Nazi Germany as a Totalitarian State
Goebbels once said "the aim of the Nationalist Socialist Revolution must be a totalitarian state, which will permeate all aspects of public life"
In reality to put this into practise was a lot more difficult. From the outside, people assume that the Nazis had brainwashed every German citizen during their reign. By booking more closely, through Germanys archives we can see a better picture of what Germany was really like. Totalitarian states must have a number of things, primarily being one main leader, government control of all aspects of life and create committed members of state.
In 'Weimar and Nazi Germany' by John Hite and Chris Hinton, they give
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Historians who believed this view are Mommsen and Broszat.
However, the current consensus is that he was a bit of both. The Nazi policy reflected Hitler's overall vision. He didn't initiate many policies (i.e. a ' non-interventionalsit dictator'). Kershaw believes that Hitler's view was uncontested and there was no effective opposition to him. His image as an infallible leader was kept, as he didn't get involved in faction fighting which came with this chaotic government. This lead to the people of Germany liking Hitler more than the actual party. When dealing with potential rivals he was certainly not weak. He was the source of power if you wanted to get ahead in the party, and so you had to be careful with your actions. For instance, Goebbels was cold shouldered in the 'good years' until Hitler needed him again in 1942 to produce propaganda to unite the German people when the war was looking bad. A chaotic government suited him as it fitted in with his personality, and he didn't want to be associated with failing Nazi policies, and the system fitted in with belief in Social Darwinism. He was not a master in the 3rd Reich, as he didn't enjoy absolute authority. He had to work with his limitations, for example he had to be aware of the mood of the German people, be cautious in his dealings with the elite and be cautious when
In The Nazi Seizure of Power by William Sheridan Allen, the author is able to show the reader the support building strategy used by the Nazi party in Northeim and surrounding areas. Allen's thesis is that Nazi party was able to succeed the village of Northeim and else where because they were able to reach out the lower and middle class. Since these classes held the majority of the population, the Nazi party discovered what they wanted from government officials and then used that to persuade these classes to vote for them. To give you a background of the village of Northeim is vital to the understanding of how this party could have come in and take over the political scene so quickly.
Germany was believed to be the cause of World War one, which made other European countries want to severely hurt Germany’s military and economy so that Germany couldn’t achieve future aggressions. The peace treaty called the Treaty of Versailles did just that. On June 28, 1919, the major powers in Europe, other than Germany, negotiated Germany’s punishment for the war. Germany’s military was limited to 100,000 men, they lost many of their colonies, they were forced to disarm their troops from the Rhineland, and worst of all they were forced to pay for all of the destruction caused by the war, which totaled to about 40 billion dollars. The Treaty of Versailles crushed Germany; they were weak and desperate, until Nazi Germany came to power.
The Change of the Treatment of the Nazis from 1939-1945 On January 20th 1942 an important meeting took place where fifteen high-ranking Nazi party and governmental leaders gathered for an important meeting that lasted around 90 minutes. The meeting was known as the wannsee conference and the purpose was to discuss "the final solution". This involved many different strategies to help get rid of the Jews in Europe. After the conference the number of killings in the streets increased, deportation and mass murders escalated within a month of the conference taking place, all centers were ready for murder.
Due to the failure of the Weimar Republic and general public dissatisfaction arising from poor economic conditions exacerbated by the Treaty of Versailles, coupled with the 1929 Wall Street Crash, German citizens were understandably desperate for change. Until this point in time the Nazi party, and Hitler, had been essentially unpopular. However, the economic situation ensured Hitler’s increasing popularity as the people looked toward more extreme but non-communist ideals. The initial consolidation of Nazi power in 1933 arose from key events such as the support of the Nationalist Party with the Nazis to form a coalition government, implementation of the Enabling
The Totalitarian Aspects of Nazi Germany The government of Nazi Germany was a fascist, totalitarian state. They ruled in Germany ever since Hitler became chancellor in 1933, to 1945. Totalitarianism was a form of government in which the state involves itself in all facts of society, including the daily life of its citizens. It penetrates and controls all aspects of public and private life, through the state's use of propaganda, terror and technology.
