Jews

I cannot think of a darker story than that of the treatment of the Jews under the jurisdiction in throughout duration of the third Reich.  Knowing the result, organized and systematic genocide on an unprecedented level, it doesn’t seem possible to draw a logical progression to the final result from the general European anti-Semitism.  Robert Gellately, in an engaging article, poses a convincing argument in which he illustrates a Nazi Germany in which the mass of the population made possible the enforcement of anti-Jewish legislation that eventually metastasized into the holocaust.  

The forced mass conformity of the third Reich undoubtedly played a role in the development of the holocaust.  After the enactment of the Nuremburg Laws, the first wave of the mass loss of rights for the Jewish community, Gellately reports that a German citizen felt that most Germans “go back and forth or have contradictory opinions” about the treatment of the Jews in Germany.  This response doesn’t seem to be that unnatural.  The Germans, while living in a society that was no stranger to anti-semitism, were a Christian nation, and, as Gellately points out, many Christian leaders attempted to use their influence to ease the difficulties of the Jewish burden.  Unfortunately, this initial humane urge was quickly diminished by the top down surge of hate.  

By 1938, 75 to 80 percent of all Jewish businesses operating in 1933 were liquidated, thus stripping Jews en masse of their livelihoods.  This was only the beginning as the first mass deportation to a concentration camp occurred in the same year, starting a disastrous trend.  As these blatant civil injustices progressed into outright seizure and murder, German citizens seemed to turn their head.  

Dr. Goebbels and his ministry of propaganda played a key role in the development of a murderous psyche.  Owning all facets of German media, the Nazi propaganda machine effectively convinced the German public that, among other social atrocities, the Jews were solely responsible for the second world War.  Gallately states, “Many people in Germany apparently agreed that the Jews started the war, at least if official surveys from that period can be believed.”  The vulnerable German public, which anti-Semitic tendencies, had fallen prey to the intended trap of the Nazi leaders.  

As the “final solution” was put into practice, Germans were repeatedly informed of the mass deportations of Jewish people.  They were not informed of the fate of these persons, and, from all indications, were not concerned.  The turning of a populations’ head to genocide, even under the veil of ignorance, is simply not excusable.  This theme is implicit throughout Gellately’s argument as he asserts that most of the people giving away information about to the Nazi’s were not politically motivated, but in fact fell victim to more sinister personal reasons.  Studies will continue on this subject, but in light of Gellately’s article, and in line with reasons, it seems that to some degree the blood of millions of innocent Jews have has to be dispersed among the general German public. 

Money

For much of my life I have followed politics.  As I have matured into voting age, my interest in the nature of American politics has drastically increased.  Being a student of political science, naturally I am fascinated by voting patterns.  During last year's presidential election, I felt enveloped by a sense of enlightenment when I realized that, from my perspective, the weight that tips the scales of the majority is simply money.  Obviously, to simplify politics to an exclusive taxation issue is stripping a piece of art of its colors, but without a medium of exchange there would be no canvass for the construction of civil society.  This inextricable link between money and society has influenced history greatly, and has everything to do with the rise of the Nazi's and the ensuing horrors that marked the 20th century's bleakest time.

Germany's post WWI economic woes have been well documented in our assigned reading for class.  The war reparations, irresponsible economic leadership at the federal level, and incredibly war debts set the stage for the devastation that the stock market crash brought upon the struggling Germans.  As fritzsche describes, "meat became a luxury," and it was only be eaten sporadically on Sundays.  Unemployment skyrocketed, and the national discontent for an already unpopular national government increased.  

The Nazi party, first organized in 1920, sought to rise to prominence and "overwhelm" German democracy.  Beginning only as a small group of power hungry individuals deciding on a preacable ideology, the party had battled it's downs(Beer Hall Putsch 1923) and began to emerge in the mid to late twenties as a legitimate party behind their exalted leader.  Reaching out to the industrial, agricultural, and bourgesouie classes, The Nazi's separated themselves from other falling parties of the era.  Despite these gains, before the stock market crash in 1929 the highest percentage the National Socialists had polled in a national election remained in the low teens.

When the depression sank to its lowest depths in Germany, nearly seven million Germans found themselved unemployed.  Vigorously organizing for his party, Hitler sought to familiarize the fatherland's people with the Nazi platform.  Outlining a distinctly new future Hitler won the votes of many workers.  Fritzsche asserts that 1 in 3 workers voted for the National Socialists in the 1932 election.  While still keeping votes in many other social classes, Hitler gave a viable option to economically concerned voters, particularly the unemployed.  

The Nazi's assume power in 1933.  This power was assumed on the appointment of Hitler as chancellor, and the forged majority in the Reichstag which came from the support of the Centre party.  History was not at an irrevocable point.  Hitler, clearly the most focused, visionary, and talented politician of his day, had assumed a position of immense power, but with a percentage of only 37.6 % in the 1932 elections he did not have the majoritarian mandate.  

The following four years, in which Germans saw their individual rights stripped, persecution of minorities increased, and the criminalization of political desent become the status quo, were made possible by the fact that unemployment was virutally eradicated in Germany.  Hitler has promised a prosperous future and the to the people of Germany he was not only the messiah but a prophet as well.  William L. Shirer asserts, Germans may have lost all of their freedoms, but they no longer had the "freedom to starve."  Hitler used many tactics to achieve his maniacal agenda throughout his decade and a half in power, but nothing was more effective to vindicate his mass support from the German people than his deliverance of the workers from unemployment.  Relieved of their ecnomic insecurities, the masses were vulnerable to the propoganda campaign of Goebbels.  This propoganda played to their nationalsim and "aryan" elitism, which in turned allowed Hitler to "legally" create his reich and all of the horrors that accompanied it.

