In our class we've been doing a lot of discussion on how much Hitler' rise to power was truly due to his own leadership qualities, or how much of it was simply based on the luck of the draw. Lately we've been seeing through Kershaw that this rise in influence was due largely in part to Hitler's leadership entourage. For example, without even his leadership core pushing for more of a dictatorship, Hitler may not have even risen to power as he did. However, as we read The Nazi Seizure of Power, William Sheridan Allen brings forth an important issue that a lot of Hitler's success is actually because it was established "from below" or more so is and should be equally attributed to this fact. "The Fuehrer reached the pinnacle of power because his followers were successful at the lowest level, at the base." (xii)
Allen gives us a more in depth view of this fact by taking us through the ins and outs of Northeim. As the book begins, we read about the basic setting and anatomy of Northeim which allows for a thorough basis in which to make our judgments on what the true causes of the rise of the Nazi Party lies. From the onset, we see that the social and economic state of Northeim reveals that it was predisposed to the rise in Nazism during this time. "Northeim was a remarkably complex community for its size and some of its sociological and economic features facilitated the growth of Nazism in the years after the onslaught of the depression, and also promoted the eventual ease with which the Nazis introduced dictatorial reorganization." (12)
We see this come to fruition as "the rural areas around Northeim continued to be the strongest source of Nazi members..." (75) Even though they didn't suffer much from the depression, it's interesting to see how other socio-economic factors played into their eyes looking toward Nazism as the solution.
Allen’s The Nazi Seizure of Power offers quite a different approach to the rise of Nazism than our previous readings of Kershaw and many of our class discussions, as you mentioned in your post. Allen focuses on the masses (well the “masses” living in the single small town of Northeim) and their socio-economic conditions in respect to the eventual takeover of the Nazi regime.
ReplyDeleteThe depression seems to be a leading factor in the Nazi’s rise in Northeim. Though the majority of the community was middle class, and the middle-class was affected very little by the events of the depression, “the depression engendered fear.”(24) The general situation in Germany worried the majority of businessmen and enabled the Nazi voice to finally be heard. Though the Nazi support dwindles as the crisis in Germany is resolved and even more after the failed putsch attempt, I believe the later rise of Nazi power is in a large part due to the deep-seated fear spread amongst the majority of Northeim’s population during the spread of the world depression in 1930.