The effects of the Great Depression, though not nearly as severe as they may have been in many other towns, continued to produce fear among the citizens of Northeim as the 1933 elections approached. Northeim’s SPD provided little reassurance—they “held no meetings, sponsored no speeches” during the entire January 1933—causing the a general lean to the right, and more specifically to the NSDAP, as conditions caused by the depression remained stagnant. “Then, on the last day of the month news burst over the town that Adolf Hitler had been appointed chancellor of Germany...it was clear...that at last something was happening.” Allen talks about the SPD being too revolutionary and not revolutionary enough. This weakness in policy and plans did not provide the same illusion of strength and prosperity created by the Nazis, thus leading the people of Northeim to lose support for their former government, the SPD.
The Nazi takeover in Northeim provides a strong example for the Nazi takeover of Germany as a whole. Though conditions among towns and cities vary, the events that took place in Northeim that led to eventual Nazi seizure give us a better understanding of the Nazi influence over the masses and the techniques they used to move them.
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