A conjuncture of factors, then apocalypse
Review of The Making of Adolf Hitler: The Birth and Rise of Nazism by Eugene Davidson
This is a book on the conditions that produced, hardened, then enabled Hitler to flourish, i.e. seize power. Hitler grew up in a remote village of Austria. His authoritarian father, having worked his way into the customs bureaucracy from childhood illegitimacy on an impoverished farm, was proud of his status and wanted his children to follow in his footsteps. Adolf wanted none of it and quit school in the equivalent of 8th grade, soon moving to Vienna to become a painter or architect. Until World War I, when he found his identity as a soldier and then nationalist in Germany, he was an outcast and failure, indulging in crude antisemitism and reasoning in simplistic stereotypes (which never changed). He found his voice in the post-war ultra-nationalist movement, even though he was essentially a state-less person. He rose to become the leader of the national socialists (Nazis), which never scored above 2.6% of the electorate until the economic crisis of 1929.
Germany during this period was treated as a pariah nation – beaten down, blamed for the war and forced to pay crippling reparations. It was humiliated by various actions, such as the French occupation of the Ruhrgebiet, Germany’s industrial heartland, and faced hyper-inflation and economic decline. Nonetheless, by the mid-1920s, it appeared on the mend and was beginning to resume its place as a leader in world culture and science. Though plagued by unstable parliamentary coalitions, a few leaders serially reappeared in successive governments (e.g. Walther Rathenau and Gustave Streseman), who provided continuity and fairly effective policies; they stabilized the currency, got people working again, and tirelessly sought to improve its diplomatic position. The Weimar Republic was by no means incapable of action or the formulation of policy.
According to Davidson, the advent of the Great Depression brought about a conjuncture of circumstances that Hitler took advantage of, his movement moving from 2.6% of the popular vote to 36% in just over a year. First, there was mass unemployment, about ¼ of the population.
Second, there was his demagogy and oratorical skills, vastly amplified by the new technology of the time, radio. Because the population remained far more cloistered than the cosmopolitan culture today, his words held greater sway. Hitler made simple promises that spoke to the parochial and uneducated. He blamed all of Germany's woes on Jews, foreigners, and the Weimar political system.
Third, there was his ideology of racial superiority, providing a vision of purity and easily available scapegoats. This represented a popular line of reasoning at the time, eugenics and racism.
Fourth, the parliamentary system was in acute breakdown from 1929: the far right and far left were cooperating to form negative coalitions with the sole purpose of bringing all governments down. Moreover, incompetent politicians, such as Franz von Papen, were easily co-opted into support of Hitler.
Fifth, the national-unity figurehead at the top, Hindenburg, was faltering from age and incipient dementia. He appointed the final 2 governments that were filled with politicians sworn to dismantle the Republic and quickly caved to allow Hitler to form a government.
Finally, there was Hitler's ruthless dynamism, with the politician's talent of timing and tactical adaptability. Preserving his white hot hatred for appropriate audiences, in the beginning of his government he could appear reasonable to moderates. He got to be chancellor in spite of all the misgivings, including the shocking Potemka murder (of Konrad Pietzuch, who was a communist and unionist), which he openly defended in the early 1930s. That is where the story ends, with Hitler installed in power.
The detail is extraordinarily dense, from the diplomatic context in the post-war period to the intricacies of political machinations in the parliamentary system of Weimar. The reader should note that this is neither a comprehensive picture of the period, nor is it a biography of Hitler. Instead, it concentrates on the details that aided and enabled his rise to power. A more accurate title might have been “the context out of which Hitler rose”.
Davidson is at pains to defend the German people, in particular regarding the extent of their antisemitism and the way that a people would behave as society and the economy collapse around them. The tone is somewhat defensive, but I believe it is largely appropriate.
This is an enjoyable read, if you like the density of detail, which some might find excessive. Davidson corrects many inaccuracies that one finds in such books as The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, particularly regarding Hitler's early political career (he was trained in oratory as a post-war official and did not “discover” his talent in the Munich beer hall), but also the easier circumstances he lived in when first in Vienna (he was subsidized by his family).
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Great summary, Rob, and it’s a good reminder of how much social and political context drives the rise of a seemingly unlikely orator like Hitler (or Trump).
"The Rise and Fall..." is well-written, but has only added to the "comic-book" like picture Americans tend to have about WWII in general, and that has resulted in a mythology that affects both Left and Right; the notion that the U.S. (and its president in particular) can unilaterally fly in and "fix" world events. Among other things, Shirer badly neglects the vast logistical efforts involved in the eventual Allied victory. Setting aside the vast number that didn't involve direct combat, a military action with far-reaching consequences was the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran that deposed the father of the last shah. Though it was necessary to help supply the Soviets, it is part of what set us up for our present crisis.