Hitlers Road to Power: Hitler was nobodys fool.

He learned from the failed Putsch that he

must take over the government by legal rather than revolutionary means. While in prison, he
dictated his political testament, Mein Kampf ("My Struggle") to his cell mate. It consists of rants
and raves, is disorganized and at times borders on obscene, but stresses Hitlers basic ideas of the
superiority of the Aryan race, virulent anti-Semitism, and the need of the German people
for Lebensraum("breathing space".) He also spoke of the need for a Fhrer (leader) with
unlimited power.
Between 1924 and 1929, Hitler concentrated on building up the National Socialist Party. (The
party members referred to themselves as National Socialists; the term "Nazi" was a pejorative
term that came about later.) By 1928 the party had 100,000 members with Hitler in absolute
control. Hitler did not emphasize the anti-capitalist elements of the party, but rather vowed to
fight Communism in order to appeal to the German public. Even so, they did not generate great
public support. In 1928, the Nazis received only 2.6 per cent of the popular vote and twelve
seats in the Reichstag. However, the onset of the Great Depression presented Hitler with another
opportunity.
During the Depression, unemployment climbed from 1.3 million in 1929 to 5 million in 1930.
Germany had almost as many unemployed workers as the rest of Europe combined. Industrial
production fell by half, and by 1932, 43 percent of the labor force was unemployed. Hitler had
never been interested in economics; but this was too good an opportunity to pass up, so he began
promising German workers economic help as well as political and international salvation. Hitler
rejected free market capitalism and advocated government programs to bring recovery. Nazi
economic writers promised to create a "third path" between centralized state planning and

laissez-faire capitalism. Hitler aimed his speeches at the middle classes and, as panic and
bankruptcies increased and the communists began making headway, people voted with their
wallets, and voted for the Nazis. In the 1930 election, they gained 107 seats in the Reichstag,
which made them the second largest party. Nazi deputies used every opportunity to disrupt
Reichstag proceedings, and blamed the majority Social Democrats for Germanys economic
woes. By 1932, the Nazis became the largest party in the Reichstag.
The Nazi State and Society: The Reichstag fire, after a particularly raucous election, played
easily into Hitlers hands. He used the fire to persuade President Hindenburg to invoke the
Emergency Powers provision of the Constitution, which allowed rule by decree. Emergency acts
were passed which practically abolished freedom of speech and assembly as well as most
personal liberties. When the Nazis won only 44 per cent of the Reichstag seats Hitler outlawed
the communist party and had its representatives in the Reichstag arrested. On March 23, 1933,
the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act which gave Hitler absolute dictatorial power for four
years. Under the guise of legality, the Nazis slowly dismantled the opposition, and Germany was
soon a one party state in which only the National Socialist Party was legal. Elections were farces.
One commentator remarked that the Reichstag was the most expensive glee club in the country,
as its only function was to sing Hitlers praises. Hitler did not dismantle the government
structure, but appointed Nazis to top positions and created a number of overlapping party
positions which answered directly and only to Hitler.
Labor unions were abolished and strikes outlawed; all workers were joined together in the
National Socialist Labor Front. Doctors, lawyers, and other professionals were also forced into
National Socialist organizations. Publishing houses were put under Nazi control, and literature

by Jewish authors or advocating democracy or socialism were banned. Forbidden books were
often burned in public squares by passionate students who swallowed Hitlers propaganda
wholesale. Modern art and architecture were prohibited, and life became "violently antiintellectual." Said Joseph Goebbels, a failed intellectual who himself held a Ph.D. and preferred
to be addressed as "Dr. Goebbels," "When I hear the word culture I reach for my gun."
Only the German army remained independent, and Hitler quickly moved to establish control over
it. Big business and the army were suspicious of the Nazi Storm Troopers, the Sturmabteilung,
commonly known as the SA. The SA were over three million thugs who had fought communists,
beat up Jews, and wreaked havoc in the days before the party was in control. They were known
by their brown shirts, and were among Hitlers staunchest supporters in the early days. The
leader of the SA was Ernst Rhm, who was very close to Hitler, and who was the only person to
address him informally. The SA had expected top positions in the Army when the party took
control, and had spoken openly about a second revolution, this time against capitalism. Hitler
saw the SA as a threat to his rule, and decided to eliminate them.
On June 30, 1934, Hitlers personal guard, the Schutzstaffel, or "protective force," commonly
known as the SS, swooped down on SA leaders in the middle of the night. The attack became
known as the "night of the long knives." One leader was found in bed with his chauffer, a young
man of nineteen. Hitler was appalled, and shouted, "you are all pigs." Many were shot on the
spot. Rhm, Hitlers friend, was carried into a separate room, still groggy from sleep, and handed
a pistol. He was told he had five minutes to use it. The SS returned five minutes later, found
Rhm still staring at the pistol, picked it up and shot him in the head. His last words as he fell to
the floor were "My Fhrer! My Fhrer!"