Why did Hitler and the n**i party become so popular in Germany?

Question

Why did Hitler and the n**i party become so popular in Germany?

Answer 1

The n***s became excellent propagandists, deflecting all criticism and everything wrong with the country onto perceived enemies. Goebbels was a master at this method. Germany was in a time of economic duress, but so was most of the world and there were other parties in Germany offering options, but the n***s pushed the right buttons....see Nuremburg Rallies for reference.

Answer 2

It's a common misconception that Hitler was accepted into power. No one but the President bought him on board - and even he was reluctant.

I shall explain what happened simply, otherwise it will be about 15 pages long - I did a project on it:

Hindenburg, the German President at this time, needed a strong Chancellor to help him with the running and rebuilding of the country - the government that kept being elected were coalition governments and kept collapsing and/or being voted out. Hindenburg kept on refusing Hitler the place of Chancellor, as he was very suspicious of Hitler and n**i policies. However, skip a few years to 1933, when the number of n**i supporters had actually fallen, and you will see that Hindenburg was desperate for a new Chancellor.

Von Papen, the German Chancellor, and Hindenburg met secretly with army leaders, industrialists and politicians and announced, on the 30th January 1933, that Hitler would become Chancellor of Germany, with Von Papen dropping down to Vice Chancellor. Hindenburg thought he could control Hitler and the n***s, so only allowed two other n***s, as well as Hitler, to be in parliament. Hindenburg was desperate and Hitler was his only hope.

Then, if we skip, again, to the summer of 1934, you can see that Hitler has already managed to become the Dictator (Fuhrer) of Germany. This was managed not through the love of the people, as most thought Hitler wouldn't survive as Chancellor for long, but rather through cunning, tactics and devious methods.

He already had the support of industrialists and peasants, so needed the support of the army. To do this he proved to the army that he was loyal to Germany rather than the n***s by killing all of his SA officers - as the army were wary of the SA and it's power. So, with the SA abolished and it's members merged into the SS and its leaders killed, the army supported Hitler and were made to make an oath of personal loyalty to Hitler when he became Fuhrer - when they normally made an oath to Germany, not the leader.

When Hindenburg died (naturally, I might add, not by Hitler's hand) Hitler decided that, seeing as there was no one more powerful than him but Hindenburg (who was now dead) and he was in a strong position, he would just take power. As you know, he was a fascist and he believed in natural selection and just taking power when it was wanted.

Everyone was made to make a personal oath, people like the army, courts, police (who were now the Gestapo and SS) and service men.

By the summer of 1934 Adolf Hitler, an Austrian born, brown haired, brown eyed, part Jewish, extreme fascist man, took complete power of Germany.

Answer 3

The same way any political party becomes popular, by telling people what they want to hear. They promised econimic stability and to an extent came through.

Answer 4

Germany was in a state of economic and moral depression after WWI. Hitler had a lot of charisma and was good at giving speeches and rallying people. He gave them promises of reviving the greatness of Germany. The desperate German people saw him as a heroic man who would bring them out of their misery and make their country strong again. At the time, they didn't realize that he was a lunatic who would cause such a travesty, they just saw him as being a good leader who would bring them victory. He was able to raise their spirit of patriotism (which grew to nationalism) with his words and ideas. He also promoted fierce enmity. He caused them to practically worship him, which resulted in his terrible prejudices being planted in their heads.

Answer 5

If I remember rightly from my A-level studies, it was to do with the popular message they promised of reviving German greatness, which had been lost with WWI. They promised reviving the economy, restoring lost territory, getting rid of the politicians whom they blamed for the country's poor state of affairs. This is only a fraction of the reasons which I can recall.

Hope that helps.

Good luck

Answer 6

Its not so much about "popularity" as much as it was actually Hitler's determination and manoevres to get into power and dominate and force his rule, and then outlaw democracy.  Check your history in detail instead of getting "thoughts and feelings" from people who don't know it.  

He got into power by combining other party politicians into a coalition.  Without doing that, he would have simply not got into power.  After combining a co-alition, he betrayed his governing partners and wiped them out (black shirts,  night of the long knives, etc), then declared the end of democracy and his plans for 1000 yrs of his own party's rule instead.  When a dictator does that, there is only one party ruling, and anyone that didn't go along with his plans and anyone that would go against him would be dead.  German people were stuck in that system.  Its not popularity, that's dictatorship.  Why do people deny that  or conveniently forget that, and imagine that most people voted for him ?

Its not popularity.  He was determined by hook or crook to get power, and people didn't have a choice but to go along or die.

He was a dictator.

Answer 7

Hitler attempted to gain a following after WWI but did not have much success until the economy began to decline. This was partly due to the natural tendency of economies decline in a postwar period in combination with the heavy reparations put on Germany. This was combined with the fact that Germany was economically damaged following the war and could not possibly pay these damages. This all worsened with the onset of the depression in the US. This marked the begin of a worldwide depression in all economically developed countries.

As I always say -- When people are down and out, they listen to people they would not listen to during reasonable economic times. This all made Hitler look more appealing. He was taken into the government with the idea that he could be controlled -- wrong!!

Answer 8

Wish I had more time to answer.  Most people in Germany hadn't heard of 'the final solution' or any of the goings on at concentration camps, so their support of Hitler and the n***s was not support of the atrocities they have come to be best known for.  I saw a documentary that office workers sending reports about how many people were being imprisoned and killed had no idea that the 'units' in their reports were people.

