We can work on Hitlers Leadership

 

 

 

 

 

HITLERS LEADERSHIP

 

 

 

 

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Abstract

Adolf Hitler is among the widely known individual in the human history, especially for his role as chancellor of Germany during 1930s and for his leadership in the Nazi Party. Under the Hitler leadership, Nazi party ruled Germany through authoritarian means and the party grew into a mass movement. The party started in 1919 as a worker’s party, and it began to promote anti-Semitism and German pride and expressed dissatisfaction with the peace settlement of 1919 which ended the First World War and needed Germany to conduct many reparations and concessions. Also, the Nazi party was dissatisfied with the terms of the Versailles treaty, since Germany was not part of the discussions at Versailles and was only compelled to sign.[1] This paper will assert that the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany was due in large part to political and social factors, including the organizational effectiveness of the Nazi Party, the public shame felt by the German people after their defeat in the First World War, reaction to Communist activity and subversion, and the rise of anti-Semitism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The topic of the study

The topic of this study is Hitler’s leadership

The objective of the study

The objective of this study is to assert that the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany was due in large part to political and social factors, including the organizational effectiveness of the Nazi Party, the widespread shame felt by the German people after their defeat in the First World War, reaction to Communist activity and subversion, and the rise of anti-Semitism.

Importance of the study

This topic is essential because much of the academic research has focused on the emergence of the Nazi party and the rise of Hitler to power and his leadership. Therefore, it is a paramount area of study which needs a thorough analysis. Moreover, this study will analyze the historical records regarding Nazi party and Hitler leadership, while at the same time offering an in-depth study about how political and social factors facilitated the rise of Nazism and Hitler.

Introduction

When the First World War started in 1914, Adolf Hitler joined the German army as a volunteer. His bravely enabled him to receive a medal even though he never got the opportunity to climb any rank. During 1920, Hitler decided to join the Nazi Party. Years later, due to his vibrant eloquent speaking ability, he became the leader of the Nazi party.[2] Nevertheless, the 1930s great depression affected Germany severely, since it was required to pay debt culminating from the First World War. Adolf Hitler was against the payment of the debt, and he claimed that Communists and Jews were the reason why Germany lost in the First World War.[3] Therefore, Hitler made sure that the Nazi Party would embark on getting rid of Communists and Jews and that he would reunite other parts of Europe speaking Germans. During the elections of 1932, the Nazi party garnered more than 37% and became the dominant party in Germany, and this facilitated the appointment of Hitler as the Chancellor of Germany.[4] Under his leadership, regarded as the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler utilized diffused propaganda to manipulate and brainwash the country into pledging his theory concerning the establishment of the perfect Aryan race. Moreover, during 1939 when the Second World War started, Hitler encroached into Poland with the aim of unifying all German-speaking people as he had previously promised. By that time, extermination camps were being developed all over Russia, Poland, and Germany. Nevertheless, on 30th April 1945, Hitler committed suicide when his plan failed to materialize.[5] This paper will assert that the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany was due in large part to political and social factors, including the organizational effectiveness of the Nazi Party, the widespread shame felt by the German people after their defeat in the First World War, reaction to Communist activity and subversion, and the rise of anti-Semitism.

Literature reviews

According to Gottfried, Hitler maintained legitimate power by using whichever means to achieve it.[6] After the end of the First World War which left Germany politically unstable and economically depressed, Adolf Hitler decided to join politics through the German Worker’s Party. Journalist Karl Harrer and Anton Drexler founded the party, and it believed that the peace settlement which ended the war and the Versailles Treaty was increasingly unjust to Germany by burdening it with reparations which were hard to pay. Moreover, the party promoted anti-Semitism and German nationalism.[7] When Hitler became part of the Nazi party, he had a feeling that the party leadership was ineffective and divided, and this created a perfect path for him to rule. He was a tremendous charismatic public speaker since he was able to attract new members to the party with speeches of blaming Marxists and Jews for problems that were affecting Germany. Moreover, he espoused the concept of an Aryan master race and extreme nationalism. Even though some of the party members disapproved his ambition, many people admired his skills to generate public attention, and that’s why in 1921 when he wanted to resign, the members of the party agreed to offer him the overall leadership since they understood his oratory skills would make the party popular.[8]

