Hunter- the use of totalitarianism

After the many failures of the Weimer Government, the citizens of Germany were ready for a new leader. A man with a loud voice, crazy ideals, and a lot of free time, Adolf Hitler, saw this and took the opportunity to become Germany’s new leader. Hitler used all legal tactics to rise to power and once there used illegal tactics to remain in power. Hitler used totalitarianism to remain in power and maintain his regime, using methods like propaganda, concentration camps, the secret police, and the Nazi Party.

Hitler rose to power by convincing the people of Germany to vote him and the Nazi Party. He then maintained that power and his regime using many different methods, one of the most effect being propaganda. Hitler blamed the Jews for the devastation that Germany was currently in (video). According to him it was their fault that they were in the war to begin with so it was their fault for the increase in the unemployment rate, the scarce amount of food, and the complete and utter misery the citizens of Germany were in. Hitler used his power of propaganda to show just how evil and malicious Jewish people were, in his eyes. The citizens of Germany were surrounded by this propaganda everyday and were unable to escape the ideologies of Hitler and the Nazi Party (video). They soon began believing that the Jews were truly evil and the cause of all of Germany’s misfortunes. Hitler used propaganda to unite the citizens of Germany by making them believe they were better than the Jews and therefore had to rid Germany of them. This shows that Hitler used totalitarianism to unite the people under one rule believing what Hitler wanted them to believe, keeping them in order and maintaining his regime. With everyone on the same page, it was easier to control and manipulate them into believing what he himself believed. This also helped Hitler maintain his regime because everyone was in the same agreement, except for the Jews of course. With everyone agreeing and believing what Hitler preached, there would be no opposing groups going against Hitler, helping him maintain his power. Although, if he had not convinced the people of Germany to believe him, he might have faced opposition from German citizens in the future, that could have led to his loss of power. A different interpretation of Hitler’s use of propaganda could be that Hitler was just testing to see how persuasive the citizens were and how readily they were to believe his crazy ideals. He would simply be trying to judge the level of acceptance amongst the citizens of Germany instead of trying to have total control over them.

Hitler also used fear to maintain his regime over Germany. The people were not so much afraid of Hitler, but of their very neighbors and fellow citizens (video). The propaganda and speeches Hitler provided united them making them one group under Hitler. Aside from the Jews everyone was a German citizen and should thus act like a proper citizen along with everyone else. They didn’t want to be different or stand out in fear of being denounced and reported to the Gestapo, Hitler’s secret police force (video). Like the Storm Troopers, the Gestapo was made to keep order in Germany and make sure no one went against Hitler’s rule. They sorted out the denouncements made by the German citizens and after filing reports decided whether or not you would be sent off to the concentration camps (video). This showed that Germany was indeed manipulated from the regular citizens, not by higher powers. It was the citizens of Germany that changed and turned Germany into a single-party government. They were so strong in their pride and belief in Hitler that they didn’t want anyone to oppose him and wanted nothing more than Hitler’s adoration. Even if it meant ratting out their neighbors with false suspicions to make better their own image. Hitler did not control this change in the citizens but merely provided the spark that the citizens turned into a forest fire that enveloped Germany. This use of totalitarianism helped Hitler maintain his regime because everyone feared opposing him. They didn’t want to be denounced and send to concentration camps so even if they didn’t support Hitler and the Nazi Party, they were sure to keep it to themselves and went along with everyone else shouting “Heil Hitler!” (video). He used this form of totalitarianism to keep control over Germany, making sure no one opposed or spoke out against him keeping him in power. He knew the people feared being denounced by their own neighbors so they would follow Hitler’s rule, even if they didn’t want to. A different interpretation of Hitler’s use of the Gestapo is that instead of using totalitarianism he was only using the Gestapo as a means of keeping track of the citizen’s activities. He wanted to make sure that there were no suspicious actions that could harm his supporters. He might have only been looking out for their well-being, not trying to have total control over them so he used his secret police force to keep his faithful followers safe.

Adolf Hitler was a great, strong leader. He was able to convince an entire country to believe his crazy ideals enough so that they changed themselves along with that of Germany’s image for the rest of history. Hitler used totalitarian to remain in power and maintain his regime but rose to power through the consent of the people with a dictatorship. He believed that Germany needed a government that had total control of all aspects of a citizen’s life and he was willing to fill the position (Nazi Rule in Germany). However, if it were not for the people voting Hitler into power than he probably would have never came to power, at least not legally. Hitler didn’t steal the power of Germany or try to force it from the people, the people of Germany chose him to be the face of the new Germany.