Who Were Hitlers Supporters Who Backed the Führer and Why

Adolf Hitler not only had enough support amongst the German people to take power and hold it for 12 years while effecting massive change in all levels of society, but he retained this support for several years during a war which began to go very wrong. The Germans fought until even Hitler had conceded the end and killed himself, whereas just a generation earlier they had expelled their Kaiser and changed their government without any enemy troops on German soil. So who supported Hitler, and why? The Fà ¼hrer Myth: A Love for Hitler The key reason to support Hitler and the Nazi regime was Hitler himself. Aided greatly by propaganda genius Goebbels, Hitler was able to present an image of himself as a superhuman, even god-like figure. He wasn’t portrayed as a politician, as Germany had had enough of them.   Instead, he was seen as above politics. He was all things to a lot of people – although a set of minorities soon found that Hitler, beyond  not caring about their support, wanted to persecute, even exterminate them instead – and by changing his message to suit different audiences, but stressing himself as the leader at the top, he began to bind the support of disparate groups together, building enough to rule, modify, and then doom Germany. Hitler wasn’t seen as a socialist, a monarchist, a Democrat, like many rivals. Instead, he was portrayed and accepted as being Germany itself, the one man who’d cut across the many sources of anger and discontent in Germany and cure the m all. He wasn’t widely seen as a power-hungry racist, but someone putting Germany and ‘Germans’ first. Indeed, Hitler managed to look like someone who would unite Germany rather than push it to extremes: he was praised for stopping a left-wing revolution by crushing the socialists and communists (first in street fights and elections, then by putting them in camps), and praised again after the Night of the Long Knives for stopping his own right (and still some left) wingers from starting their own revolution. Hitler was the unifier, the one who halted chaos and brought everyone together. It has been argued that at a crucial point in the Nazi regime the propaganda stopped making the Fuhrer myth successful, and Hitler’s image started making the propaganda work: people believed the war could be won and believed Goebbels carefully crafted work because Hitler was in charge. He was aided here by a piece of luck  and some perfect opportunism. Hitler had taken power in 1933 on a wave of discontent caused by the Depression, and luckily for him, the global economy began to improve in the 1930s without Hitler having to do anything except claim the credit, which was freely given to him. Hitler had to do more with foreign policy, and as a great many people in Germany wanted the Treaty of Versailles negated Hitler’s early manipulation of European politics to reoccupy German land, unite with Austria, then take Czechoslovakia, and still further the swift and victories wars against Poland and France, won him many admirers. Few things boost a leader’s support th an winning a war, and it gave Hitler plenty of capital to spend when the Russian war went wrong. Early Geographical Divisions During the years of elections, Nazi support was far greater in the rural north and east, which was heavily Protestant, than in the south and west (which was mainly Catholic voters of the Centre Party), and in large cities full of urban workers. The Classes Support for Hitler has long been identified among the upper classes, and this is largely believed to be correct. Certainly, large non-Jewish businesses initially supported Hitler to counter their fear of communism, and Hitler received support from wealthy industrialists and large companies: when Germany rearmed and went to war, key sectors of the economy found renewed sales and gave greater support. Nazis like Goering were able to use their backgrounds to please the aristocratic elements in Germany, especially when Hitler’s answer to cramped land use was expansion in the east, and not re-settling workers on Junker lands, as Hitler’s predecessors had suggested. Young male aristocrats flooded to the SS and Himmler’s desire for an elitist medieval system and his faith in the old families. The  middle classes are more complicated, although they have been closely identified with supporting Hitler by earlier historians who saw a Mittelstandspartei, a lower middle class of craftspeople and small shop owners drawn to the Nazis to fill a gap in politics, as well as the central middle class. The Nazis let some smaller businesses fail under Social Darwinism, while those who proved efficient did well, dividing support. Nazi government used the old German bureaucracy and appealed to white-collar workers across German society, and while they seemed less keen on Hitler’s pseudo-medieval call for Blood and Soil, they benefitted from the improving economy which enhanced their lifestyles, and bought into the image of a moderate, unifying leader bringing Germany together, ending the years of violent division. The middle class was, proportionally speaking, over-represented in early Nazi support, and the parties which usually received middle-class support collapsed as their vo ters left for the Nazis. The working and peasant classes also had mixed views on Hitler. The latter gained little from Hitler’s luck with the economy, often found Nazi state handling of rural matters annoying and were only partially open to Blood and Soil mythology, but as a whole, there was little opposition from rural workers and farming did become more secure overall. The urban working class was once seen as a contrast, as a bastion of anti-Nazi resistance, but this doesn’t appear to be true. It now seems that Hitler was able to appeal to the workers through their improving economic situation, through new Nazi labor organizations, and through removing the language of class warfare and replacing it with bonds of shared racial society which crossed classes, and although the working class voted in smaller percentages, they made up the bulk of Nazi support. This isn’t to say working class support was passionate, but that Hitler convinced a lot of workers that, despite the loss of Weimar r ights, they were benefitting and should support him. As the socialists and communists were crushed, and as their opposition was removed, workers turned to Hitler.   