Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power when Hitler was offered to be chancellor in 1933. Hitler and the Nazis climbed to the top of the government by using legal methods and with the support of the German people. Some people feel that Hitler ruled as a totalitarianism ruler, having complete control of the government and the people. However, Hitler’s use of totalitarianism was limited during his regime.
When the Nazi Party was trying to gain governmental support from the people, the Weimar Republic was still in power. Germany went through a time period in which the economy was booming and all support lied with the Weimar. However, when the failures of the Weimar Government increased, so did the support for Hitler and his Nazi Party. The Nazi Party gaining support from the people is what eventually put them and Hitler into power. This shows how Hitler did not have to use totalitarianism in order to maintain his regime. The people of Germany already supported Hitler and the Nazis because of the failures of the Weimar Republic. The people were ready for change and that is what Hitler offered them. He already had support from the people when he rose to power and he never had to use totalitarianism to gain that support.
Another example of Hitler’s limited use of totalitarianism is that he had numerous officials apart of his cabinet. He had an official for almost every aspect of government, propaganda, economy, mail, foreign policy, etc. Totalitarianism is when one person uses total control to rule. However, Hitler barley had control of the government at all. He relied on his officials, like Goebbels to control all of Germany’s propaganda. This shows how Hitler did not use totalitarianism. He had representatives in his government rather than having total control himself. These different advisors and officials had more control in the government than Hitler himself.
Another example of how Hitler did not have to use totalitarianism to maintain his regime was the role the German people played in denunciations. Hitler and the Nazis created the Gestapo (Secret Police) to sort out any denunciations or claims against German citizens. However, the Gestapo was not a large group with many personnel but rather a small group of soldiers. Hitler and the Gestapo were able to manipulate the system from below, meaning that German citizens were filing claims and denunciations against other Germans. This shows again how Hitler did not use totalitarianism to maintain his rule. Hitler was not finding opposition or non-supporters of the Nazi ideals, the German people were. Because many German citizens supported Hitler because of his creation of jobs for the people, they went along with his ideals and denunciated anyone who did not.
Adolf Hitler was a dictator that ruled using little totalitarianism. He used total control in some situations but for the most part other people ran the country. He had many advisors and officials that ran different parts of the government and he had the German citizens denunciating anyone who did not support the Nazi cause. Adolf Hitler used limited totalitarianism to maintain his regime.
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I agree to a certain extent with you on your blog post. I agree with the fact that Hitler had officials under him that took care of things for him, which would not be totally totalitarianism. In the video we watched in class it said that Hitler would wake up late and then would take walks in the garden or watch films. This shows that he had spare time on his hand that he wasnt spending ruling the country. He must have had people to take care of everything for him. The video also said that if an official was proposing something to Hitler, Hitler would just sign it and not even read it. He said he felt like things would have a way to just work themselves out. He must have trusted these people if he would sign something without even reading it. I think these things add to the fact that Hitler was not fully totalitarianism. But i think some of his methods do fall under that category.
ReplyDeleteI thought this post made a lot of good points. I especially liked what you said about the people really doing the work for the Nazi's because they made the denunciations because they were loyal to Hitler for getting them out of unemployment. Another good point was that Hitler didn't have very much control over the government because he had 5 other people in his cabinet that were making most of the decisions. Something to think about though is that these people under him were making the decisions, most of them anti-semitic and bad, and although Hitler was not doing that much about policy making, he was the face of all of their work. When he made speeches infront of huge crowds he was clearly the one that the people believed to be responsible for all of this. I think at this time the people of Germany did not know that he had his cabinet doing his work for him so they believed that he was responsible for decisions being made. Although this was a way Hitler did not use totalitarianism completely, I think it still appeared that way in the eyes of the people.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I would like to say I think this is a great post! Further, I agree one hundred percent. Contrary to what I have always believed, this unit has opened my eyes, and obviously yours too, to the fact that Hitler's rule was not one hundred percent totalitarian in nature. Despite the MANY aspects of life he tried to control, his regime cannot be classified as totalitarian due to a couple reasons which you pointed out in your blog. He achieved power through the people, he had other people do his work for him, and he allowed himself to be swayed by the people through denunciations and personal letters such as the one from the father asking Hitler to put his handicap son out of his misery.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this post for several reasons. The main point that proves hitlers limited totalitarianism. It wasnt so much that hitler used force to get across his ideas as it was the peoples and his advisors. as i talked about in my post Hitler was just the face of the nazis and ideals. He was actually a very lethargic leader. He had advisors for every aspect of his regime , and he counted on the people to maintain his perfect germany. This is why i completely agree with your post saying hitler used limited totalitarianism.
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