The Nazi Party Was Able to Gain Power Because of the Appeal of Hitler’s Personality Discuss.

The Nazi party was able to gain power because of the appeal of Hitler’s personality Discuss.

Post war Germany was certainly no utopia; there was famine, depression, anarchy and social upheaval. The general citizens were all desperately searching for someone to take charge of the situation, and someone did, the Nazi party. The Nazi party was able to gain power for a number of reasons; they used the last Weimar government’s mistakes to their advantage, they also used their current state of economic troubles to leverage people on to their side, but they also used the help of a man, Hitler; they used Hitler’s charismatic personality to gain popularity with the masses, the majority of people thought Hitler sounded like the only man to lead them out of their financial troubles, and their embarrassment after loosing the first world war. On paper Hitler looked great too; firstly Hitler was a war hero, having won two iron crosses in the First World War, he was opportunistic and got many disillusioned people to believe in Germany again by offering a way out of the depression furthermore he was passionate about his country and its dignity, determined to tear up the much loathed treaty of Versailles. To match his strong views he was also a strongly motivating public speaker who could engage even some of his most harsh critics. The Nazi party gained much support from the appeal of Hitler’s personality; they were able to use him to enforce the Nazi beliefs and ideals to the everyday person. The people were so enraptured by him that the Nazi party gained further power from his popularity.

In the First World War Hitler found his true identity, he became a devoted soldier he “never complained about the hardship or conditions and never sought leave” (Mason, 2004). Hitler is attributed with saying that the war was “the greatest and most unforgettable time of my life”. He often undertook dangerous missions, like taking messages to the front line, and because of this bravery he was awarded 5 medals in total including two iron crosses for “personal bravery and general merit” (Mason, 2004). Germany as a whole generally appreciated honor and bravery above “men in top-hats”, and here Hitler was, a war hero, he was just the type of leader that Germany wanted. The Nazi party used his status as a propaganda tool,

Hitler was an amazing public speaker one man who was a witness to one of Hitler’s speeches said “when he spoke…I felt ready to spring on any enemy” (Mason, 2004). This quality of Hitler’s was of great use to the Nazi party, as people would come from all over to hear him talk. At the very beginning when the party only had 200 members “he presented the party's official program … there were almost 2000 present.” This was an amazing feat because before this the party had gained little attention from the people, now, all of a sudden everyone wanted to hear what this inspired man had to say. All this attention was of great help to the small party, so from then on Hitler become their mouth piece to the people. Hitler would practice for hours on end getting every action and tone just right. Hitler believed in using “simple concepts that were constantly repeated” ( Mason, 2004) this worked well as it drilled his message into the audiences head, the listeners no matter what intelligence were able to understand what he was saying. Hitler also believed that “the spoken word was always more effective than the written word” (Mason, 2004)it was understanding like this that allowed him to really get through to the common people, he could always manage to rile up excitement in a crowd, especially if he had left them for an hour waiting – a technique he often used to build up suspense. Using Hitler as the poster man the Nazi party soon became a well known name they used this to their advantage, winning over the public that were now noticing more and more this little right wing party, by getting Hitler to constantly give speeches they were penetrating into the majority of people’s heads the Nazi beliefs and ideals. One of the main themes in Hitler’s speeches was nationalism and he would frequently deliver speeches about the treaty of Versailles and how it had shamed the country.

The Treaty of Versailles created economic conditions where Hitler's populist message could gain a hearing. One of the things that people enjoyed hearing most was Hitler’s declaration to tear up the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty had caused the German people much hardship and poverty since it had been signed. It left them with a feeling of “bitterness and humiliation” (Mason, 2004). The majority of people were having to make sacrifices so that the government could pay off this debt that they didn’t even want to sign in the first place. The treaty symbolized everything they lost after losing the war, and it seemed that their humiliation would not cease until this debt was gone. Hitler understood this well, being extremely nationalistic himself he knew the importance of freeing Germany from these bonds. When he spoke of disregarding the clauses of the treaty a large amount of people got excited they believed that there finally was a man who would restore Germany’s pride .The Nazis were able to gain from Hitler’s wide spread support and use this to their advantage by making this one of their main policies. Another policy that the Nazi’s focused on was improving the German economy which was in a dire condition during the depression.

Germany’s economy was going well through the “steady years”of 1923-1929 but things turned ugly fast in late 1929 when the depression hit. Many German citizens were living in virtual poverty with a massive 29.9% of registered unemployment in 1933 .Hitler understood what it was like to live with no money he knew how desperate the people were. He used this to his advantage soon “the large number of unemployed saw support for extremist parties of the right rose rapidly”(Bidgood, Calvert, et al 2006). With the Nazi party backing him Hitler made promises to the people of a better way of life. Hitler gave the public a vision of a new society, one where business would be booming and one where they the Germans would not have to grovel for pity from other countries. All of this sounded wonderful to a large portion of the public there as there was a way out, they could be free of poverty if they supported this man. Because Hitler’s vision of a new utopian society appealed to the public the Nazi party were able to benefit from the on surge of support from the public, this support gained, then helped them with their rise into power.