Throughout Hitler's rule and even when he was campaigning Hitler always stirved to unite the German people in one common goal: to create a better Germany. Hitler used totalitarism to obtain this goal and it greatly helped him maintain his regime.
One of the main ways Hitler united the people of Germany was through a hate for Jews and anyone else not purely German. Hitler believed that to accomplish the goal of creating a better Germany, he must first establish a Germany consisting of only Germans. Jews were already rumored to have caused the abupt end to the Great War, resulting in a huge loss for Germany which left it in a horrible economic situation. Hitler's campaigns against the Jews only magnified the people's hate for them. Hitler also used other forms of propaganda besides speeches. He created pagents and social gatherings that only "pure" Germans could par take in to make Germany being a pure race more appealing. These were grand pagents and were meant to show the future of German if it consisted of complete Germans. Some could say that this hate for Jews did not unite the German people but instead split them into two groups: the people who agreed with Hitler's view of Jews and the ones that did not. However as a huge number of Jews immigrated out of Germany during the time of Hitler's regime, it is evident that they were hated by a huge number of people. Also, people of that time began to snitch on neighbors that they believed to be Jewish or that had Jewish friends. This shows just how readily people would turn on the people they know to be apart of Hitler's vision for Germany.
This use of totalitarism to unite the people sufficiently helped Hitler maintain power. The people were so united and wanted so much to be apart of the grand future Hitler had painted for Germany with his pagents for the "pure" that they were willing to do just about anything to get in favor with Hitler. His right hand men or acalites would create policies that they believed would be beneficial for Hitler and would say that they were acting on Hitler's orders. One man, goebbels wanted to please Hitler so much that he began propaganda to make Jews no longer apart of German society. Also, many storm troopers agreed to be apart of Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass. This night, the storm troopers were set loose onto Germany and began to attack Jewish businesses and establishments as well as Jewish centigogs. Thousands of centigogs were destroyed in the Night of Broken Glass. As another example of just how united Hitler had made the people be, the German citizens showed no sympathy for the victims of Kristallnacht and instead turned a blind eye to what was happening. The citizens were scared that if they stopped to help the Jewish people that they would be the next ones to be denounced or accused of being an enemy to Germany. This was another of Hitler's method of totalitarism.
The people of Germany were too afraid to speak out and the big Nazi officials wanted nothing more than to please Hitler no matter the method and no matter how harsh. With people not speaking out and officials doing everything they could to support Hitlers views, there was no opposition to Hitler and the Nazi party. Because of this, Hitler was able to maintain his regime for 12 long years.
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After reading your post, I do agree with most of what you have said. I do agree with you and the fact that Hitler did use totalitarism to obtain his goal and it helped him maintain his regime. When he was trying to get the support of the people he brought out the weaknesses of the Weimar Governemtn and told the people he would bring about change in Germany. He said this without including how he was going to go about and do it. People supported and trusted him anyways. Once he was ruler, he started the secret police, he had concentration camps, he denounced people if they did not "fit in", he killed babies and children if there was something wrong with them. He did many horrible things, some without the people knowing like the concentration camps. Some people did support HItler's plan about the future Germany, but I think that most people jsut went along with things and the rules because they were scared. THey were living in fear of what may happen to them if they spoke out against him or tried to help someone who was against Hitler. When you said, "the German citizens showed no sympathy for the victims of Kristallnacht and instead turned a blind eye to what was happening", I think that they really did care, they were just too scared to think about it. They did not want to face the reality of what Hitler was really doing.
ReplyDeleteAs you have stated in my essay, I agree with most of your essay as well. I like how you can take the factual information about the hatred towards jews and stretch it out into a clear and consice analysis. You are right about how the people of Germany split into two groups: those who liked hitler and those who opposed. However, the problem that occured with this was that those who opposed to Hitler were either to scared to stand out to what they believed. They either kept their mouths shut or ended up in a concentration camp, where they met their death. Another thing I want to point out is your analysis. You are able to balance out your information with you analysis. Whiel you give consice and strong evidence, you back it up with a strong and equal amount of analysis, making valid and firm points.
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