to power.

 

                                           Communism

Communism is a socio-economic system structured upon common ownership of the means of production and characterized by the absence of classes, money, and the state; as well as a social, political and economic ideology and movement that aims to establish this social order. The movement to develop communism, in its Marxist–Leninist interpretations, significantly influenced the history of the 20th century, which saw intense rivalry between the communist states in the Eastern bloc and the most developed capitalist states of the Western world. It was developed by one of the prominent Communist leaders: Karl Marx

People in Germany were afraid of communism because they feared that Germany would have a Russian-style revolution and private businesses would be taken over by the government. For example, farmer was afraid that their lands will be taken by government as communist believed that the state should own all lands and assert.

The German Communist Party (KPD) was seen as a major rival by the Nazi Party during the years of Weimar Germany in terms of who might acquire national power. The German Communist Party grew out of the Spartacist Movement led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknicht. Street battles between members of the Communist Party and the SA were common especially during the depression that followed the Wall Street Crash of October 1929. For the Nazis the Communists represented a real threat as the KPD appealed to the working class in Weimar.

 The KPD leadership hoped that the unemployed working class would blame business leaders and those who supported a capitalist society. Numerically there were far more people who could be categorised as working class as opposed to middle/upper class. Therefore a political party that had won over the working class would find itself in a very healthy position when compared to other parties that had not done so. Hitler was ideologically opposed to communism but realised that the KPD did represent a real threat to the Nazis prior to January 1933. The KPD was the largest communist movement outside of the USSR and during the mid to late 1920’s had sort to develop closer ties to the USSR. Probably the most famous leader the KPD had was Ernst Thälmann who was arrested by the Gestapo in 1933 and shot in 1944, after 11 years in solitary confinement, on the direct orders of Hitler

Source A: A Hitler quote on Communism

“The streets of our country are in turmoil. The universities are filled with students rebelling and rioting. Communists are seeking to destroy our country. Russia is threatening us with her might, and the Republic is in danger. Yes – danger from within and without. We need law and order! Without it our nation cannot survive.”

What can you infer from Source A? Use your Contextual Knowledge.

I can infer from Source A that the situation in Germany in chaotic and disorder. This is evident as Source A states ‘The streets of our country are in turmoil. The universities are filled with students rebelling and rioting.’ This shows that Germany is filled with terror within as it is chaotic. I can also infer that Germany was facing an external threat. This is evident as Source A states ‘Russia is threatening us with her might, and the Republic is in danger. Yes – danger from within and without.’ This shows that Germany was vulnerable.

Source B: An Anti-Communism Propaganda Poster

What can you infer from Source B? Use your Contextual Knowledge.

I can infer from Source B that Communism was an unethical belief which tried to dominate the whole world. This is evident as Source B shows an Octopus with an evil face trying to grab whole of the whole globe. This shows that Communism is unscrupulous.

Source C: Benefits of Communism

In a communist regime, people are treated equal regardless of education, financial stability, and so on, in the eyes of the government. Economic boundaries don’t separate or categorize people, a situation that eliminates crime and violence.

What can you infer from Source C? Explain your answer.

I can infer from Source C that the Communism system is fair to everyone. This is evident as Source C states that ‘In a communist regime, people are treated equal regardless of education, financial stability, and so on, in the eyes of the government. Economic boundaries don’t separate or categorize people, a situation that eliminates crime and violence.’ This shows that everyone is given fair and equal treatment.

Let’s watch a video to see how credible it is on the fears of Communism

Source D: Video on the Fears of Communism

Are you surprised by Source D? Explain Your Answer.

Yes, I am surprised by Source D regarding the fears of Communism. This is evident as Source D shows a video on how the Americans and other countries fear Communism

Yes, I am surprised by Source D regarding the effects of Communism. This is evident as Source D shows a video on how the Americans and other countries fear Communism. This shows that most Western Countries fear Communism. This shows that many fear Communism due to the effects they have. By Cross-reference, this is in direct contrast to Source C. This is evident as Source C states ‘’ In a communist regime, people are treated equal regardless of education, financial stability, and so on, in the eyes of the government. Economic boundaries don’t separate or categorize people, a situation that eliminates crime and violence.’’ This shows that Communism ensures a fair distribution of things. Source C’s statement contradicts with Source S, and therefore, Source D is not reliable.

