It was November 1918. All hope had been lost, for the German Kaiser was defeated. The German Empire had crumbled, its Kingdoms now a republic. Its empire was no more, the victory secured by the allies. It all seems like the Germans deserved to pay it, after all, while a Bosnian Serb started the First World War, Germany has to take the blame. The once great German nation was gone. Was it ever going to rise again? Or was Germany going to become a puppet state, devoid of a leader, and never going to attack anyone? Henceforth, the speech I will be making is the rise of the National Socialist German Worker’s Party, or for short, the NSDAP.
In the early years of the NSDAP, we describe how Hitler joined the party, and the era before the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. In 1919, Germany finally suffers defeat as it was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles, negotiated between the allies and the Central Powers. One of its clauses was to place the blame of the war, the starter of the war, to Germany. While Germany tries to negotiate, in Germany itself, the German Worker’s Party, the forerunner to the NSDAP, had a right-wing ideology. One man, born in Austria, was to give life into the party. Adolf Hitler, a former corporal of the German Army joins this group. Due to his speeches, one by one, he began to take a right-wing course, emphasising National Socialism, or Nazism. By 1920, the party has three thousand members, and by the following year, Hitler becomes the Fuhrer, or Leader of the Party.
Here, we describe Hitler’s attempted coup in Munich, in 1923, his trial, and his time in prison. In 1923, Hitler finally attempts a coup d’état in Munich, to try and overthrow the local authorities in Munich, known as the Beer Hall Putsch. He unfortunately has failed, and was arrested. From there, he was charged of High Treason, and so were other Nazi Party leaders. However, while he was on trial, he used it as a propaganda platform against the Weimar Republic, and thus, after twenty-four days, he got a five year sentence, with early parole. During his time in prison, he wrote “Mein Kampf” or “My Struggle,” which reveals his nationalism, desire of a pure “Aryan” race, and elimination of other races, such as Poles, Jews, Gypsies, communists and those with disabilities. Thus, the book became a foundation for the ideology of the NSDAP, or the Nazi Party, and the Holocaust.
Now, in this part of the speech, we describe the time when Hitler began the NSDAP’s rise into power, up to the Wall Street Crash in 1929, which triggered the Great Depression, a worldwide economic crisis. In 1925, Paul von Hindenburg was elected as the President of Germany. Germany was stabilized, when that conservative military hero came into power. However, by that point, Hitler was now beginning to mobilize a mass movement, to help form a core body, for a future German government. Now, many organizations affiliated with the NSDAP were forming, like the Hitler Youth, the Student League, and the Pupils League, that were open to young Germans, whilst the females were allowed in the National Socialist Women’s league. With that, there were organizations, such as the S.A., of which the S.S. was born, as an elite division of the S.A. From 1925 to 1927, they failed to attract people from the large cities of Germany, like Berlin, and Munich, for example, so when they did poorly in the 1928 Elections, it only won 2.9% of the seats in the Reichstag. Due to that, they had to switch strategies, to rural Germany, blaming the Jews for Germany’s problems.
Finally, we reach the era between 1929 and 1932, of which during that period, the Great Depression occurs, and had impacted Germany. In 1929, the Wall Street Crash impacts the German economy, and thus, it begins a domino effect. Within a few years, unemployment grew from three million persons to six million persons, which was a third of Germany’s population, and due to that, the Grand Coalition, a “salad” of liberal and conservative parties collapsed while arguing over how to fix it. Finally, the German government pressured Paul von Hindenburg to impose emergency laws, to stabilize the Weimar Republic. The demise of the democracy in the Weimar Republic had begun, for a democratic government was now ruled by decrees, with chancellors instead of democratically elected politicians. The first Chancellor under the new system, Heinrich Brüning attempted to stabilize the Weimar Republic but it fails, causing new elections in 1930, with the NSDAP winning 18.3% of the seats. This was a victory for the NSDAP, for it became the second largest party in the Reichstag. In 1932, however, 84 year old Hindenburg’s term was ending. As much as he did not want to run, and retire, he knew that if he did, Adolf Hitler would become President of the Weimar Republic, so he reluctantly runs for office once more. After many a debate, campaigns and efforts by both sides, Hindenburg won, but Hitler won 37% of the votes. The Government of the Weimar Republic was still on the edge, appearing like it is to fall off the metaphorical cliff. Did it even appear like it will survive? As arguments and debates upon the senior political leaders occurred, they did not think that Hitler will manoeuvre himself to the top of the German crown, so thus, they under-estimated his abilities. It was too late, by that point. Within several months, the Weimar Republic was to end and a Third Reich was beginning to rise, to be led by Hitler.
This was my speech of the rise of NSDAP, known as the National Socialist German Worker’s Party, or known to many English speakers as the Nazi Party. In this speech, I described the NSDAP early years, his Beer Hall Putsch in Munich in 1923, and his time in prison. We also described the NSDAP’s rise to power, from a small political party to a “dark horse” in German Politics, able to out-manoeuvre its rivals, to institute a beginning of a 1,000 year Empire, filled with happiness and joy for all. This is how a group of ex-soldiers, within 15 years, grew from many small political groups that followed right wing ideologies, to a party that controlled German society. In conclusion, I leave you with one question. Did the National Socialist German Worker’s Party have good intentions in mind, but ended up a corrupt party that seeks a pure Aryan race? Or did the party have those views all along, and wanted absolute power? The choice is up to you.
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