The Weimar period had seen a flourishing of German art, much of which was abstract. Hitler was very interested in architecture and believed it could be used to project the power of the Nazi regime. The most important architect of the period was Albert Speer, who redesigned Berlin, as well as designing the stadium in Nuremberg where annual rallies were held. Nazis ceremonially burned thousands of books in that were viewed as being subversive or as representing ideologies opposed to Nazism.
These included books written by Jewish, pacifist, classical, liberal, anarchist, socialist, and communist authors. Works by certain playwrights were banned. Nazi-produced political plays and musicals were not very popular so the regime allowed classic plays by the likes of Shakespeare to be performed. These work creation schemes would later be expanded and reinvested in by the Nazis to combat unemployment. These small improvements, only truly evident with the benefit of hindsight , were still at the time completely overshadowed by the poverty and widespread discontent about the general economic situation.
The political instability in the late s and early s played an important role in helping the Nazis rise to power. Political parties seemed to be putting aside their differences and coming together for the good of Germany.
But this was not how it worked out. As the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash hit Germany and unemployment spiralled, the government struggled to balance its budget. On top of its usual payments, the amount of people claiming unemployment benefits was increasing. President Hindenburg was a right-wing conservative politician and therefore disliked having the left-wing SPD in power. This set a precedent of governing by presidential decree and moved the Republic away from parliamentary democracy.
Extremism became more popular as people desperately sought a solution. Von Papen agreed with the conservative elite that Germany needed an authoritarian leader to stabilise the country. He called for another election in November , hoping to strengthen the frontier against communism and socialism. The Communist Party gained votes, winning eleven more seats in the Reichstag. Once again, no one party had a majority. The election was a failure. He refused, and von Schleicher became chancellor.
However, without a majority of his own in the Reichstag, von Schleicher faced the same problems as von Papen. Hindenburg refused to grant von Schleicher permission to rule by decree. The conservative elite were the old ruling class and new business class in Weimar Germany. They believed that a return to authoritarian rule was the only stable future for Germany which would protect their power and money. Between Article 48 was used a total of 16 times.
In alone this rose to 42 uses, in comparison to only 35 Reichstag laws being passed in the same year. In , Article 48 was used 58 times. The conservative elite and the Nazi Party had a common enemy — the political left. Once in power, Hitler could destroy the political left. Destroying the political left would help to remove the majority of political opponents to the ring-wing conservative elite.
Once Hitler had removed the left-wing socialist opposition and destroyed the Weimar Republic, the conservative elite thought they would be able to replace Hitler, and appoint a leader of their choice. A group of important industrialists, including Hjalmar Schacht and Gustav Krupp, also wrote outlining their support of Hitler to President Hindenburg. Once elected, the conservative elite soon realised that they had miscalculated Hitler and his intentions.
Despite the party restructure, the reorganisation of the SA and the initial development of their propaganda under Goebbels, the Nazi Party gained very little in the elections. They won just 2. The following year however, the Wall Street Crash and the resulting economic and political instability swung the conservative elite and electorate in their favour. Goebbels carefully tailored propaganda slowly became considerably more attractive. In , the Nazis attracted eight times more votes than in They managed to secure The continuing failure of the government to stabilise the situation only increased the Nazis popularity.
In February , Hitler ran against Hindenburg to become president. To emphasise this point, Hitler flew from venue to venue via aeroplane. Hitler lost the election, with Despite losing, people now viewed Hitler as a credible politician. Following another Reichstag election in July , the Nazis became the largest party with seats and Hitler was not immediately appointed chancellor after the success of the July elections, despite being leader of the largest party in the Reichstag.
It took the economic and political instability with two more chancellors failing to stabilise the situation to worsen, and the support of the conservative elite , to convince Hindenburg to appoint Hitler. On the night of May 10, , Nazis hold book burnings. They march by torchlight in nighttime parades, sing chants, and throw books into huge bonfires.
On that night more than 25, books are burned. The film shows footage taken at the Nazi Party Rally at Nuremberg. The footage from the rally shows smiling children, cheering crowds, and uniformed Nazis. It features military parades and a speech by Adolf Hitler. Triumph of the Will will become one of the most infamous Nazi propaganda films.
World War II begins on September 1, Shortly afterwards, the Nazi regime makes listening to foreign radio broadcasts illegal. This is an attempt to control what information Germans hear about the war. The Nazi regime sees news and information from outside Germany as a security threat.
They are worried about foreign radio broadcasts, which some Germans can access on their home radios. Later in the war, the regime even sentences people to death for listening to foreign radio stations. We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of all donors.
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