However, I am not surprised by Source D regarding the fears of Communism. This is evident as Source D shows a video on how the Americans and other countries fear Communism. This shows that most Western Countries fear Communism. By Cross-reference, this is confirmed by Source A which states ‘’ Communists are seeking to destroy our country. Russia is threatening us with her might, and the Republic is in danger. Yes – danger from within and without.’’ This shows that Communism is wanting to rule all other countries and bring its influences to bear. Therefore, I am not surprised by Source D.

The Effect of Communism on the Middle Class

By 1930, it was clear to the German populace that the government was beginning to collapse. This was seen most evidently in the government’s inability to assume effective leadership and administer the economic situation in an assertive manner. The population could no longer rely upon or believe in their current government that had disappointed and failed them yet again. At this point in the convoluted situation, unemployment was rapidly increasing, paralleled by greater divergences into extremism, principally toward the Nazi and Communist parties. In the 1930 Reichstag elections, the Nazi Party attained a total of 107 seats, equivalent to 18.3 per cent of the electoral vote.

 At this election, as prominent German historian Richard J. Evans concludes in The Coming of the Third Reich, although there was a limited degree of middle class Nazism, many were “still repelled by the Nazi’s violence and extremism” and that the majority of Nazi supporters were the unemployed, farmers, various kinds of other workers, servants and first-time voters.

 However, by the time of the Reichstag elections of July, 1932, when the Nazi Party became the largest party in Germany with 37 percent of the total electoral vote, the Nazi movement became more than an outlet for the frustration of the unemployed and the various groups of blue collar workers. Rather, it became, as it is precisely described, a middle-class phenomenon by several prominent historians. The cause of this revolutionary change in the direction of the German people can be plausibly extrapolated through the economic self-interest theory and the growing communist movement

The idea of a communist uprising was antithetic to the economic security that the middle-class had attained and thus was primarily fearful of a communist revolution because of their economic self-interest. As a result, the middle class was terrified of the Communist movement which was “promising the destruction of capitalism and the creation of a Soviet Germany”. The German middle class was only too aware of the repercussions onto their counterparts in Russia following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.

 

                 Reorganization of Nazi Party

When Hitler was released from jail he knew he needed to seize power soon.  But he also realized that his party's structure suffered as a result of his incarceration.  Hitler began a rapid and strong reorganization of the Nazi Party. Hitler spent less than one year in prison even though he was sentenced to five years.  During that time he enjoyed frequent visits by devout party followers and had a pleasantly accommodating cell.  When Hitler was released in December of 1924, he began a swift reorganization of the Nazi Party.

Hitler constructed a network of local party organizations such as the SturmAbteiling or SA, the Schutzstaffel or SS, the Waffen SS, and the Hitlerjugend or HJ.  The members of the SA were the Storm Troopers, and would eventually become a branch of the German army.  The SS and the Waffen SS were created to protect, supervise and control the party, and to perform police tasks.  The HJ or Hitler Youth was created to introduce the German youth to the Nazi ideology and prepare these young men for war.  To make this rapid and effective reorganization of the Nazi Party, Hitler surrounded himself by extremely astute and loyal officials.  People like Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hess, Joseph Goebbels, Ernst Röehm, Max Amann, and Heinrich Himmler helped Hitler control and carry out the promise of the Nazi Party.

Hitler was now ready to seize absolute political power in Germany because his party was restructured and reorganized.  What was to come next would be a full representation of Hitler's political genius.

Citation

Starting Quote from http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Adolf.Hitler.Quote.1CA3

Picture of Karl Marx from http://chabadsociologist.wordpress.com/2013/08/04/this-weeks-spotlight-jewish-sociologist-karl-marx/

Anti-communist octopus picture from weburbanist.com

Information on Reorganization of Nazi Party from http://jjhavlik7.tripod.com/hitlermain/id4.html