Liddicoet 1

Brennen Liddicoet
Mr. Hawkins
Modern World History-P, Period 2
21st March 2016
Inquiry Question: How did the Germans perceive Hitler? Why was he followed so loyally and by
so many?
During Germanys great depression the German people were tired of everything and
where willing to listen to anyone who would promise them what they wanted. That person was
Adolf Hitler. Soon after giving a speech he was pursed by the Germans Workers Party or Nazi
party, they wanted Hitler to be their main spokesperson/ leader, as one of the founders saying
He has the gift of gab. The Germans felt, and indeed were, threatened by modernism
(website 1). Many people blamed the German loss during WW1 was because of modernism, this
was the same excuse that Adolf Hitler gave to his lifes failures up to the point where he was the
Chancellor of Germany. Of course seeing this in themselves and the German people the Nazi
party and Hitler told the Germans that the Jews were the one and only cause of all their
misery. And the Jews were, in fact, the undisputed beneficiaries of modernism (website 1)
This would the Germans a scape goat of which to blame a lot of things on since in that time they
were very Anti-Semitic. But more than any other group of people in Germany that time was and
made modernism than the Jews did. There were many conflicts between the German Jewish and
German Gentiles at that time because they were so different compared to each other. But when
the Nazi party made concentration camps and started a genocide The Germans were not
murderous anti-Semites contrary to the claim of Daniel Jonah Goldhagen. But they looked
the other way, tolerated and even profited from the genocide. (website 1) Most Germans did

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not care about the Jewish community back then because as stated earlier from the conflicts.
Germans benefited in ways of that their wasnt constant fighting with the Jewish communities,
and Germans Gentiles occupied more jobs with the German Jews gone. Some more ways that
Hitler appealed to the people was with his engaging speeches and strategic propaganda
techniques. Hitler was quite aware of his skills as well. He was once quoted as saying, I am
conscious that I have no equal in the art of swaying the masses,(website 2) These reasons
made Germans love him and be loyal to him because to them his speeches and propaganda were
so powerful it them feel as if Hitler was above everyone, as if he was a god to the Germans for
the Germans. When the Nazi Party took over, he and other officials of the Nazi regime
made it point to appeal to the issues that their citizens were feeling at the time. Nazism
built its support by tapping into the negative feelingstowards such things as the harsh
terms of the Versailles treaty, high inflation, the instability of democratic government, the
economic position of Jews in a German society and the growth of a vibrant communist
movement.(website 2) For Hitler and the Nazi party it was important to know what the people
like and didnt like, so naturally when figured out the Germans launched an all out attack on the
things they didnt like that were negative. So they attacked the Treaty of Versailles by ignoring
what was said, and by exterminating or enslaving the German Jewish community. From the
majority of the German peoples view on Hitler he wasnt widely seen as a power hungry
racist, but someone putting Germany and Germans first. Indeed, Hitler managed to look
like someone who would unite Germany rather than push it to extremes: he was praised for
stopping a left wing revolution by crushing the socialists and communists (first in street
fights and elections, then by putting them in camps), and praised again after the Night of
the Long Knives for stopping his own right (and still some left) wingers from starting their

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own revolution.(website 3) Being able to put this sort of view onto people makes him look like
hes doing the right thing and makes everyone want to follow in his footsteps and be more loyal
to someone who is doing something good. It was also important to put down any revolutions that
had a possibility of brewing. Before they would try to overthrow him in some way while hes
still trying to put a veil over the people. Doing this gives him more security for what hes doing
and more time for the people to love and be loyal to him.