Nazi Ideology

Consider your homework on the Nazi 25-Point Program, Hitler's writings in Mein Kampf, and Hitler's background. Take all of your knowledge of the above and develop several solid paragraphs that discuss and analyze Nazi ideology. I've provided you several guiding questions below.

Ideology: A statement of broad principles and vision for the future

Key questions to consider when analyzing the ideology of a leader:

• What ideas are proposed?
• What issues or grievances do they address?
• Do they represent a new form or structure for the society?
• Do they introduce entirely new concepts, values or goals to the society?
• Have they been inspired by a particular individual, school of thought or philosophy?
• How relevant or effective are they in attracting support within the local, regional and international community?
• Is it revolutionary, visionary, or inspirational?
• Can it inspire support, cause excitement? Does it appeal to broad sectors of society? Who does it attract?
• Which groups in the society will feel challenged or threatened by the new ideas?

When Hitler was rising to power, he utilized his different ideologies in order to make the NSDAP the main part in Germany. With his propaganda, Hitler was able to address the problems in Germany that were on everybody's minds. He was able to capture the minds of the German people with his eloquence and charismatic speaking that included his 25 point program that he though was surely going to better Germany and convince the people that the NSDAP was the right vote. His words were inspirational, revolutionary and visionary to a people tired of the economic and political sufferings of Germany.

He was very effective when persuading the people of Germany to vote for him. He made them think that Germany would be in the hands of someone great when he was to take power and that they should not fear the future. They needed guidance at this time and saw Hitler as someone who would help them even if they didn't believe everything he said.

Hitler gave the people of Germany things to look forward to in the state regarding politics and government. He was planning on making the state a single party and making the NSDAP the leader because democracy was so "weak" and capitalism was only stealing from the people of Germany. He promised them that they would have a strong leader. Regarding the economy, Hitler told the people that he would help the crisis by proposing a new idea. He thought that if the people worked for the state, the state would in turn work for the people and make everything better. People were very happy with the ideologies of Hitler and thought that he would bring new change to a struggling Germany.

Hitler's Background

One of the crucial elements in writing an essay about a dictator is understanding their background and how it influenced their early thinking and behavior during their rise to power. Hitler's background is extremely important as it influenced his interactions with the NSDAP. Using the information on the reading, sift through the most important aspects about Hitler's early life to be able to develop two strong paragraphs that are relevant in his rise to power up to 1923.

NOTE: Use only the most important information. Try to avoid the "trivia" because it will bog down your writing. Also, you may bullet point this information, but then you must still write it out in paragraph form, as you would on an essay. (The bullet points will help you when studying.) HINT: I strongly suspect this question will appear on Wednesday's test.

Hitler's Background

Discuss Hitler's background to 1923 and how it influenced his rise to power with the NSDAP.

Hitler's Past

• Born Austrian - continues to live there for years
• Lives in the slums of Vienna w/ Jewish and Marxist advocates -- begins his anti-Semitic and anti-marxism feelings
• Moves to Munich, Germany in 1913

Hitler's Character

• Shy, awkward, moody, lonely
• Contemptuous of mankind >:(
• Tremendous energy and willpower
• Single minded fanatic

Propaganda Skills

• Great Orator and captured the audience w/ his speeches
• Turned what the crowd wanted to hear into words

Ideas he had

• Social Darwinism/survival of the fittest (German race should override all others)
• All Germans should join together - Pan-Germanism
• "Lebensraum" Germany must expand and become more of a world power to feed growing population
• Believer in socialism - stressing the needs of the national community
• Anti-Marxism and the idea of Karl Marx because he was a non-religious Jew
• Anti-democracy - it provided weak government and needed to be replaced with a single party state
• Anti-capitalism - power that came from being very rich - owners of the big businesses and firms; the Jews

The beginning of Hitler's life and when he moved to Germany:

Hitler was born Austrian to the Schicklgruber family. He continues to live in Austria for many years. After being denied to a school for the arts that he strived to get into in Vienna, he drifts around for years living in the slums of Vienna. In these slums he was forced to live with different minorities including people that had different political and religious views. He began to get anti-semitic, anti-marxist, and anti-democratic reactions from living amongst people that practiced these different views. After being drafted for the Austrian-Hungary army, he flees to Munich and lives there until he is called back to Austria.