Furthermore, Hitler passion was mostly revealed in his speeches. During the 1920s, Hitler regularly gave various speeches which claimed that economic stagnation, hunger, rampant inflation, and unemployment in postwar Germany would continue hurting people until the total revolution was actualized in German life.[9] He explained that the solution for the most of the problems was to drive away the Jews and Communists from the country. His emotional speeches swelled that the ranks of the Nazi party, particularly economically demerit Germans and the youth. Most of the time he preferred arriving late at the meeting point to create tension among the followers and to make them anxious when expecting him. Every time he was on the stage, he was the standing attention and would wait for all people to stop talking to ensure there was total silence, before starting. Also, his gestures and movers were always forceful, since he preferred moving from side to side on the stage. He would gesture with his hands, and the tone of his voice was passionate and loud. When speaking, his voice was full of emotion, his eyes bulged, his face was getting white, and he was always sweating. Moreover, he would shout regarding the prejudices and unfairness done to the German people, and he would always ensure that his audience was full of jealousy and hate. Therefore, by the time he was finishing to speak, the crowd was willing to do everything he was implying and was mostly in a condition near to madness.[10]

Moreover, in 1923, Hitler and his group unsuccessfully staged a coup broadly regarded as the Beer Hall Putsch, where together with his follower they wanted to spark a tremendous revolution against the national government, but the police arrested him. However, due to his popularity, he was offered unlimited period to defend himself in public and being a charismatic public speaker Hitler managed to activate more public sympathy for his action, and this turned him to become the most popular leader in Germany. Later he was convicted of treason, and he only spends a short time in prison. When he was released Hitler restarted a mission of reorganizing the Nazi party, and he began the process of gaining power through elections.[11]

In 1930 to 1933, the political mood in Germany was uninviting. The global economic depression had landed hard on the country, and many people were unemployed. The employed started to join millions of individuals who linked Germany economic hardship to the national humiliations after the defeat of the First World War.[12] Moreover, the majority of the Germans believed that the parliamentary coalition government was deficient and could not end the economic depression. The diffused perception of desperate time to come, economic fear, misery, and also impatience and anger with the expected incapability of the government to control the crisis, created a fertile land for the growth of the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler.[13]

Moreover, being a tremendous and spellbinding orator, Hitler was able to tap into helplessness and anger felt by the majority of voters, and this enabled him to attract a significant following of Germans who craved for change. In fact, Nazi electoral propaganda pledged to remove the country from the depression. Also, Nazi party promised to reinstate the state to its original position as a global ruler, create employment, turn back the inferred fear of a Communist uprising, reverse the provision of the Versailles Treaty, and restore German cultural values.[14] Hitler together with his Nazi propagandists successfully directed people’s fear and anger against the Marxists (social democrats and Communists); against Jews; and against individuals whom the Nazis considered responsible for establishing the parliamentary republic and for signing both the Versailles treaty and the armistice of November 1918. In fact, Nazis and Hitler mostly regarded the latter as the November criminals.[15]

Also, Nazis and Hitler cautiously tailored their speeches to every type of audience. A good example, when they were addressing the nationalist interest groups, veterans, and soldiers, Nazi propagandists emphasized on the return of other territories lost after Versailles and strengthening of the military. Moreover, when addressing the businessmen, the Nazis downplayed anti-Semitism and prioritized the return of German colonies lost due to Versailles treaty and supported anti-communism. Also, Nazis propagandist guaranteed farmers from Schleswig-Holstein, the Northern state that Hitler leadership will improve agriculture and revamp up declining prices. Also, the pensioners within the country were promised that their money and their monthly checks, purchasing power would continue being stable.[16]

