Fascist Germany
The 1930s were turbulent times in Germany's history. World War I had left
the
country in shambles and, as if that weren't enough, the people of Germany
had
been humiliated and stripped of their pride and dignity by the Allies.
Germany's
dream of becoming one of the strongest nations in the world no
longer seemed to
be a possibility and this caused resentment among the German
people. It was
clear that Germany needed some type of motivation to get
itself back on its feet
and this came in the form of a charismatic man, Adolf
Hitler. Hitler, a man who
knew what he wanted and would do anything to get
it, single-handedly transformed
a weary Germany into a deadly fascist state.
In order to understand why exactly
Hitler was able to make Germany a
fascist state, we must study the effects that
the end of World War I had on
the country. Germany was left devastated and
vulnerable at the end of the
war. The Treaty of Versailles had left the country
without a military and
with a large debt that it just couldn't pay. Aside from
that, it was forced
to withdraw from its western territory where most of its
coal and steel were
located. This was a major implication for Germany because
without these
resources, it had no industrial growth (steel and coal are the
forces behind
industry), which meant that there was no money going into its
economy.
Without any economic development there was no way that Germany would be
able
to get out of debt. The Allies did not make any effort to help Germany
during
this time and left Germany to fend for itself (they seemed to be aware
that
this had been a mistake by the end World War II when they helped Japan out
of
its economic crisis; this is an example of history influencing
future
actions). The "humiliation imposed by the victors in the World War
I,
coupled with the hardship of the stagnant economy," created bitterness
and
anger in Germany (Berlet 1). This is the reason that, when the Allies
tried to
establish a new government in Germany, the German people were less
than eager to
embrace it. The French Revolution was a prime example that
without a participant
culture, there is no stability. Therefore, it is no
surprise that the Weimar
Republic failed so miserably in Germany. When it
was introduced in 1918, it had
the potential of molding Germany's government
into a modern institution. It
consisted of regular elections (this would
later be referred to as the
Reichstag), a proportional representative
electoral system, and checks and
balances. It was almost flawless as a
formula for creating a modern institution
but it did not make Germany stable
by any means. Herein lies another lesson that
many countries have learned the
hard way: a modern institution does not, in
itself, guarantee that a country
will become stable. In Germany's case, there
was no participant culture and,
as a result, no trust in the government and no
efficacy. Germans believed
that people within their country were conspiring
against them. They did not
trust the government in the least and because of this
suspicious attitude
sought a scapegoat to blame for their suffering (the
scapegoat, as we now
know, would turn out to be the Jew). Germany was slowly
falling apart and
could not handle another crisis. Unfortunately, the Depression
of 1929 was
inevitable. It was also unfortunate that Keynsionism had not yet
been
conceived for, if it had, Germany might not have dug itself into a
bigger
hole. Because of its impoverished state and its inability to pay its
reparatory
debts, Germany began to produce more and more money until
inflation was so high
that its money became almost worthless (had Keynsionism
been developed Germany
may not have gone into such a devastating depression).
By 1933 the economy
"stood on the brink of collapse, with an economy which
should,
realistically, have long since declared itself bankrupt" (Frei 163).
Now
Germans felt that the so called "democratic" system had brought
them
nothing but trouble and this paved the way for Hitler and his
Nationalist
Socialist Party (which would later be referred to as Hitler's
Nazi party, a
party that was centered around ideological fascism) (Berlet 1).
There is no
denying that Hitler took advantage of Germany's instability. He
appeared at a
time when Germany needed someone to give it a solution to its
problems. The
first action he took was to assure the German people that they
were not at fault
for any of their dilemmas. According to Hitler, there was
an internal enemy
amongst them that had caused all of Germany's powers and
was to blame. Hitler
identified Germans as good and superior while he marked
the enemy as evil and
inferior. This served to once again inflame the Germans
so that their
nationalism was now at a maximum and also made them more
susceptible to Hitler's
charismatic personality and his ideas. Events were
now changing; Germans could
now focus their attention on an enemy they could
actually attack (they didn't
trust the government but aside from not
participating, there wasn't much else
they felt they could do). Once Hitler
had captivated the attention of the German
people by giving them a common
enemy, it was time for him to put his plan into
action. With propaganda and
promises of a brighter future, Hitler was appointed
Reich Chancellor in
1933. It must be noted that Hitler won not so much because
of his propaganda,
he was just beginning that phase of his plan, but because the
Germans
were not interested in voting for any other political party that
represented
the government they mistrusted. That's why they opted to vote for
the
National Socialist German Workers Party, which would later be known as
the
Nazi party (Frei 2). As soon as he was appointed, Hitler focused his
attention
on reinforcing the beliefs that Germans already had. A common
misconception is
that Hitler's propaganda "implies nothing less that the art
a persuasion,
which serves only to change attitudes and ideas" (Welch 5).