The Young and First Time Voters Studies of the electoral results of the 1930s have revealed the Nazis gaining noticeable support from people who hadn’t voted in elections before, and also among young people eligible to vote for the first time. As the Nazi regime developed more young people were exposed to Nazi propaganda and taken into Nazi Youth organisations. It’s open to debate exactly how successfully the Nazis indoctrinated Germany’s young, but they drew important support from many. The Churches Over the course of the 1920s and early 30s, the Catholic Church had been turning towards European fascism, scared of the communists and, in Germany, wanting a way back from the liberal Weimar culture. Nonetheless, during the collapse of Weimar, Catholics voted for the Nazis in far lower numbers than Protestants, who were much more likely to do so. Catholic Cologne and Dusseldorf had some of the lowest Nazi voting percentages, and the Catholic church structure provided a different leadership figure and a different ideology. However, Hitler was able to negotiate with the churches  and came to an agreement in which Hitler guaranteed Catholic worship and no new kulturkampf in return for support and an end to their role in politics. It was a lie, of course, but it worked, and Hitler gained vital support at a vital time from Catholics, and the possible opposition of the Centre Party vanished as it closed. Protestants were no less keen to support Hitler being no fans of Weimar, Versailles, or Jews. However, many Christians remained skeptical or opposed, and as Hitler continued down his path some did speak out, to mixed effect: Christians were able to temporarily halt the euthanasia program executing the mentally ill and disabled by voicing opposition, but the racist Nuremberg Laws were welcomed in some quarters. The Military Military support was key, as in 1933-4 the army could have removed Hitler. However once the SA was tamed in the Night of the Long Knives - and SA leaders who wanted to combine themselves with the military had gone - Hitler had major military support because he rearmed them, expanded them, gave them the chance to fight and early victories. Indeed, the army had supplied the SS with key resources to allow for the Night to happen. Leading elements in the military who opposed Hitler were removed in 1938 in an engineered plot, and Hitler’s control expanded. However, key elements in the army remained concerned at the idea of a huge war  and kept plotting to remove Hitler, but the latter kept winning and defusing their conspiracies. When the war began to collapse with defeats in Russia the army had become so Nazified that most remained loyal. In the July Plot of 1944, a group of officers did act and try to assassinate Hitler, but then largely because they were losing the war. Many n ew young soldiers had been Nazis before they joined. Women It might seem odd that a regime which forced women out of many jobs and increased the emphasis on breeding and raising children to intense levels would have been supported by many women, but there is a part of the historiography which recognizes how the many Nazi organisations aimed at women —with women running them—offered opportunities which they took. Consequently, while there was a strong set of complaints from women who wished to return to sectors they’d been expelled from (such as women doctors), there were millions of women, many without the education to pursue the roles now shut off from them, who supported the Nazi regime and actively worked in the areas they were allowed to, rather than forming a mass block of opposition. Support through Coercion and Terror So far this article has looked at people who supported Hitler in the popular meaning, that they actually liked him or wanted to push forward his interests. But there was a mass of the German population who supported Hitler because they did not have or believe they had any other choice. Hitler had enough support to get into power, and while there he destroyed all political or physical opposition, such as the SDP, and then instituted a new police regime with a state secret police called the Gestapo that had large camps to house limitless numbers of dissidents. Himmler ran it. People who wanted to speak out about Hitler now found themselves at risk of losing their lives. Terror helped boost Nazi support by providing no other option. Plenty of Germans reported on neighbors, or other people they knew because being an opponent of Hitler became treason against the German State. Conclusion The Nazi Party was not a small group of people who took over a country and ran it into destruction against the wishes of the populace. From the early thirties, the Nazi Party could count on a large range of support, from across the social and political divide, and it could do it because of clever presentation of ideas, the legend of their leader, and then naked threats. Groups who might have been expected to react like Christians and women were, at first, fooled and gave their support. Of course, there was opposition, but the work of historians like Goldhagen has firmly broadened our understanding of the base of support Hitler was operating from, and the deep the pool of complicity among the German people. Hitler did not win a majority to be voted into power, but he polled the second greatest result in Weimar history (after the SDP in 1919) and went on to build Nazi Germany on mass support. By 1939 Germany wasn’t full of passionate Nazis, it was mostly  of people who welcome d the stability of government, the jobs, and a society which was in marked contrast to that under Weimar, all of which people believed they’d found under the Nazis. Most people had issues with the government, as ever, but were happy to overlook them and support Hitler, partly out of fear and repression, but partly because they thought their lives were okay. But by ’39 the excitement of ‘33 had gone.

