There are certain aspects of the Nazi party’s capture of power that can be described as indeed compatible with the modern democratic ideal: their rise was accompanied by genuine popular enthusiasm, media innovation, streamlined organization and hard work – and the veneer of legality and open debate.
But there was also the constant undercurrent, and sometimes overt presence, of extra legal violence, racism, and the opportunistic exploitation of circumstances. This was used, in effect, to destroy democracy from within.
Did the Nazis Have Popular Support?
As Alan Bullock writes in his book Hitler and Stalin, the Nazi party was made up of incredibly hardworking people and had the support of monetarily generous people:
“the Nazis raised most of the money themselves, a great deal by countless small donations ...or volunteer services by devoted party members”.
The structure they were able to develop during the late twenties created an almost militarily disciplined body of activists, with a highly rigid chain of command and complete subservience to the ‘Hitler Myth’.
The popular enthusiasm for the movement was genuine. Leaving many of their aims intentionally vague – the antisemitic character and a loathing of the Versailles Treaty, as set out in Mein Kampf, being the only constants – the party emphasized a culture of national unity and cultural reinvigoration over and above any specific policies.
This allowed a disillusioned electorate to identify a sense of ‘German Folk Identity’, or a volksgemeinshaft, with an organized, energetic movement – one that gave it direction and coherence.
The Nazis made great use of mass media to gain democratic support. Bullock argues that they can even be seen as innovators in this realm:
“films of Hitler and Goebbels were shown everywhere (an innovation in 1932)”.
Hitler’s famous plane trips across the country were also “unprecedented": just before elections, he would fly all over the country, prompting the slogan ‘Hitler Over Germany’ or 'Hitler Uber Deutschland', mimicking the German National Anthem's old Nazi-era opening lyrics of 'Deutschland Uber Alles'.
Significantly, Hitler was given the Chancellorship legally: he was appointed at the head of a coalition by president Von Hindenburg, who himself had been elected with a majority. At first seen to be a puppet of the President and the Vice Chancellor Von Papen, Hitler soon began changing the constitution, though, as Bullock notes, using the emergency powers granted by the constitution itself.
The Destruction of Democracy
Though their power was gained legally, once they had it, the Nazi’s discontinued national elections, and in this sense, they held onto power through destroying democracy in Germany.
In the final election of 1933, voters were given a simple choice on the ballot, being able to literally vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ for the Nazis, with no other parties officially put forward. In this sense, the Nazi party was never elected with a governing mandate: during free elections, they were never able to attain an outright majority.
Their claim to represent the country’s majority was never true; the apparent consent was only achieved through strangling the election process into an absurdity. It never reflected any genuine wish of the people.
Violence and intimidation were key parts of Nazi campaigns. The SA concentration camps were in part used to contain those affiliated with the Social Democratic and Communist parties of Germany – the main opposition to the Nazis.
The Nazis used the Reichstag fire, which they blamed on Marinus van der Lubbe, a prominent Communist, as a platform from which to lead a widespread and violent persecution of the left-wing of German politics.
Once the left was largely dispersed or incarcerated in Dachau, the Reichstag Fire Act, that rescinded civil liberties, and the Enabling Act, that provided Hitler with unlimited executive power, easily passed legislative hurdles, due to the only real resistance – the socialist parties – having been forcibly (undemocratically) removed.
The final nail in the coffin of Democracy in Nazi Germany was when the gun was turned on dissenting groups within the party itslef: on the Night of the Long Knives, Rohm and the SA leadership were violently purged, eliminating the left-wing, and hence the main source of internal dissent, from the National Socialist Party.
So, although Nazism seemed to come to prominence through legal, democratic means, these were always supplemented with organized violence, incarceration, and other extra legal operations, perpetrated by the SA and later the SS. Once it had power, the Nazis quickly used it to eliminate democracy as a tenet of German governmental organization.
