Learn about the rise of Adolf Hitler, the Nazi Party, and the antisemitism they fomented in pre-WWII Germany
In 1933 Adolf Hitler's National Socialists were voted into power, and the campaign of terror began. From The Second World War: Prelude to Conflict (1963).
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Satori13/Dreamstime.comLearn how the Nazi Party used a canny mix of propaganda and terror to ascend to power in Germany.
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Transcript
[Music in]
NARRATOR: To the Nazis the depression was a source of great satisfaction. Hitler had built an intricate political organization and a private army of storm troopers dedicated to violence, terror, and Adolf Hitler. Now the Nazi movement grew fat on the wholesale unemployment and discontent.
[Music out]
"Germany will be revenged," he ranted. "A new and greater Reich will rise from the ashes. Every German will have a job and bread." And the hopeless and hungry masses responded [cheering; music in]. In the 1930 election they did well; by 1932 the German people gave the Nazis enough votes to make them the largest party in the Nation. "In the evening the people's will power more easily succumbs to the dominating force of a stronger will," said Hitler. Aided by the failure of German democracy, supported by the selfish interests of the Army and big business, Hitler's star rose.
And the aging President Hindenburg appointed him Chancellor. Once in power, Hitler moved quickly and ruthlessly to crush all opposition.
Into the fire went the books of so-called anti-German writers. He told the newspapers what to print and what to leave out. He persecuted the churches, and began his terrible campaign against the Jews.
With the terror of the Gestapo and the concentration camps he liquidated his political opposition. Surrounded by fanatical henchmen like Hermann Goering, the ex-corporal legislated by decree. Now there was only one law in the Third Reich, a state in which the life and liberty of every German were in the hands of one man --the Fuhrer.
[Music out]
NARRATOR: To the Nazis the depression was a source of great satisfaction. Hitler had built an intricate political organization and a private army of storm troopers dedicated to violence, terror, and Adolf Hitler. Now the Nazi movement grew fat on the wholesale unemployment and discontent.
[Music out]
"Germany will be revenged," he ranted. "A new and greater Reich will rise from the ashes. Every German will have a job and bread." And the hopeless and hungry masses responded [cheering; music in]. In the 1930 election they did well; by 1932 the German people gave the Nazis enough votes to make them the largest party in the Nation. "In the evening the people's will power more easily succumbs to the dominating force of a stronger will," said Hitler. Aided by the failure of German democracy, supported by the selfish interests of the Army and big business, Hitler's star rose.
And the aging President Hindenburg appointed him Chancellor. Once in power, Hitler moved quickly and ruthlessly to crush all opposition.
Into the fire went the books of so-called anti-German writers. He told the newspapers what to print and what to leave out. He persecuted the churches, and began his terrible campaign against the Jews.
With the terror of the Gestapo and the concentration camps he liquidated his political opposition. Surrounded by fanatical henchmen like Hermann Goering, the ex-corporal legislated by decree. Now there was only one law in the Third Reich, a state in which the life and liberty of every German were in the hands of one man --the Fuhrer.
[Music out]
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