Hitler took power in Germany at a time when the spirit of the nation was poor--there was the depression, their recent humiliation in WWI and the brutal treaty that followed it.  Hitler told them that it wasn't their fault, found someone to blame, and gave everyone that feeling of patriotism and glory again--he made them proud to be German, and gave them a bright outlook for their future.

Answer 9

THEY MADE THE TRAINS RUN ON TIME! THEY MADE IT POSSIBLE TO PAY LESS THAN 30 MILLION DUETSCHMARKS FOR A LOAF OF BREAD!THEY OFFERED PRIDE AND HOPE BACK TO A COUNTRY THAT WAS FORCED TO GIVE REPARATIONS TO THE ALLIES:LIKE 13,000 TRAIN CARS EVERY YEAR BUILT AT THEIR OWN EXPENSE TO THE FRENCH!REPARATIONS WAS A THOROUGHLY NEW CONCEPT!!THE FRENCH WERE UNTIL WORLD WAR ONE ALWAYS THE AGRESSOR!!THEY NEVER PAID WAR REPARATIONS FOR THE DAMAGES CAUSED BY NAPOLEON OVER THE MAP OF THE WORLD!GERMANS CAN BE UTTERLY EFFICIENT IN ANY TYPE OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISE;EPECIALLY AS REGARDS THE INVENTION OF THE MACHINERY OF WAR...NOT SURPRISINGLY THEY WERE TIRED OF BEING UNDER THE THUMBS OF SECOND-RATE NATIONS..HAS BEENS OF A BYGONE ERA!BUT FOR SEVERAL CRUCIAL MISTAKES,MISCALCULATIONS AND JUST PLAIN "BAD LUCK" THEY COULD HAVE WON WORLD WAR TWO ALOT BETTER THAN THEY ALREADY HAVE!!VOLKWAGEN,PORSHE,BMW,AUDI,MERCEDES... PART OF THEIR THOUSAND YEAR REICH!PAPA FERDINAND PORSHE THE DESIGNER OF THE n***s' BEST TANKS AND MACHINERY WOULD BE SO PROUD OF GERMANY'S PROGRESS!

Answer 10

Germans were so desperate for change and economic revival that they would turn to anybody who promised to help. It turned out that Hitler didn't help anybody, but was a raging lunatic assh*le.

Answer 11

germany was in a depression and more over they felt shortchanged from the versailis treaty froom WWI. the n**i party and hitler prommised to make living much better in germany. the public had no idea of the "final solution" or anything llike that

Answer 12

the same reason that people love barak obama and hillary clinton....stupidity....

Answer 13

Germany was punished after WWI, and many Germans were resentful of Europe and the United States for the unfair Treaty of Versailles. Thus, when Hitler came to power, claiming that the Germans should be doing better, he was accepted.

Answer 14

Just remember the n**i Party was a "National Socialist" party.  Just like the Communist Party, their core belief was that government should take care of you (as they defined it).  The only significant difference was that the n**i's were "Nationalistic" and the Communists more "Internationalist".  

So, listen carefully what politicians say and measure their promises against your self-interest and freedoms.

Answer 15

Hitler and the n**i Party had three basic advantages over all the other political parties:

First, there was Hitler himself. He was both a powerful speaker, and a brilliant organizer. When Hitler joined the n**i Party he was only its fourteenth member--but he hit upon the idea of making his party number 514, to make it appear that the party was larger than it was.  He also redirected its membership rolls toward the unemployed and disaffected soldiers believing--correctly--that they would be grateful for both orders and food. Hitler also received coaching in speeches and public performances from exp[erts and dramatists. Every single one of his public appearaces were choreographed for maximum visual and theatrical impact.

Second, the n**i Party appealed to the mass audience through sheer simplicity. The party's early message was easy: jobs, prosperity, and money. The n***s held mass rallies with free food and beer and promised an end to unemployment. Who wouldn't go for that? To that end, when they took power, Hitler put financial wizard Hjalmar Schacht in charge, who applied KIeynesian economics (with brutal efficiency) and reduced the unemployment rate to virtually nothing in a matter of months.

Third, the n***s gave the people somebody to blame. Hitler appealed to the cruel streak in human nature by saying that a specific group of people were at fault for the country's woes. So long as people could take out their frustrations on the Jews, or Gypsies, or whoever, people felt better about themselves.

There were other reasons why the n***s prospered, of course: organization, logistics, wealthy patrons, easy military victories, etc., but those first three are the main ones.

Answer 16

They were having a lot of economic problems following the Treaty of Versailles which pretty much put all of the blame from World War I on Germany... (people burning money because it was cheaper than burning coal)

Hitler was simply a low level politician who managed to lift the Germans spirits. He blamed their problems on a lot of different factors, and as he grew in popularity, he began focusing on blaming the Jewish population.

He was something of a hero to them, bringing them out of the rut, and in the fanfare a lot of people seemed to loose themselves and their personal opinions, as is common in such situations.

... to simplify a huge topic.

Answer 17

This question takes in so much of history and life, and sorrow.  Meanwhile, there is a definitive essay by Eli Siegel, the founder of Aesthetic Realism, on the cause of war.  Everyone should read it.  In it he explains why Hitler and the n***s appealed to the German people, and what that has to do with history and culture in general and our own personal lives today:  

http://www.aestheticrealism.net/tro/tro1...