Hitler as a Totalitarian Dictator Before I begin to answer the question, "to what extent was Hitler a totalitarian dictator", I must first expand on the meanings of these two widely used political terms. In the "Reader's Digest Great Encyclopaedic Dictionary", the definition of totalitarian dictator is as follows: "Totalitarian (adjective). Of, pertaining to, régime which permits no rival loyalties or parties and arrogates to itself all rights including those normally belonging to individuals. "
report. The segments include political/legal forces, economic forces, social forces, technological forces, and threats and opportunities which are facing the company.
Samuel Johnson, a British author, once stated, “To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labor tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution”. While ambition is extremely crucial to everyone’s goals, it is important to know when boundaries need to be put in place. This touches base with Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” character of Macbeth. With ambition being a very strong suit of him, he also does not know where to set his own boundaries. Because of his choices, Macbeth is responsible for his own fate.
Hitler’s rise to power was the result of many factors, but Hitler’s ability to take advantage of Germany’s poor leadership and economical and political conditions was the most significant factor. His ability to manipulate the media and the German public whilst taking advantage of Germany’s poor leadership resulted in both the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Hitler and the nazi party. During the early 1920s, Germany was struggling with economic instability and political uncertainty. Germany, after being defeated in the Great War, was forced to sign the unforgiving treaty of Versailles, which the Weimar Republic was held responsible for. This brought forward feelings of fear, anger and
Starving. You are starving. According to Germany during the Great Depression you would have been out of work and hungry for many years now. You take your trillion marks down to the corner store, wait in line, claw and fight your way for the last couple of items and then find out when you get to the cashier that due to the ever growing inflation your trillions of marks won’t be enough for a single loaf of bread, as is life in Germany in the late 20’s and early 30’s. According to Commanding Heights: The German Inflation most people especially the young have grown up in these terrible conditions were it was more cost effective to take the German marks and burn and use them as wallpaper than as actual money. Around this time you hear about a
The reasons for the rise of the Nazi Dictatorship of the 1930’s and 40’s have been a topic much debated upon by historians for decades. Arguably the most prominent theory is the idea of a “Sonderweg” or special path taken by Germany that “deviates from the normal path to modernity… the British way, the first and therefore classical model.” There is ample evidence of a “Sonderweg” throughout Wilhelmine/Bismarckian Germany, from the lack of a real democracy in 1871 to attempts to repress threats through policies such as Kulturkampf and the anti-Socialist laws. There is also evidence in Weimar Germany, such as the structural weaknesses of the constitution, for example proportional representation and Article 48. There is, however, evidence
Two totalitarian regimes which are both political systems and influenced society significantly are Communism and Nazism. They influenced and changed people’s rights, their views on things and people in general. Communism and Nazism are the two totalitarian systems I’m going to talk about. They were spread in different areas, but both of them caused big consequences. Communism started in Russian and spread around in Eastern Europe and Nazism started in Germany and spread in that area. People have gone through many bad times when those two totalitarian systems were in power, but we can’t always say that people’s lives were better before they were in power.
Nazi Germany: A Totalitarian State? The purpose of this essay is to explain whether Nazi Germany was a totalitarian state or not. Totalitarian state means when all aspects of life within a country are under the total control of a person or group, this is often referred to as a dictator. The aspects of life in Nazi Germany that I am going to examine are young people, women, the church, employment, leisure time, propaganda and censorship.
The Holocaust is most well-known for the organized and inhumane extermination of more than six million Jews. The death total of the Jews is this most staggering; however, other groups such as Gypsies, Poles, Russians, political groups, Jehovah’s witnesses, and homosexuals were targeted as well (Holocaust Encyclopedia: Introduction to the Holocaust). The initial idea of persecuting select groups of people began with Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany. In January 1930, Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany after winning over its people with powerful and moving speeches. From this point forward, it was a goal for both Hitler and his Nazi Party to rid the world of deemed “inferior” groups of people (Holocaust Encyclopedia: Timeline
The leaders of the Nazi party made it one of the most infamous groups to lead a nation in history. The horrible things done under their rule and with their stamp of approval has made the term Nazi one of the worst possible. The amazing thing about the Nazi party is that many of the main aspects of their ideology existed in Germany even before they formed or came to power. Some of the major aspects of Nazi ideology such as antisemitism, the desire to expand the German empire, and the belief in the strength of the Aryan race existed in Germany years before Adolf Hitler was a name anyone in Germany would recognize.