Nazi Connections Part 1: Helped into Power

While the final reflection on the Nazis currently rests far beyond the horizon, I think it is a good idea to start drawing parallels between Nazi Germany and previously discussed topics in class.  And while I will try to cover as many of these topics on my merits, I am bound to miss a lot, for I am only one drop in this greater bucket of Global Connections (A and B).  Thus, if you, the reader, have valuable knowledge of your own that has not been either sufficiently addressed or mentioned at all, then I urge you to share it.  So, without further ado, I present to you the first of (some of) the Nazi Connections:

• moderation and extremism: The documentary showed how hard times push people towards extremism.  In 1928, after the German economy had significantly recovered after the hyperinflation crisis, the NSDAP received only 2.6% of the popular vote in the federal election.  However, in 1932 after the Great Depression and the failure of Germany’s 5 major banks, the Nazis won 37% of the popular vote.  The Nazis, however, did not change their agenda or become more moderate within those 4 years.  It was merely the huge economic stress put upon the German people, and said peoples’ subsequent anger, that made the Nazis’ point of view more appealing.  For the record, this same reasoning applied to the KPD (the Communist Party), although to a lesser extent.
• anti-semitism and prejudice: Anti-semitism bloomed in Germany after World War I.  Many German soldiers coming back from the front lines felt that Germany could have kept on fighting.  To explain this, they believed that the Jews and Communists had coerced the German government into surrendering.  They spread their anti-semitic beliefs to the rest of Germany, mostly the southern regions like Bavaria.  Coincidentally, at this time there was a short-lived Communist takeover Bavaria, perpetrated by mostly Jewish communists.  This incident led to greater skepticism of and prejudice towards Jews, creating an environment ideal for the formation of the NSDAP.  The NSDAP, mostly because of Hitler, made extreme anti-semitism a fundamental part of their ideology.  The Nazis’ rise to power in 1932 spread these heightened sentiments across all of Germany.  Expressions of them soon followed.  They were initially mild; just labels on Jewish businesses as well a one day boycott of them.  However, such gestures of anti-Semitism were the first ones expressed to a national level.  
• scapegoating: This concept hasn’t yet been fully elaborated on in the documentaries, so I will keep this fairly short.  The documentary did make note of the NSDAP’s three core principles, one of which was that the Jews are behind everything.  This belief, which forms the foundation of the Jewish Conspiracy, uses Jews as a scapegoat to explain why a certain people (Germans in this case) are experiencing whatever problems in their lives.  The belief redirects the peoples’ anger and criticism away from the actual groups behind their misery.  Such was the case in Nazi Germany as it is now throughout much of the Middle East, as well in small enclaves scattered throughout the Western world.

• power: Another topic not fully discussed in the documentaries.  Anyhow, the Nazi Party controlled all four main forms of power: ideological, political, military, and economic.  In other words, the Nazi Party created a totalitarian state; a society where the government controls all aspects of society.  In quickly examining the list of theories presented in the Power Notes! handout, I do not see any one theory that perfectly encapsulates totalitarianism.  I suppose the Power/State Autonomy Theory comes close, but there are key differences between the two.  The Power Theory claims that the federal government is the most powerful center because of its control of the military.  This would imply that the federal government is above other independent, power-holding bodies like big corporations and other such organizations.  Such was really not the case in Nazi Germany.  The government controlled not just the military, but everything, meaning there were no separate power-holding organizations.  I suppose this actually means the Nazi’s government was an extreme form of the Power Theory, as in it was so superior to the other sources of power that it ultimately engulfed them.