How Hitler got to power - the fall of democracy

DAP ( Deutsche arbeiterpartei ) was a short-lived far-rightpolitical party established in Weimar Germany after World War I. Why would Hitler want to join such a party?

• He wanted to overthrow Weimar republic and “save” Germany

• He was forced to join them

• He had political ambitions since young age. He symphatized with ideology of pangermanism and when joining politics, this party matched his ideas mostly.

• He was dismissed to join any other party because of his ideology.

Before Hitler joined politics, what did he do?

• Famous painter

• Soldier in WW1

• Revolutionair

• Salesman

Why did Hitler hate Jews?

• As a painter, he wanted to persue his dream of having a great fame through his paintings, but he never got the chance since he was constantly denied by companies selling art ( which were in his words, mostly controlled by powerful Jews)

• He needed to create an enemy, so he randomly choosed Jews

• His mother was treated by a Jew doctor, but did not survive because of her sickness ( he blamed the doctor )

• He blamed them (plus some others) for what happened to Germany after WW1 ( peace conditions, humiliated Germany and their overall loss)

Later in around 1920, with Hitler of being the leader of the party, DAP changed to NSDAP. Although their rise to power wasn’t that quick, they did eventually seize complete power in March 1933. These are the steps that led to this year:

1) How do you think Economic crisis (The Great Depression 1929-1933) helped Nazis to gain more power in Germany?

• They helped to change the bad situation for people and economy in Germany

• They found a common enemy to blame for economic crisis (American loans/Americans, Jews)

• people saw how other party’s couldn’t handle the situation, therefore people voted for an alternative

Later in around 1920, with Hitler of being the leader of the party, DAP changed to NSDAP. Although their rise to power wasn’t that quick, they did eventually seize complete power in March 1933. These are the steps that led to this year:

2) Burn down of Reichstag building (27.2.1933) - What did this had to do with Nazis?

Reichstag building is a parliamentary building which served for many parties representing Weimar Republic till 1933.

• At time being the leading party, Nazis has to take responsibility for this and therefore lost some trust in people and overall fame.

• They took it as an opportunity to blame someone for the burn down, and therefore choosed their main opponents at that time - communists. Even before, communists very slowly lacking popularity among people, so it wasn’t that hard to take them down.

• They confessed that it was them who were responsible for the act, saying it was a revolution against the old Parliament and old way of ruling.

Later in around 1920, with Hitler of being the leader of the party, DAP changed to NSDAP. Although their rise to power wasn’t that quick, they did eventually seize complete power in March 1933. These are the steps that led to this year:

3) Enabling act (law, 23.3.1933) = allowed the Reich government (Nazis) to issue laws without the consent of Germany’s parliament, it was valid for 4 years. How could they pass the law with other parties still being present in government?

• They had enough seats in parliament that they could beat them. Small part consisting of communist and democrats could not change anything.

• They got rid of communists (which wasn’t hard for them since they lacked popularity in country), social democrats (got rid of them together with communists who also did not want them in parliament) and last party they got rid of was catholic party (which by Nazis proclaiming that they are very religious meant that they will “take care” of them as long as they give them the opportunity to )

• They did not pass the law for a very long time, but later, when after an election to parliament communists lost their power, Nazis could finally pass the law with support from other parties

Hungary and its way to totalitarian state: Who and why is one of the “common enemies” in Hungary?

(Common Enemy presented by Victor Orban and his party)

• Slovaks - because our nation took back some land from Hungary after WW1 and WW2

• Dominant countries ( America, China) - because they take their market opportunities away, they have bad relationships with Americans, especially know Biden also tries to show anti democratic traits of countries such as Hungary

• Serbians - they are their neighbours who try to escape their country away from war - fear of refugees

Prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, now with his party rules under decree for unlimited amount of time. What was the purpose to vote for such ruling? (Question to think about - do you think it was the only purpose and the rule under decree will end anytime soon? )

• He has a strong party, and by slowly getting rid of his opponents, he got the chance to pass this law with majority working for it rather than against

• The purpose for voting for such law, was to get rid of the “common enemy” in Hungary. Other parties trust him so much, that they had given him full right to do whatever he can to make Hungary great again with the power he has

• Because of Covid19, Viktor Orban told that his party would have it easier to pass the laws that could help the pandemic situation. Laws that might be sometimes considered not democratic despite the pandemic situation( prohibited gathering of people, obligatory vaccination etc.)

Slovakia went through lots of different political regimes. Not long ago, it was mostly totalitarian (1939 - 1945 Nazism, 1945 - 1989 Communism). Now as you know Sk is a democratic republic. Despite that, do you know any party that got closest to having unlimited power and also some form of totality?

• Oľano - and partly it’s coalition partners - by getting country into an emergency state (nuzdovy stav), it gets them specific freedom to quickly pass the laws they want, could be used against democracy

• Smer - 2012, winning majority of the votes, became the first single-party government in Slovakia since 1993

• ĽSNS - by having votes to get them to top positions in parliament, they once were nearly close to be part of forming coalition

What was the aim of Nazi propaganda?

• Getting rid of enemies

• Display the strengths of the Nazi Party

• Promoting their future Germany

• Legitimise their actions