In July 1930, Reich Chancellor Heinrich, Center party politician used a deadlock between the partners of the Grand Coalition as an excuse to induce the gaining Reich President Paul Hindenburg to dissolve parliament and set new elections on September 1930. The president dissolved the parliament by invoking Article 48 of the constitution. The Article enabled the German government to rule without any reliance on the parliamentary consent and was utilized mostly during direct national emergency cases.[17] By doing this Heinrich misinterpreted the public mood after the six of month destitute economic depressions. During the elections, the Nazi party garnered 18.28% of the vote enabling it to emerge as the second most significant political party in Germany.[18]

For two years, severally using Article 48 to give presidential orders, the Heinrich government tried and failed to create a majority in the parliament which could outnumber Nazis, Communist, and Social Democrats. However, during 1932, President Hindenburg removed Heinrich and selected Franz Papen, who was Center party politician and a former diplomat, as German chancellor. Afterward, Papen dissolved the Reichstag, and the elections of 1932 July helped the Nazi party to get 37.29% of the popular vote enabling it to become the biggest political party in the country. The Communists got 14.28% of the total votes. By 1932, majorities of the deputies in the Reichstag were determined to end the parliamentary democracy.[19]

Since Papen was not able to get a parliamentary majority to rule the country, President Hindenburg’s advisers and his opponents forced him to resign. General Schleicher succeeded him, and he later dissolved the Reichstag. During the November 1932 elections, the Nazis won by 33.17%, while the Communist garnered 16.89%. It was due to this that President Hindenburg and his advisers believed that the Nazi party was the only hope to create political and economic stability in Germany and to end Communist takeover. The Nazi propagandists and negotiators labored a lot to form this impression.[20]

In 1933 30th January, President Hindenburg selected Hitler chancellor of Germany. The appointment was not due to the electoral success with a popular command. It was due to a constitutionally questionable agreement between small sections of conservative German leaders who were fed up by the parliamentary leadership. Therefore, they believed in using the popularity of Hitler in public to support the reinstatement of the traditional authoritarian leadership, primarily monarchy. Nevertheless, after two years, Nazis and Hitler outmaneuvered Germany’s conservative politicians and consolidated a radical Nazi dictatorship which wholly answerable to the Adolf Hitler personal will.[21]

Before the First World War, approximately two million Jews lived in Germany, and there were no legislated laws against them, but even if they were not persecuted, the social climate was profoundly anti-Semitic. In fact, many historians point that Hitler was strongly influenced by the Karl Lueger the outspoken anti-Jewish mayor and many anti-Jewish magazines and newspapers. Moreover, when Germany lost in the World War I, Hitler and the majority of Germans population build political beliefs and ideologies against Jews.[22] Just like many other German soldiers, Hitler found it hard to accept that the German Empire was defeated. Majorities of conservatives and nationalists believed that Germany did not lose the war within the battlefield, but because of the betrayal from within, something which was popularly regarded by Nazis as a stab in the back. The Jews, communists, and socialists were blamed for this loss, despite the fact that more than 110,000 Austrian and German Jews had participated in this war and around 12,100 had died in the war.[23] Therefore, immediately after assuming the power, Hitler decided to end democracy in Germany. He lured his cabinet to induce constitutional emergency clauses which facilitated the suspension of freedom of speech, assembly, and press. He utilized special enforcement agents, such as the Storm Troopers, the SS, and the Gestapo to arrest and kill leaders of opposition from various political parties’ (liberals, socialists, and communists). Moreover, the Enabling Act of 1933, March 23rd facilitated the removal of many political opponents, enabling Hitler to assume absolute dictatorial powers. Nazis considered trade unionists and political opponents as undesirables and enemies of the nation.[24]

