in History, Professor's Classroom 306 Words

What Were They Thinking?

A history lesson for a Tuesday…..

Most everyone who has a TV knows the Adolf Hitler was the leader of Nazi Germany….but how many realize that he was elected to the Reichstag in 1932…

The Nazis’ rise to power fascinated me…so in my younger days I found a good book that help me understand what the German people were thinking….

The Nazi Voter

The first study based on a large national sample of both urban and rural districts examines the Nazi constituency — how it was formed, from which social groups, under what conditions, and with what promises. Using advanced statistical techniques to analyze each national election of the Weimar era, Childres offers a new and challenging interpretation of who voted for Hitler’s NSDAP and why. He also provides a systematic examination of Nazi campaign strategy.

The Nazis didn’t just seize power—they were voted in. It’s hard to imagine, but there was a time when Adolf Hitler was a name on a ballot in a democratic election. He was openly fascist and anti-Semitic, but the people chose to make him their leader. They supported him while he dissolved democracy.

That book left as many questions as it answered…..

It’s easy to write off the rise of Nazism as a momentary lapse of reason, but the truth isn’t that simple. The people who voted for Hitler really thought they were making the best choice.

There were many reasons that the German people voted for and elected Hitler to represent them…..the top ten is listed below….

10 Reasons The German People Elected Adolf Hitler

Interesting how the people change their thinking to help a despot rise to power under the guise of “democracy”….

Thank God humanity has grown beyond this type of craziness….(sarcasm in case you missed it)…..

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

10 thoughts on “What Were They Thinking?”

  2. The Nazi Party never garnered much more than a third of the popular vote. Hitler’s rise to power is a complex mix of populist angst triggered by the Treaty of Versailles and subsequent economic depression, the rise of political extremism, warring factions, grave miscalculations by the centrist establishment, and the egregious capitulation by one Paul von Hindenburg. Here’s a summary from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler's_rise_to_power

    The Nazi Party lost 35 seats in the November 1932 election, but remained the Reichstag’s largest party, with 196 seats (33.1%). The Social Democrats (SPD) won 121 seats (20.4%) and the Communists (KPD) won 100 (16.9%).

    The Comintern described all moderate left-wing parties as “social fascists”, and urged the Communists to devote their energies to the destruction of the moderate left. As a result, the KPD, following orders from Moscow, rejected overtures from the Social Democrats to form a political alliance against the NSDAP.

    After Chancellor Papen left office, he secretly told Hitler that he still held considerable sway with President Hindenburg and that he would make Hitler chancellor as long as he, Papen, could be the vice chancellor. Another notable event was the publication of the Industrielleneingabe, a letter signed by 22 important representatives of industry, finance and agriculture, asking Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as chancellor. Hindenburg reluctantly agreed to appoint Hitler as chancellor after the parliamentary elections of July and November 1932 had not resulted in the formation of a majority government. Hitler headed a short-lived coalition government formed by the NSDAP and the German National People’s Party (DNVP).

    On 30 January 1933, the new cabinet was sworn in during a brief ceremony in Hindenburg’s office. The NSDAP gained three posts: Hitler was named chancellor, Wilhelm Frick Minister of the Interior, and Hermann Göring, Minister Without Portfolio (and Minister of the Interior for Prussia).[75][76] The SA and SS led torchlit parades throughout Berlin. It is this event that would become termed Hitler’s Machtergreifung (“seizure of power”). The term was originally used by some Nazis to suggest a revolutionary process,[77] though Hitler, and others, used the word Machtübernahme (“take-over of power”), reflecting that the transfer of power took place within the existing constitutional framework[77] and suggesting that the process was legal.[78][79]

    Papen was to serve as Vice-Chancellor in a majority conservative Cabinet – still falsely believing that he could “tame” Hitler.[58] Initially, Papen did speak out against some Nazi excesses. However, after narrowly escaping death in the Night of the Long Knives in 1934, he no longer dared criticise the regime and was sent off to Vienna as German ambassador.[80]

    […]

    Following the Reichstag fire, the Nazis began to suspend civil liberties and eliminate political opposition. The Communists were excluded from the Reichstag. At the March 1933 elections, again no single party secured a majority. Hitler required the vote of the Centre Party and Conservatives in the Reichstag to obtain the powers he desired. He called on Reichstag members to vote for the Enabling Act on 24 March 1933. Hitler was granted plenary powers “temporarily” by the passage of the Act.[86] The law gave him the freedom to act without parliamentary consent and even without constitutional limitations.[87]

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  3. Hey chuq.. off topic.. just a bit.. 🙂 But I found this by accident…

    https://taskandpurpose.com/veteran-talks-about-penis-transplant

    Now.. before you go thinking.. “Gee, Dougie-boy.. what were you searching on to find this?” 🙂

    Well, I was searching info on presidential salute rendering here….
    https://taskandpurpose.com/sorry-presidential-salute-isnt-real-thing
    …and look on the left list of articles there.

    Although.. it does make one wonder.

    Reply

      1. I was amazed at the science of it all.. and wondered how many of the Vietnam casualties might have benefited from this.

      3. Yep.. if you ignore them long enough then the embarrassment of what happened vanishes with the attrition.

  4. Pingback: Could Germany Have Won World War Two–Part 1? – In Saner Thought

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