The Rise of Hitler• Hitler was also a World War I veteran

• Hitler was also enraged over the peace settlement following World War I

• Hitler joined the National Socialist German Workers’ (Nazi) Party in 1919

“Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterparte”

• He led an uprising against the German government…which only landed him in jail

• While jailed, he wrote his autobiography Mein Kampf (published 1925) in which he discussed:

– Nazi philosophy

– Problems of Germany

– Plans for the nation

• In time, the Nazi party was the largest group in the Reichstag, and as a result, Hitler became a key leader in the German state– Chancellor (1933)

• Once in power legally, he silenced opposition, suspended civil liberties, and convinced the government to give him dictatorial powers (the Enabling Act)

The Third Reich and Aryanism• The Third Reich was supposed to be the most

powerful and longest lasting German power

• 1st Reich– (900s-1806)

• 2nd Reich– (1871-1918)

• 3rd Reich– (1933--?)

• Oratory and propaganda

– “racial-nationalism”

– Darwinian racial struggle

• The Aryan race (Hitler’s perspective) refers to pure-blooded people who are seen as being at the top of the white race

• Hitler’s propaganda viewed Aryans in the following ways:

• Aryans in their ideal state were blond-haired, blue-eyed German men and women…

• However, what was most important was that you had pure German blood– Schutzstaffel

• The “Untermensch” are those people who are not of pure blood– “subhuman”

• Hitler sees a war between the races as inevitable and desirable

• Hitler believed he would be the savior of Germany and the world