Furthermore, in 1933, the Nazis propagandists together with Hitler started to implement their racial ideology. They held a doctrine that Germans were racially superior and; therefore, what was happening in Germany was a struggle for survival between inferior races and Germans. They viewed the disabled, Roma (Gypsies), and most Jews as a severe biological threat to the German (Aryan) Race purity, a race that the Nazis considered as the master race. Jews were about 9% of the Germany people in 1933, and they were the primary target of the Nazi propaganda.[25] Nazis considered the Jews as a race of little significance that was only determined to see economic, political, social, and cultural downfall of Germany. Therefore, they spewed the Jews as greedy, capitalist, and Marxist. In fact, the anti-Semitics Nazis propagandists unfairly accused the Jews of the nations lose in the First World War and Germany’s economic crisis.[26]

Furthermore, later in 1933, various laws were enacted that compelled Jews out of the law court, and university positions, their civil service jobs, and other public living areas. Moreover, during 1933 April, the Nuremberg laws referred Jews as second-class people. These laws defined the Jews based on their grandparents’ religious affiliation. From 1937 to 1939, there were more anti-Jewish regulations which discriminated Jews further to make their life very hard for them. They were not allowed to join the public schools, attend the cinema, vacation resorts, theaters, or walk in specific places of the German cities.[27]

Moreover, around 1937 to 139, many Jews were highly evicted from Germany’s economic life. The Nazis followers would either seize Jewish properties and businesses outright or force them to sell at agreed prices. Also, during 1938 November, the followers of Nazi party planned a pogrom (demonstrations), regarded as Kristallnacht. The organized attack against Austrian and German Jews included the murder of individuals, the destructions of homes/properties, the arrest of Jewish males, and physical destruction of stores owned by Jews and destruction of synagogues.[28]

Even though the Jews were the primary target of the Nazi hatred, they also persecuted other people who were considered as genetically or racially inferior. In fact, it was scientists who buttressed Nazi racial ideology when they promoted eugenics (selective breeding) to enhance the human race. Therefore, the laws that were enacted between 1933 to 1935 were highly aimed to minimize the furtherance of the likely number of inferiors’ genetic using forceful sterilization methods, where 321,000 to 352,000 individuals judged mentally or physically disabled were taken with radiation or surgical process to ensure they would not have kids.  Those supporting sterilization asserted that the disabled people burdened the society with their maintenance care expenditures. Also, around 31,000 Roma (Gypsies) and 600 kids of mixed African-German were sterilized and warned, from having intermarriages with Germans.[29]

Besides, under the 1935 Nazi-revised criminal code, about 16,000 homosexuals were jailed in the concentration, the mere public consideration of a man or woman homosexual resulted in arresting, trial, and imprisonment. Furthermore, the religion of Jehovah Witnesses was banned by the government during early 1933, since its religious beliefs hindered them from taking an oath to serve in the Germany military or serve the state. The belief of this religion led to the confiscation of their literature, and they lost their jobs, all social welfare benefits, pensions, and unemployment benefits. In fact, majorities of the followers of this religion were put in the Nazi concentration camps or imprisoned, and their kids put to children homes and juvenile detention.[30]

Methodology

This research paper highly relied on the previous studies, scholarly works, books, journals, and articles addressing Hitler’s leadership and the Nazi party. The researcher analyzed various significant parts relating to this paper and discussed their correlations between parts and the relationship of parts to the whole topic of the paper.

Discussion

Throughout his leadership, Hitler somehow lacked a relationship with his follower and respectable moral values. He projected an individualized charismatic leadership, an approach which is non-egalitarian, self-aggrandizing, and exploitative. Moreover, Hitler was highly focused on his mission, persisting that the utmost power was vested in him and delegated downward. Therefore, he assumed other positions to become more legitimate powerful, irrespective of whether this was the best stance for his party. This leadership method was highly risky to the Hitler followers because they were barely heard and mostly punished for wrongdoings making them morally repugnant. Thus, Hitler harmed his party due to his lack of concern for others and his unrelenting control. Instead of creating an inclusive and collaborative environment, Hitler preferred giving direct orders that do not include other peoples input.[31]

