The Great Depression and Nazi Electoral Success (1929–1933)

To understand the human cost, we must analyse how this crisis devastated specific social groups:

• The Working Class: Millions faced starvation, homelessness, and forced reliance on soup kitchens, with many ending up in shanty towns. This utter desperation drove a massive surge in political extremism, with voters abandoning moderate parties for the KPD (Communists) and the NSDAP (Nazis).
• The Middle Class (Mittelstand): Small business owners, civil servants, and professionals lost their life savings when major banks collapsed, such as the Danatbank in 1931. Terrified of a return to 1923-style hyperinflation, they felt crushed between powerful trade unions and big corporate monopolies.
• Farmers: Rural communities were already struggling, but the Depression saw wheat prices plummet by nearly two-thirds. Facing overwhelming debt and farm foreclosures, they became highly receptive to the Nazi's romanticised "Blood and Soil" propaganda.
• Business Owners: Large industrialists, such as Fritz Thyssen, were horrified by the rising communist threat. They began to view—and fund—the Nazi party as a ruthless but necessary bulwark against a Marxist revolution.

The Political Crisis and the Fall of Democracy

• Why did a disagreement over a tiny fraction of a percent destroy a democratic government?
• In March 1930, the moderate Grand Coalition led by Chancellor Hermann Müller (SPD) collapsed entirely over a dispute regarding unemployment insurance.
• The SPD wanted to raise employer contributions by a mere 0.5% to fund the millions of newly jobless, but the right-leaning DVP demanded severe benefit cuts.
• When President Hindenburg refused to grant Müller emergency powers to pass the increase, Müller resigned, marking the functional end of parliamentary democracy in Weimar Germany.

Hindenburg appointed Heinrich Brüning as the new Chancellor. Lacking a Reichstag majority, Brüning led the first Presidential Cabinet, relying on the President's emergency powers rather than parliament.

• Brüning implemented a harsh deflationary policy of tax hikes and wage cuts to balance the budget, which only deepened the economic misery and earned him the nickname the "Hunger Chancellor."
• In July 1930, the Reichstag successfully voted to overturn one of Brüning's harsh decrees by 236 votes to 221. In response, Brüning convinced Hindenburg to dissolve the Reichstag.
• The shift towards dictatorship is evident in the numbers: the Reichstag met for 94 sessions in 1930, but only 13 in 1932. Conversely, the use of Article 48 decrees skyrocketed from 5 in 1930 to 66 in 1932.

Evaluating the Rise of Nazi Support (1929–1933)

• Electoral success does not always come from having the best policies; sometimes it comes from effectively exploiting the worst crises.
• The Nazis transformed from a fringe group with 12 seats in 1928 to the largest party in the Reichstag by July 1932, holding 230 seats (37.3% of the vote).

Several interconnected factors drove this unprecedented electoral success:

• Hitler's Personal Appeal: Presenting himself as a superhuman savior (the "Hitler Myth"), Hitler campaigned relentlessly. During the 1932 "Hitler Over Germany" campaign, he became the first politician to use a private plane, speaking in 20 cities in just 6 days.
• Anti-communism: As the KPD (Communists) grew to 100 seats and 6 million votes, the Nazis capitalised on the intense fear of a Bolshevik revolution. Hitler presented the NSDAP as the only force strong enough to crush the Red Threat, gaining vital support and funding from wealthy industrialists and the Mittelstand.
• Propaganda: Orchestrated by Joseph Goebbels, Nazi messaging was deliberately "crude, clear and forcible." They appealed to raw emotion rather than intellect, famously using the slogan "Work and Bread" to target the starving unemployed, whilst promoting the Führerprinzip.
• The SA (Brownshirts): The Nazi paramilitary wing exploded to 400,000 members by 1932. They deliberately provoked vicious street fights and disrupted KPD meetings, creating violent chaos on the streets and then presenting themselves as the only disciplined force capable of restoring order.

Judgement: Why did the Nazis become the largest party?

In evaluating these factors, it is clear that the Great Depression was the essential catalyst; without the 6 million unemployed, the Nazis would likely have remained a fringe party. However, economic misery alone does not explain their success, as the KPD also grew but failed to win over the middle classes. The decisive factor was the Nazis' superior use of propaganda and Hitler's personal appeal, which successfully presented the NSDAP as a national party for all Germans. While the failure of democracy created a power vacuum, the SA (Brownshirts) ensured that the Nazis were the only group that appeared strong enough to fill it.

The Appointment of Hitler

• Fear is often a more powerful political motivator than hope.
• By January 1933, the democratic alternatives had entirely failed. Franz von Papen had led a deeply unpopular "Cabinet of Barons" with only 3% Reichstag support, and Kurt von Schleicher's attempt to split the Nazi party ended in disaster.

This led to a series of secret negotiations known as the Backstairs Intrigue:

• Franz von Papen conspired with Hindenburg's son, Oskar, and inner circle member Otto von Meissner to convince the President to appoint Hitler as Chancellor.
• Papen believed he could control Hitler by limiting the cabinet to only two other Nazis and serving as Vice-Chancellor himself. Papen famously boasted: "In two months' time, we will have squeezed Hitler into a corner until he squeaks."
• Within weeks of his appointment on 30 January 1933, Hitler used the Reichstag Fire to pass an emergency decree suspending civil liberties, leading to the arrest of 4,000 communists.
• Following a campaign of extreme SA intimidation, the Nazis secured 43.9% in the March 1933 election and subsequently forced through the Enabling Act, legally destroying Weimar democracy.