However, it can never be denied that the popular support they enjoyed was real, and this is something that Western democracies must continue to confront.
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But there was also the constant undercurrent, and sometimes overt presence, of extra legal violence, racism, and the opportunistic exploitation of circumstances. This was used, in effect, to destroy democracy from within.
Did the Nazis Have Popular Support?
As Alan Bullock writes in his book Hitler and Stalin, the Nazi party was made up of incredibly hardworking people and had the support of monetarily generous people:
“the Nazis raised most of the money themselves, a great deal by countless small donations ...or volunteer services by devoted party members”.
The structure they were able to develop during the late twenties created an almost militarily disciplined body of activists, with a highly rigid chain of command and complete subservience to the ‘Hitler Myth’.
The popular enthusiasm for the movement was genuine. Leaving many of their aims intentionally vague – the antisemitic character and a loathing of the Versailles Treaty, as set out in Mein Kampf, being the only constants – the party emphasized a culture of national unity and cultural reinvigoration over and above any specific policies.
This allowed a disillusioned electorate to identify a sense of ‘German Folk Identity’, or a volksgemeinshaft, with an organized, energetic movement – one that gave it direction and coherence.
The Nazis made great use of mass media to gain democratic support. Bullock argues that they can even be seen as innovators in this realm:
“films of Hitler and Goebbels were shown everywhere (an innovation in 1932)”.
Hitler’s famous plane trips across the country were also “unprecedented": just before elections, he would fly all over the country, prompting the slogan ‘Hitler Over Germany’ or 'Hitler Uber Deutschland', mimicking the German National Anthem's old Nazi-era opening lyrics of 'Deutschland Uber Alles'.
Significantly, Hitler was given the Chancellorship legally: he was appointed at the head of a coalition by president Von Hindenburg, who himself had been elected with a majority. At first seen to be a puppet of the President and the Vice Chancellor Von Papen, Hitler soon began changing the constitution, though, as Bullock notes, using the emergency powers granted by the constitution itself.
The Destruction of Democracy
Though their power was gained legally, once they had it, the Nazi’s discontinued national elections, and in this sense, they held onto power through destroying democracy in Germany.
In the final election of 1933, voters were given a simple choice on the ballot, being able to literally vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ for the Nazis, with no other parties officially put forward. In this sense, the Nazi party was never elected with a governing mandate: during free elections, they were never able to attain an outright majority.
Their claim to represent the country’s majority was never true; the apparent consent was only achieved through strangling the election process into an absurdity. It never reflected any genuine wish of the people.
Violence and intimidation were key parts of Nazi campaigns. The SA concentration camps were in part used to contain those affiliated with the Social Democratic and Communist parties of Germany – the main opposition to the Nazis.
The Nazis used the Reichstag fire, which they blamed on Marinus van der Lubbe, a prominent Communist, as a platform from which to lead a widespread and violent persecution of the left-wing of German politics.
Once the left was largely dispersed or incarcerated in Dachau, the Reichstag Fire Act, that rescinded civil liberties, and the Enabling Act, that provided Hitler with unlimited executive power, easily passed legislative hurdles, due to the only real resistance – the socialist parties – having been forcibly (undemocratically) removed.
The final nail in the coffin of Democracy in Nazi Germany was when the gun was turned on dissenting groups within the party itslef: on the Night of the Long Knives, Rohm and the SA leadership were violently purged, eliminating the left-wing, and hence the main source of internal dissent, from the National Socialist Party.
Adolf Hitler's Rise to Power
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So, although Nazism seemed to come to prominence through legal, democratic means, these were always supplemented with organized violence, incarceration, and other extra legal operations, perpetrated by the SA and later the SS. Once it had power, the Nazis quickly used it to eliminate democracy as a tenet of German governmental organization.
However, it can never be denied that the popular support they enjoyed was real, and this is something that Western democracies must continue to confront.
Related Story
Adolf Hitler's Rise to Power
Author George P.
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