Hitler undoubtedly had a presence that people were attracted too. Whether it was his speaking ability or his charming ways. But what I don’t understand is that people loved him so much that he basically can do no wrong. In The ‘Hitler Myth’ by Ian Kershaw, he examines how Hitler was seen as more a figure than an actual person. He was in charge of the biggest political movement Germany has seen in a while and had an aura that could not be matched by anyone.
When Hitler and his crew partook in The Night of the Long Knives when he ordered of the killing of Ernst Röhm who was the SA leader at the time. When all of this happened the German people didn’t know what to think, should they be scared in the new government that is doing mass killings of leaders off the bat? There was concern about the unrest but Hitler being the expert politician that he was knew that not saying anything would make matter worse. He gave a great speech that captivated the Germans, where he “accepted full responsibility for action amounting to mass murder” (Kershaw 88). He actually made the German people like him even more than they did before; they respected what he did because they thought that he said that he was “compelled to act without hesitation in emergency conditions arising from the ‘mutiny’ of the SA leaders” (Kershaw 88). He then attacked the fact that Röhm had an immoral life of being homosexual. Instead of making the people more uneasy about the whole situation Hitler’s speech found away to “unquestionably strengthen confidence in Hitler” (Kershaw 89).
People felt that Hitler was the leader who was going to restore a new moral renewal. He was going to make Germany pure again. They didn’t think that the night of the long knives might be a foreshadowing of what would come. They might not have thought as the Nazi’s a very violent party but the people received a glimpse. It shows that Hitler and his party could basically do anything and make the people of Germany believe that is was the right thing to do for the state of Germany.
I find the German people's reaction to the Night of the Long Knives quite remarkable. In my mind, this incident makes the power of the Hitler myth all the more obvious, but also illustrates how Hitler was responsible in the success of the myth. In Hitler’s speech addressing the Night of the Long Knives publically for the first time—a speech that was quite well received as Alexa notes—Hitler describes how it had been necessary to “burn out” the SA’s subversion “down to the raw flesh” (89). This gains Hitler the “admiration and gratitude” of the German people (89).
ReplyDeleteThis reception can be attributed what people admired most about Hitler originally: his unwavering, ultimate leadership. Rather than shirking from the event, Hitler not only essentially admits to mass murder, but does so unapologetically. After decades of unremarkable political leaders, Hitler finally emerges as a leader who has the person strength to lead Germany out of the Great Depression. So although the NSDAP’s propaganda machine was able to portray Hitler as a savior and ultimate leader, Hitler’s own actions played a crucial in the survival of Fuhrer image.