HITLER AND THE LEADERSHIP OF THE NAZI PARTY
- Hitler was a German soldier during World War One
- He hated the Treaty of Versailles and wanted someone to blame for it
- Chose to blame the communists, Jews and the Weimar government
- He was employed by the German army to spy on extremist groups
- In September 1919 he was asked to spy on a small extremist political group called the German Workers’ Party (DAP), led by Anton Drexler
- It had 6 members
- Hitler was impressed by the party’s ideas so he joined as party member number 7
- Drexler wanted to appeal to the working class and nationalists
- Hitler realised he had more chance of leading a small group than a large mainstream party
- In February 1920 Hitler was put in charge of propaganda for the DAP
- He used their funds to buy control of The Munich Observer
- On 24th February Hitler advertised a meeting of the party and 2000 people attended
- He insisted on the German Workers Party getting a new name = National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NSDAP) or Nazis as they became known
- Hitler announced a 25 point programme
- It became quickly apparent that he had a talent for public speaking
- He confidently challenged Drexler’s leadership in 1921 and took over the Nazi Party
KEY FEATURES OF THE EARLY NAZI PARTY 1920-22
By 1922 the Nazi Party had spread from its Munich base into other areas of Germany and had reached 6000 members
How had this happened?
SWASTIKA
- Hitler designed the flag
- Used 3 colours of the German flag under the Kaiser but had them reworked
- Red = socialist, White = nationalist, Swastika = racial views
HITLER
- Talented public speaker
- Rehearsed his speeches so he could give a dramatic build up to his words
- Studied photos of himself to ensure he got the right gestures in place
SA
- Set up in 1921 – Sturm Abteilung/Stormtroopers (SA)
- Attracted many ex-soldiers who liked the idea of being part of a disciplined force, particularly one that was against the government of the Weimar Republic like they were
- Disrupted meetings of Hitler’s opponents and often beat up members of the audience
- Dealt with hecklers in Nazi Party meetings
- Known as ‘Brownshirts’ (uniform)
- Ernst Rohm = leader of the SA had been a member of the original German Workers’ Party
PARTY PROGRAMME
- Hitler kept this deliberately vague so it could appeal to as many different types of people as possible
- Some of its aims were to: destroy the Treaty of Versailles, rearm Germany, give workers shares in company profits, share out land to everyone, blame Jews for losing the First World War
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