Early 20th Century German Youth

By the arrival of Revolution in 1918, Germany had become an unstable state.  People, driven by a strong sense of national unity, and sharing the suffering’s from a nation at war, demanded more from than their government than death, destruction, economic hardship, and deceit.  The birth of the Weimar Republic signified an intense rise in political action more than a rise in true republicanism.  This sense of citizenship across Germany, which would eventually lead to the emotional rise of the Nazi party, is inextricably tied with the fate of Germany’s youth.

Post World War 1 Germany had a disproportionately large youth population.  Created by the high birth rate around the turn of the century, and aided substantially by the incredible losses of some of the older male population in the war effort, there was a disproportionately large group of young Germans.  This group, under the Weimar republic, carried great political weight.  In a nation politically fragmented as it was geographically merely 50 years previous, this group of people proved to be the desired electorate to attain power.  

This younger generation inherited a more drastically different world than any previous generation in Europe’s history.  Not only living in a post WWI society, they lived the era of atomic physics, psychoanalysis, booming cultural expansion, and the origin of mass communication.  While many citizens of the industrialized world met this onrush of modernity with fear and apprehension, much of the youth embraced the changes the world brought.  

The surplus of youth, coupled with extreme economic troubles, brought unemployment.  While the government did what it could to protect this branch of society, many still felt the pangs of hunger, or at the very least a difficult existence.  This generation, banded together by a new system of youth organizational involvement focused around athletics and hiking expeditions, continued to galvanize throughout the 20’s, in both positive and negative ecnomic standing, as they had during the war years.

After Hitler’s stay in jail following the Beer Hall Putsch, he voraciously returned to his work of political organizing and speech delivering.  While German cities banned his speaking privileges, they severely underestimated his skill or endurance to arouse support for his party.  Working with the goal of massive mobilization in the cities, Hitler found a perfect audience among the disproportionate number of youth living in the cities of Germany.  His message also spread to this audience in the University system, also primarily in the cities.  

The youth, having lived through tough economic and unstable political times found refuge in Hitler’s National Socialist party.  Denouncing the doctrines of capitalism and Marxism alike and built upon the back of German nationalism, the ascendency of the Nazi’s seems less befuddling when an analysis of the youth that grew into the Nazi generation is done.  This vulnerable youth was brought together by one of the most talented leaders in modern history.  Unfortunately for so many, this will forever be viewed as one of the most tragic developments in the history of human civilization.  

The Strain of War

World War 1 proved to be drastically more significant than many influential characters in the time could have ever predicted.  With estimated civilian and military casualties estimated at 37 million, the scale of the slaughter made the war distinct from past human military engagements.  Experimentations with gas, machine guns, and the advent of the defensive trench warfare strategy brought the horrors of war to this new generation in a never before seen way.  While this massive military undertaking was underway, it is interesting to note the role of the civilians at home in this conflict, particularly the Germans.

In Germans Into Nazi’s we see the nationalism of the summer of 1914 on display by they incredibly large public demonstrations.  War was in the air, and many people thought that was a very good thing.  Worth noting is the fact that Fritzsche emphasizes that there were strong anti-war feelings among the masses.  History has deemed it easier writing to ascribe a blanket support for the war through this blind nationalism.  When the war effort turned southward, as viewed by the public, discontent rose with the political authorities rises as the angst of a miserable existence was commonplace throughout the empire.  This discontent can only have been strengthened by, or around, those who initially thought war could lead to less than a glorious international empire.  

Built upon an era of economic prosperity, imperial Germany was the leading industrial power of Europe when war broke out.  This high standard of living was immediately put under strain by the immense drain of male labor due to military positions needing to be filled.  Intoxicated by the early glories of having gone to war, the masses eventually became frustrated with their elected government.  This frustration eventually led to skepticism, which ultimately killed the second Reich. 

Food may have been the most prominent issue in leading to the national discontent.  With an ineptly designed and executed rationing system, by the third year of the war people were going without common commodities such as bread, meat, and milk.  Fritzsche emphasize the incredible role that turnips played in the diet of German citizens.  It evolved to the extent where, according to a woman spotlighted in the book, they “went to bed hungry, and woke up hungry,” and their diet was only turnips “cooked in water.”  That would be a terrible existence.  It didn’t make matters easier that many families were constantly hearing the reports of their dead loved ones.  

Following the failure of the Schlieffan plan, German authorities arguably supported and fought an arguable impossible war.  This message was obviously not conveyed to the public.  As the years passed, and death tolls reach historical levels, citizens began to see the flaws in the state which they had entrusted under the veil of German nationalism.  This process reoccurs time and again throughout history and, no differently here, the people wanted change from the authority that had been making decisions.  

Following defeat in November of 1918, the people of Germany underwent drastic political change in order to construct a republic.  This was a result of a failed war philosophy and the extreme economic stress put upon the German people in the time of war.  Both of these factors, inextricably linked, create an interesting narrative as the twentieth century progresses.  While I have not read any further into Germans Into Nazi’s, I have a hunch that the rise of the third Reich was influenced just as heavily by severe economic distress as was the fall of the second Reich.