Jolly: Totalitarianism

To what extent did Hitler use totalitarianism to maintain his regime?

To assess Hitler's use of totalitarianism, it is first necessary to define what totalitarianism was for Hitler and the Nazi Party. Totalitarianism is a form of government in which one person has unlimited power and authority, all the rest of the citizens have very little say in the government. Hitler was undeniably a dictator, he was solely in charge of his nation, but there were several differences between true totalitarianism and his government. Hitler not only appointed people to be responsible for large facets of his country, he also allowed the mail from ordinary citizens to influence public policy, but most importantly Hitler never truly had to force his regime on the people. They were more than willing to submit to his will and keep look out for those who did not. Although Hitler was most certainly a dictator his use of totalitarianism was limited.

Hitler was often regarded as unorganized and chaotic, he cared nothing for the finer details of his country such as the economy or propaganda. Under the definition of totalitarianism the dictator would have to take personal control of the nation, this was not the case in Nazi Germany. Hitler appointed men to take full authority of these things. Hitler knew what he wanted and told the minister of economy to make his dreams and visions a reality. He did not care how this was done and left Hjalmar Schact, the minister of the economy, alone to do as it was necessary to accomplish his goals. The minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, was also given free reign to publish anything in the Fuhrer's name. This delegation of important state matters is an indicator that Hitler's regime wasn't totally totalitarianistic.

One of the most valuable jobs in the Nazi Government was who the man who was charged with reading the mail that was sent to Hitler. Seemingly unimportant, this job came with access to Hitler himself and the unique opportunity to influence public policy. One famous example of this was a letter from a citizen written to Hitler asking permission to kill a special needs child. This letter was shown to Hitler who agreed. Soon the uthanization of special needs babies and children was a common practice in Germany. This average citizen had a large impact on public policy simply by writing a letter that Hitler agreed with. This goes in direct opposition to the stated definition of totalitarianism where people do not have a say in the government and public policy.

The Nazi party's popularity rose as the Wiemar Government's fell, and remained popular even as Hitler maintained his regime. Hitler brought change and pride back into Germany and was very highly revered by his nation, to the exception of the Jews in Germany. But a dictator he remained, he had his police the Gestapo on the look out for those who did not comply with Hitler's policies. The Gestapo did not have to actually catch criminals, it was their job to sort through the reparations that were reported. These reparations were reports filled out by German citizens about the mysterious behavior of those they witnessed. The people were the greatest enforcement of Hitler's policies. Some people agreed with Hitler others simply wanted to avoid speculation and simply went along with the attitude of Nazi Germany. There was no way to speak out against Hitler because every citizen could fill out a reparation against anyone. In a pure totalitarian state Hitler would have to instill fear in the people, but the people took care of the terror themselves. Although Hitler most likely would have resorted to terror it was not necessary in Nazi Germany.

It is undeniably clear that Hitler was a dictator but his use of totalitarianism was limited due to the people who enforced his policies on their own, Hitler delegating large facets of his government, and the impact that a common citizen could have on public policy. These are in opposition to the definition totalitarianism. Hitler used limited totalitarianism to maintain his regime.

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