In most instances, Hitler liked to critique those who reported him and would become frustrated and angry with mistakes. Because of this, he never trusted people, especially those military leaders who directly briefed him during the Second World War. Since he failed to develop a two-way relationship with his followers, Adolf Hitler would not, and could not, have confidence in the ideas of other people, and this forced him to rely on his opinions and instincts. Moreover, as a leader, Hitler did little to create a relationship with his followers, and this caused him to focus on direct control instead of mutual communication. In fact, Hitler often ignored and underplayed the political context surrounding his leadership, the attributes of the Nazi party as a whole, and the characteristics of his followers.[32]

Conclusion

During his leadership, Hitler retained a belief and a mission which made him meet the requirements of visionary leadership. Hitler was able to construct a vision which asserted that the German race was superior to other race and also composed a leadership philosophy which advocated for this inequality. With the support of Nazi party followers, Hitler exercised what they hold on, beginning with the new order and extermination of Jews from the country using any possible methods. Moreover, due to economic depression and increased rate of unemployment, the majority of the Germans believed that the parliamentary government coalition was deficient and unable to end the economic crisis.[33] Therefore, the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany was due in large part to political and social factors, including the organizational effectiveness of the Nazi Party, the public shame felt by the German people after their defeat in the First World War, reaction to Communist activity and subversion, and the rise of anti-Semitism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

 

Bachrach, Susan D., Edward J. Phillips, and Steven Luckert. State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda. Washington, D.C.: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2009.
Bendersky, Joseph W. A Concise History of Nazi Germany. 2013.

 

Buckley, James. Adolf Hitler. 2017.

 

Carsten, F. L. The Rise of Fascism. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967.

 

Childers, Thomas. Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. Simon & Schuster, Incorporated, 2017.

 

Fest, Joachim C. The Face of the Third Reich: Portraits of the Nazi Leadership. London: I.B. Tauris, 2011.
Glass, James M. Life Unworthy of Life: Racial Phobia and Mass Murder in Hitler’s Germany. New York: Basic Books, 1997.

 

Gottfried, Ted, and Stephen Alcorn. Nazi Germany: the face of tyranny. Brookfield, Conn: Twenty-First Century Books, 2000.
Harris, Nathaniel. The Rise of Hitler. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2004.

 

Kirk, Tim. Nazi Germany. Basingstoke [England]: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

 

Lethbridge, Chris, and Jeremy Noakes. The Rise of the Nazi Party. Silver Spring, MD: Athena, 2014.

 

Long, Rose-Carol Washton, Ida Katherine Rigby, and Stephanie Barron. German Expressionism: Documents from the End of the Wilhelmine Empire to the Rise of National Socialism. New York: G.K. Hall, 1993.

 

Lynch, Michael J. Understand Nazi Germany. London: Teach Yourself, 2012.
Mayers, David Allan. FDR’s Ambassadors and the Diplomacy of Crisis: From the Rise of Hitler to the End of World War II. 2013.

 

Nardo, Don. Adolf Hitler. San Diego, Calif: Lucent Books, 2003.
Nicholls, A. J. “Hitler and Republican Instability.” Weimar and the Rise of Hitler, 1991, 71-82. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-21337-5_6.

 

Nicholls, Anthony James. Weimar and the Rise of Hitler. London: Macmillan, 1968.

 

Ryan, John, and Et Al. Hitler: the rise of evil. [LaCrosse, WI]: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, 2013.

 

Satyanath, Shanker, Nico Voigtllnder, and Hans-Joachim Voth. “Bowling for Fascism: Social Capital and the Rise of the Nazi Party.” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2014. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2464115.
Welch, David. Nazi Propaganda: The Power and the Limitations. London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis, 2015.