Should Marijuana Be Legal Every State - 1894 Words

â€Å"Should Marijuana Be Legal in Every State?† Marijuana is also called weed, herb, pot, grass, bud, ganja, Mary Jane, and a lot of other terms in today’s world. It is a greenish- grey mixture of the dried shredded leaves and flowers of Cannabis sativa, which is the hemp plant. Some users smoke marijuana in hand- rolled cigarettes called joints, many use pipes, bongs, or marijuana cigars called blunts. (H. (2016, August). What is marijuana? Retrieved November 07, 2016). Marijuana is not only used for personal use but is sold legally and is consumed for medical purposes by people who have permission to do so. Marijuana is a controversial topic in today’s world because to legalize it in every state has brought up issues. Some states have done so and some still have yet to. Marijuana has been seen more as a recreational drug and not a hard-core drug which is why most people do not see it as a high- risk drug or to have longing effects on a person or the body itself. Since the 20th century, marijuana has been prescribed by doctors for use to deal with glaucoma and cancer. Being that it is legal for medical use but illegal to use on a federal government level will and has always set off two different sides of legalizing or not legalizing marijuana. Marijuana cannot and should not be in categories with drugs that can kill because there are no studies of marijuana killing a person. In addition to, some people think that because it is legal in some states then it is safe. TheShow MoreRelatedWhy Marijuana Should Be Legalized1014 Words   |  5 Pagesreason that marijuana should be legal is that there is no good reason for it not to be legal. Some people ask why should marijuana be legalized? but we should ask Why should marijuana be illegal? From a philosop hical point of view, individuals deserve the right to make choices for themselves. The government only has a right to limit those choices if the individuals actions endanger someone else. 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My Different Kinds of Friends Free Essays

I have formed many friendships in life. Each friend, however, is different. Some are closer than others. We will write a custom essay sample on My Different Kinds of Friends or any similar topic only for you Order Now Some are more important to keep than others. There are friends made out of necessity and some formed as if by fate. Friends, certainly, are of various kinds. I have one best friend. We share many similarities in character and preferences. We have been through a lot since we first met. The best friend is someone whom you think you could trade personalities with. He is someone whom you could share your secrets, dreams and problems. He will accept you for both your good and bad traits and could be depended on in both happy and sad times. The other type of friend I have made is the group-friend. The clique is a group of people whom you go in a group with. I am part of one in school and another in the neighborhood. When I start working in a company, I know I will be part of another. Although the closeness is less than that of the best friend, belonging to a clique means having a group to hang out with, play games with, and sympathize with each other’s life stories. Then, there are the friends I keep in close contact with but am not really close enough to confide in. I keep a good relationship with them because I see them regularly. They are schoolmates, sons and daughters of my parents, neighbors, and other people whom I interact with in a regular basis. Finally, there are the friends whom I make at various stages in my life but whom I lost contact with through the years. For instance, childhood friends who went to different schools or have already moved to other places. I keep in contact with some of them through email and sometimes I see them but a long distance friendship is different to having a regular friend around. Friends change every year or so. Even a best friend can become a mere acquaintance later on in life. There are no permanent friends unless one takes the extra effort. Friends are important to have in life, however, in that they are like life-saving crafts. We need them during fun times, but we need them more during the low moments of life. How to cite My Different Kinds of Friends, Papers