The Rise of the Nazi Party

Hello and welcome to the On the Front blog, where we discuss all things WW2.

In this blog, I am going to answer what is probably the most frequently asked question I receive on my tours: How did the Nazi’s come to power?

Berlin in the 1920’s was a bustling cosmopolitan city. Described by Mark Twain as the Chicago of Europe. There was no indication that on a cold grey day in November 7, 1926 and the arrival of the then 29-year-old Joseph Goebbels would forever alter the course of History.

Arriving at Anhalter Bahnhof, Goebbels was tasked with the seemingly impossible target to win support for the National Socialist in the German Capital. By Goebbels own admission Berlin was “the reddest city in Europe besides Moscow” but, by 1933, a combination of political brilliances and the use of brutal street intimidation tactics saw the National Socialists succeed in winning the city.

Remains of Anhalter bahnhof

Potsdamer straße

Shortly after arriving Goebbels made his way to Potsdamer str 109, in the Berlin suburb of Teirgarten and the location of the Party Headquarters in the city. In 1926 the Nazi party was in a desperate state, with only 49,000 members across the country, the situation in Berlin was dyer with only a few hundred members. An official party report on Berlin office (October 1926) described the organisation as “self-destructive and beyond the point of repair”. The office location did not inspire confidence nick named the “opium den” by party members, the basement office reeked of stale beer, cigarettes and sweat.

Appalled by the sorry state of affairs Goebbels immediately got to work reforming the organisation. In a three-hour long speech at an event in the suburb of Spandau, he affirmed his position as regional party leader. He restructured party leadership by removing the “do-nothings” and appointed new section leaders himself. His strategy to win the city rested with the party’s ability to intimate their opponents and emphasised the use of propaganda.

By the end of the year, Goebbels tactics appeared to be working and the party was able to rent what Goebbels described as a more “appropriate office” in the neighbouring Lützow straße. In total the regional party office would relocate on a total of four occasions, each time to larger and more opulent spaces.

Goebbels wanted to show Hitler’s party in its true colours by combating the established left-wing communist KPD and Socialist SPD parties which together held a 52% majority in a full-frontal attack, in a strategy of provocation. The use of street violence to achieve political goals was not a new approach in Germany. In the early crisis years of the Weimar Republic, some 354 German politicians had been murdered by both left- and right-wing paramilitary groups.

With the help of the Sturmabteilung (SA) or brownshirts, Goebbels would turn the streets of Berlin into a violent labyrinth in a prelude of things to come. On the 11th of February 1927, Goebbels held a speech on the “collapse of the Bourgeois Class State” in the Pharussäle, a beautiful beer hall in the communist strong hold of Wedding. The building was unfortunately destroyed during the war.

Pharussäle beerhall

This provoked the communists, who got wind of the event, to storm the hall in an attempt to shut down the speech but the SA whose ranks were filled with young ideologist fought back. The violent brawl saw beer glasses, chairs and tables fly about the room and severely injured many people who attended that night. Despite the injuries it was a huge success for the Goebbels as the SA beat some 200 communists to a pulp and drove them from the hall.
There were reports that some of the most severely injured SA members were quickly bandaged up and brought on stage as heroes. This event would later be romanticised by Goebbels in his propaganda of the victorious struggles of the party in the early days.

Der Angriff

The use of these tactics though would eventually see the Nazi party banned in Berlin. In a creative effort to stay relevant Goebbels establish seemingly harmless groups such as bowling and swimming clubs under the motto “not dead, despite the ban”. The ban would later prove beneficial, with Goebbels establishing his newspaper “Der Angriff” (the attack), serving to show the party as oppressed by the establishment. The ban was lifted during the 1928 elections and Goebbels would see his first electoral success, winning 1.6% of the Berlin vote and 12 seats in the German parliament and from here their success would continue.

The Weimar Republic, Germany’s first democracy was reasonably stable, if only just holding on by its fingernails. This period can only be described as the beginning of Germany tinkering on the brink of civil war. Germany was dealing with hyperinflation as a result of economic mismanagement. The system would see its first proverbial nail in the coffin in late October 1929 in the onset of the Great Depression. Hitler was propelled to near prophet like status, as his previous years of preaching doom and gloom over the harsh conditions of the Versaille Treaty and Germany’s over reliance on foreign loans spelling ultimate economic disaster would come true.

Mass unemployment skyrocketed and the increasing potential for civil unrest balanced on a tinderbox. Lighting spot fires where they could, Goebbels railed against the established parties using his newspaper ‘Der Angrif’ which went from a weekly to daily publication. The majority of support for the Nazi Party in Berlin and indeed broader Germany came primary from the white-collar middle classes, who were especially concerned with social decline, the ever-increasing influence of communism and fear over a Bolshevik revolution.

Lustgarten, Berlin

In Berlin Goebbels, appealed to all unemployed and especially party members to open their homes and offer hot soup and solidarity, in an action he would call “Socialism of action”. It was for all intents and purposes a huge success and saw even the most die-hard of communist members flock to the National Socialist as party was seen as the only organisation to be having any real impact to improve the average Germans situation.

Geobbles speech, Lustgarten 1930

Popularity for the Nazi Party from these events would forever increase, soaring in early 1932 unemployment in Berlin hit 600,000. The Nazi’s held a rally of 80,000 people in the Berlin Lust Garten in a trial run of future events. Goebbels promised the “right to work” and a “socialist Germany that once again gives bread to its people”.

In the months leading to Germany’s last free and open election on the 6th of November 1932, Hitler would work harder than any other political candidate. He crisscrossed the country in an aeroplane, the first politician to use this modern technology in such a way. He would descend from the skies to awaiting crowds in their tens of thousands, promising a brighter future for everyone, even going as far as to promise a husband for every German girl in the Reich.

Goebbels mobilised as many brown shirts as possible to wave the Nazi swastika in the streets, hand out pamphlets and to drive around the streets with posters nailed to the sides of trucks in mobile billboards with speakers attached to ensure the Nazi party was first and foremost in the minds of the German voters.

Hitler at window of the Reichs Chancellory on inauguration, January 30, 1933

The election would see the Nazi’s become the No.1 party in Germany, winning 33.9% of the vote. Although not an outright majority, Hitler was able to form a coalition government known initially as the Reich Cabinet of National Salvation. Later the Hitler Cabinet with the German National People Party taking office on the 30th of January 1933.

It was through these tactics; the Nazi Party was democratically voted into office in Germany. In a future video/blog, I will go into detail on how Hitler would seize full control of the German parliament and become the Führer.

Thank you for reading and I’ll see you next time On the Front.

- Matt