Five Brothers and a War

Hitler’s Rise to Power

With the government’s attempts to control the hostilities between the Nazis and the Communists, came attention from the greater German population, which in turn created support for their anti-government messages and sympathy for the plight of the Nazi Party. In an amazing turnaround from the elections of 1928, the 1930 election saw a huge increase in Nazi Party support. The Nazis got about 18% of the vote, which translated to 107 seats in the Reichstag (The Weimar Republic’s Parliament). This propelled them to be the second most powerful party, realizing that in a system with many political parties, governments were always minority governments which required coalitions with other parties in order to gain sufficient strength to form a workable structure. The year 1930 was also when the Nazis, through the SA, began significant violence against the Jews. Anti-Semitism (technically the term is inaccurate, as the Semitic people are those speaking a Semitic language, which includes Arabs) was a central theme of Nazism because one of the bonding agents of their anti-Weimar message was that World War I was not so much the fault of the Germans as it was the fault of the Jewish bankers who profited from both the Central and Entente Powers by creating the financial means to fund both sides of the war. As the Jews controlled the banking industry, along with the jewelry industry, and owned many other businesses that prospered at the hands of the Germans, they were an easy target. Few things can be as unifying as a common enemy. For example, despite the enormous chasm created between the Democratic and Republican Parties in the U.S. presidential election of 2000 that resulted in the election of George W. Bush, less than nine months after inauguration, on September 11, the nation was instantly unified because of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C. President Bush’s approval shot from about 50% in August 2001 to almost 90% a few weeks later. So the making of the Jews as a scapegoat was politically expedient. In modern parlance, it “polled well”. As one provocative act against the Jews unified and galvanized the populace, the stage for another act was set. On October 13, 1930, a group of brownshirts smashed the windows of Jewish-owned shops in central Berlin, at the Potsdamer Platz (“Potsdam Square”). Hitler was among the first politicians to use airplanes to campaign. In fact, he was well ahead of his time in many other ways as well. All of his campaign appearances were carefully stage-managed. Consistency of message, backdrops, leaflets, colors, and all aspects of the campaign were highly orchestrated. Events always started late, so tensions and anticipation increased. When the event finally did start, brownshirts marched in to loud and rousing music. Then when it was time for Hitler to speak, he started off slowly, deliberately and softly. As he moved through his speech, his cadence increased, as did the pitch of his voice, until finally it all reached a crescendo and the audience was left in a frenzy. Hitler’s style was mesmerizing, but so was his message. Against the bleak backdrop of Weimar Germany, he offered jobs to those without, and he offered prosperity to business and industry owners. He appealed to communists by offering to rid

nazi germany

Five Brothers and a War

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