This is not so.
He didn't persuade the Germans that nationalism was a
solution or that democracy
was a sham. The Germans, as a result of the lack
of efficacy and trust, had
already formed these ideas. Hitler was only smart
enough to see that there was a
way to use these ideas to his advantage. So
what was behind Hitler's fascist
ideology? Hitler saw that the democratic
Weimar, which ceased to exist after the
Reichstat was burned down, had
left the Germans in a state of bitter discontent
and decided to use that to
use this information to appeal to the German people.
His political party
opposed all that was represented by democracy (this is,
essentially,
everything that the French Revolutionaries upheld: liberty,
equality,
fraternity) (Berlet 1). Because of the problems the Germans had
under
democracy, Hitler's party, fascist or not, was more favorable. Hitler
was also
able to establish a fascist state masking the dark side of fascism:
he claimed
to do everything in the name of the German nation (Berlet 1).
Therefore, when he
decided to suspend basic civil rights he did so claiming
that it was for the
good of the nation and when the Reich government was
empowered the philosophy
was that it was done so "in order to re-establish
safety and order...to the
states" (Frei 37). Even when he established
concentration camps he did so
while assuring the German people that it was
"legally based on the decree
'For the Protecion of the People and the
State" (Frei 43). Had the Germans
not been so wrapped up in the euphoria that
resulted from nationalism, they
might have reflected on what was happening
and it would not have been so easy
for fascism to seize the state. Most
Germans never complained because the theory
seemed nice: everything for the
good of the country and anything to make Germany
the great nation it was
destined to become. Hitler was also successful in having
the German people
trust him. There goes that word again, trust. While the
working class trusted
Hitler because of his "ostensible support for the
[industry]," the elite
trusted him because of the alliance they held with
the Nazi party (Berlet 1).
Hitler created an illusion of a modern institution
(for a time it seemed
stable because the economy rose slowly after Hitler came
to power) but he
also had the trust of the people, something the government
under the Weimar
Republic never had. That is one of the most important reasons
that fascism
was so successful. While Weimar was a lesson that a modern
institution is not
enough to produce a stable nation, the Third Reich was a
prime example that
trust in government goes a long way. Once Hitler had gained
Germany's
trust and loyalty he was able to accomplish what others could not.
With
this trust Hitler "had successfully disposed of all opposition and,
moreover,
had stabilized his rule in a way that...almost no one would have
believed
possible" (Frei 27). The rest was just propaganda. Although the
ideologies
behind fascism were murder, hatred, misery, and discord,
"[Hitler] spoke of
reconciliation, introspection, coming together and
revival" (Frei 52). When
Hitler spoke, he did so as if her was selling a
new and improved product
which, in a way, he was. As previously stated, Hitler
wasn't introducing
ideas that Germans hadn't already thought of. He was just
making them more
appealing to Germans. Before, Germans thought of fascist ideas
but believed
them to be too extreme to support. When Hitler talked of fascism
(the one he
had masked as crucial to empowering Germany), euthanasia no longer
seemed
wrong because it was necessary to rid the country of the enemy. Giving
up
basic God given rights was not a problem because it was all for the good
of the
country (sacrifice the individual's rights for the nation). Many
reason that
Germans were a cold-blooded people who were fascist and cruel
by nature. This is
not so. Most Germans were seeing fascism through rose
colored glasses (indeed
this is the way Hitler wanted it) and justified the
actions they were taking
with nationalistic explanations. To the typical
pro-Nazi German it was illogical
to believe that what he/she was doing was
wrong; after all, it was for the good
of Germany so it had to be good, right?
It was, indeed, a pleasant dream but
when Germany was faced with yet another
loss after World War II, it had to face
the harsh reality that it had been
its own enemy. It is clear that fascism in
Germany was a lesson in the
complexity of the modernization theory. Germany was
a reminder that you can
have a good modern institution but without trust there's
no efficacy and
without these factors the formula just does not work. Germany
was left
vulnerable and had to deal with its problems the best way it could. All
that
was needed was a charismatic man and good propaganda for Germany to become
a
fascist state. Germany as a fascist state taught us that the success
of
democracy in one country does not guarantee its success in another
country. Not
only were the Germans forced to look upon their past as
consequences of their
actions but so were the Allies. The events that led to
Germany's becoming a
fascist state were hard lessons for the Allies and were
remembered when Germany
and Japan were defeated in World War
II.
Bibliography
Berlet, Chip. "What is Fascism?" <
http://remember.org/hist.root.what.html>.
Frei, Norbert. National
Socialist Rule in Germany. Translated by Simon B. Steyne.
Massachusetts:
Basil Blackwell Ltd., 1993. Welch, David. The Third Reich:
Politics and
Propaganda. New York: Routledge,
1993.