 

 

[1]                Joachim Fest C. The Face of the Third Reich: Portraits of the Nazi Leadership (London: I.B. Tauris, 2011) 21

[2]              Joseph Bendersky W. A Concise History of Nazi Germany (2013) 32

 

[3]              Thomas Chiders. Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany (Simon & Schuster, Incorporated, 2017) 55

 

[4]               David Allan Mayers. FDR’s Ambassadors and the Diplomacy of Crisis: From the Rise of Hitler to the End of World War II (2013) 72

 

[5]            James Buckley. Adolf Hitler (2017) 197

[6]                Ted Gottfried, and Stephen Alcorn. Nazi Germany: the face of tyranny (Brookfield, Conn: Twenty-First Century Books,2000) 64

[7]              Tim Kirk. Nazi Germany (Basingstoke [England]: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) 41

 

[8]               Chris Lethbridge, and Jeremy Noakes. The Rise of the Nazi Party (Silver Spring, MD: Athena, 2014) 87

 

[9]              Nathaniel Harris. The Rise of Hitler (Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2004) 68

 

[10]              Susan Bachrach D., Edward J. Phillips, and Steven Luckert. State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda (Washington, D.C.: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2009) 112

[11]              Don Nardo. Adolf Hitler (San Diego, Calif: Lucent Books, 2003) 59

[12]              Rose-Carol Long Washton, Ida Katherine Rigby, and Stephanie Barron. German Expressionism: Documents from the End of the Wilhelmine Empire to the Rise of National Socialism (New York: G.K. Hall, 1993) 92

 

[13]             John Rayan, and Et Al. Hitler: the rise of evil ([LaCrosse, WI]: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, 2013) 35

 

[14]              David Welch. Nazi Propaganda: The Power and the Limitations (London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis, 2015) 77

 

[15]             A. J Nichollas. “Hitler and Republican Instability.” (Weimar and the Rise of Hitler, 1991) 76

[16]              Joseph Bendersky W. A Concise History of Nazi Germany (2013) 58

 

[17]             Anthony James, Nicholls. Weimar and the Rise of Hitler (London: Macmillan, 1968) 101

 

[18]             Nathaniel, Harris. The Rise of Hitler (Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2004) 92

 

[19]          Joseph W, Bendersky. A Concise History of Nazi Germany (2013) 74

 

[20]          Thomas Childers. Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany (Simon & Schuster, Incorporated, 2017) 82

 

[21]          Ted, Gottfried and Stephen Alcorn. Nazi Germany: the face of tyranny (Brookfield, Conn: Twenty-First Century Books, 2000) 121
 

[22]          James M, Glass. Life Unworthy of Life: Racial Phobia and Mass Murder in Hitler’s Germany (New York: Basic Books, 1997) 45

 

[23]          James M, Glass. Life Unworthy of Life: Racial Phobia and Mass Murder in Hitler’s Germany (New York: Basic Books, 1997) 52

 

[24]          Rose-Carol, Long Washton, Ida Katherine Rigby, and Stephanie Barron. German Expressionism: Documents from the End of the Wilhelmine Empire to the Rise of National Socialism (New York: G.K. Hall, 1993) 112

 

[25]          John, Ryan and Et Al. Hitler: the rise of evil ([LaCrosse, WI]: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, 2013) 89

 

[26]          Michael J, Lynch. Understand Nazi Germany (London: Teach Yourself, 2012) 135

 

[27]           F. L, Carsten. The Rise of Fascism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967) 122

 

[28]           John, Ryan and Et Al. Hitler: the rise of evil ([LaCrosse, WI]: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, 2013) 158

 

[29]          Shanker, Satyanath, Nico Voigtllnder, and Hans-Joachim Voth. “Bowling for Fascism: Social Capital and the Rise of the Nazi Party.” (SSRN Electronic Journal, 2014)

[30]           Chris, Lethbridge, and Jeremy Noakes. The Rise of the Nazi Party (Silver Spring, MD: Athena, 2014) 162

 

[31]          Joachim C, Fest. The Face of the Third Reich: Portraits of the Nazi Leadership (London: I.B. Tauris, 2011) 174

[32]           David, Welch. Nazi Propaganda: The Power and the Limitations (London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis, 2015) 145

 

[33] Nathaniel, Harris. The Rise of Hitler (Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2004)

 

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