Hitler's character and propaganda skills:

Hitler had an odd combination of character traits and interesting propaganda skills. He was a shy and awkward man that really hated mankind. Although he was filled with negative traits, he also acquired tremendous energy and he had a lot of willpower. These positive traits were an excellent edition for his propaganda skills. He was able to give an extremely powerful speech because of his excessive willpower and his tremendous amount of energy. He was able to captivate the audience with his speeches and he was able to put into words the thoughts of the audience members. His speeches and propaganda work helped him greatly in his successes with the NSDAP.

Hitler's ideas:

The ideas that Hitler had about struggling Germany definitely helped him in his success with the NSDAP. First he believed deeply in Social-Darwinism where there should be one superior race in Germany and to eventually override all others. He also believed in the popular idea of "Lebensraum" and expending Germany to its full potential all over the world and increase its strength. This would have made the people of Germany praise Hitler because of the harsh land terms of the Treaty of Versailles and it would improve the countries the low moral. His ideas of socialism were also praised by most of the Germans because Hitler wanted to focus on the national community where the people will provide for the state and in turn the state will provide for the people. He was against Marxism and democracy because he believed that they both provided a weak government and that the state would be much more powerful and successful with a single-party. He also hated capitalism and believed that it would promote Jewish big-business owners that will take all the money from the people.

Hitler's Ideals Expressed in Mein Kampf

Volume One, Chapter Six:"War Propaganda" In this part of Hitler's Mien Kampf Hitler explains what he believes is necessary to win the popular vote of the German people. He believed that the people who were already educated about the Nazi party didn't need to be further educated and that the people who knew nothing about the party needed to understand so that everyone would know about them. He believed that the emotional aspect of the crowds needs to be adressed in order to actually pursued them enough to go with the Nazis. He said that the speeches had to be brief and something that the public understand in order for the mto retain what they are told. They believed that slashing the enemy in propaganda was a bad thing. Hitler lays out a good way to prepare the army with his example of British and American soldiers being warned about the Germans.
Volume One, Chapter Ten:"Causes of the Collapse"
In this chapter Hitler explains what he believed was the cause of the collapse and how he sought to change things. He believed that it wasn't what the popular belief was (that the War had caused it) but rather the Jewish people were the cause for the collapse. He explains that the Jewish people's religion is based on lies which ultimately ruined the state. He believed that a large part of the economic downfall had to do with the disappearance of the right of public property and the national ownership of stocks. He says that the Jewish people had controlled the businesses and were turning the country into turmoil. He said that the Jews had been slowly trying to "break the backbone" of Germany and slowly take away the nationalism of the people.
Volume One, Chapter Eleven:"Nation and Race"
Hitler believed that there should be one dominant race in Germany. This would be the national race. He says that a consequence of this is the 'delimitation' of the different races that naturally come to Germany. He disliked the idea of Aryan people having children with non-Aryan people and compares this to the Americas and the different peoples that live there. He wants to address the problem of Jewish people immediately and make sure that they no longer contribute to the racial problems. They need to also address the issue of the blood-Germans and the 'fake' Germans.
Volume Two, Chapter Fourteen:"Eastern Orientation or Eastern Policy"
Hitler addresses the issues of national power and government in this section. He says that they must 'unflinchingly' take back the land that they are entitled to. He uses an analogy to blood sacrifice of one to the government to show how the public will work hard for the government and the government will work hard for the people. He says that the 'pen-pushers' are the people that are ruining the country. He continues to talk about how they will eventually conquer more land that other people are going to destroy with their ideas someday. He says that it is their right to have land and that they will become a world power or they will not be satisfied. Germany must provide to its citizens. This will probably look really good to the people of Germany and get them excited about the Nazi Party.