Answer by Darbatfalls

CONFIDENCE VOTES 11
By arousing resentment against the Treaty of Versailles' harsh war reparations and other
conditions imposed on Germany, and calling for the Treaty's revocation. Also he
portrayed the loss of WW1 as being caused by betrayal by civilians and Jews and
Marxists. Through the German Workers' Party he also proposed as part of his '25 points
programme': Union of all Germans in a Greater Reich Colonies for excesss population
Equality for Germany among nations Creation of a people's army Jews to be treated as
aliens He also made use of propaganda (the nationalistic newspaper Munchener
Beobachter later renamed Volkischer Beobachter as mouthpiece for anti Semitic and
anti Marxist sentiments.)

1933-1945 under Nazi Germany[edit]

German nationalism was one of the key points of Nazism "(National Socialist Program)" that
the Nazis used for support to the German people and the German nation. The first point to the
program was that "We demand the unification of all Germans in the Greater Germany on the basis of
the people's right to self-determination." Adolf Hitler, an Austrian German by birth, began to develop
his strong patriotic German nationalist views from a very young age. He was greatly influenced by
many other Austrian German nationalists in Austria-Hungary. Hitler's pan-German ideas was for a
Greater German Reich which was to include the Austrian Germans and the Sudeten Germans. The
annexing of Austria (Anschluss) and the Sudetenland (annexing of Sudetenland) finally completed
Nazi Germany's desire to the German nationalism of theVolksdeutsche (people/folk).

Motivations Behind The Holocaust :

German Nationalism And Economic Growth

What was the role of nationalism in Germany before the war?

German nationalism that began to develop before World War II was a major motivation
behind many individuals who joined the Nazi Party. Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi
Party, used his profound oratory skills to manipulate the German people into following
his regimes propaganda. The people were looking for something to improve the
economic situation caused by the depression. The Nazi Party had a great propensity to
purvey mythical nationalist beliefs; in 1933, they began deliberately blaming the
Jewish population for the economic disparity in Germany (van Evera, pg. 8). The fact
that the Jewish population was targeted as scapegoats would now be seen as blatant
prohibited discrimination; however, the Nazis persuasively qualified their argument.
The Nazis told people to blame the Jews because many Jewish citizens were still wealthy
while everyone else was monetarily suffering, using economic inequalities to agitate
relations between groups. This began to fuel the anti-semitism that the Nazi Party
endorsed. Another reason to blame the Jewish, as advertised by the Nazi party, was
their collective refusal to fight in World War I, argued to have caused ergonomic
depression in Germany. In a state of ubiquitous anxiety, the once disjointed Germans
unified under a government that provided comfort and security, a new state that would
take control and help Germany become a rising hegemonic power. This newfound
nationalism was built around a common enemy: the Jewish people. The people were
blinded by these newly instilled nationalist beliefs, coerced by their superiors to believe
that the Nazi way was the right way. The government was telling the people to represent
and preserve national interest first and foremost. Simultaneously, the people were told
that the Jewish citizens were threatening this national security. Some perpetrators
knew exactly what evil they were doing during the Holocaust; on the other hand, other
individuals were just nationalistic pawns of the Nazi Party that were so programmed to
operate for the state and its interests. The binary dichotomy of victim and perpetrator is

problematic because these traditional, distint roles assume that one cannot overlap the
other. The Holocaust happened in large part because an over-powering government
took advantage of a weak people who just wanted to be provided with directon during a
time of disparity. The people followed their government whole-heartedly because their
faith in their previous government, the government where they had lost their
possessions and valuables, had been compromised.

Above: These are examples of Nazi propaganda preceding and during World War II.
Their purpose was to muster war effort from the people and encourage nationalistic
values. Each of the posters has the Nazi flag and a dominant masculine figure,
symbolizing strength.
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Why did Hitler choose economic growth over moral imperialism? Why
didn't the people question the morality of his plans?
Economic growth was a strong motivation to join the Nazi Party. The decision to
identify with a political party is based on their ability to define and provide for the
publics needs and if the positive incentives outweigh the costs (Anheier, 2000). Due to
the widespread suffering caused by the Great Depression, the political and
socioeconomic climate of Germany was ripe for a new government to take direction and
rebuild its states power. The people were looking for someone to blame, a way to
recover and a way to forge ahead from the economic crisis at hand. Throughout history,
states have pursued either moral imperialism or economic science as means to move
forward and gain political and economic power (Sytsma, 2002). Regardless of the
campaign chosen, a sacrifice needs to be made: the observance of strict moral
imperialism is often superficial because humans are by nature conscious of their
position or rank in relation to others; on the other hand, economic science is usually
motivated by erroneous or purely disordered desires that reduce the significance of

moral decisions and protecting humanity. The promise of new wealth by the Nazi Party
was responding to the peoples demands. They wanted to expand their power across
other territories, eventually looking to achieve world domination. Many but not all
individuals were blinded by the economic incentive to affiliate themselves with a rising
power.
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