We've been speaking with our students about what they know of the World War I and II era, and the Holocaust. Knowledge is spotty, and therefore our travel seminar was built to provide a deep foundation for the era before we visit Dachau tomorrow.
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| Translation of this tribute: "The members of the US armed forces who liberated Munich from National Socialist tyranny on April 30, 1945. The State Capital of Munich on April 30, 1992" |
I share this first image as a cushion for what follows in this narrative; it has been a day of some heaviness while we learned of the antecedents to Hitler's regime. Ian Kershaw wrote: "The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference" and we became very aware of this today.
It is incorrect to think that Hitler sprung to power out of nowhere. He relocated from his native Austria to Bavaria and fought for Germany in World War One. Following defeat in the war, The German Workers' Party was founded in Munich in 1919 and renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party in 1920 to gain more visibility and acceptability across more portions of the population. Hitler was noticed by the GWP when he began arguing persuasively against some of the points made by the party's main speaker in1919, and he was offered party membership and eventually the party's committee. What he lacked in academic success he made up for in public speaking and adeptness in persuasive tactics, and eventually was made responsible for recruitment. He earned more responsibility by expanding party rallies and assuring himself a place to give speeches.
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| Exterior of Hofbrauhaus Bierhall where Hitler presented the Nazi Party Platform on Feb 24, 1920. |
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| The third floor room where Hitler presented the 25 points of the Nazi Party Platform. Later in 1920 Hitler threatened to resign from his job over a dispute of reorganization, but he was retained by being named party chairman. His zeal for nationalism and influence continued with expansion of the 25 points of the Nazi Party Platform first introduced in February 1920 (see more details at https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-party-platform ). Several of our speakers discussed how much Germany was humiliated by their defeat in WWI and weakened by a floundering economy. As Hitler continued to re-emphasize the party platform and modify the points more extremely, the party was only tolerated in Bavaria and not the rest of the Reich. Hitler attached himself to wealthy individuals who not only supported him financially but helped make over his appearance and attire.  In this swanky neighborhood of museums and university buildings, Hitler found rich contacts willing to donate to the party. From what we heard, it doesn't seem like these people studied or understood the party platform nor cared beyond this new member of their social circle who was adept at fitting in because of his persuasive messages. Hitler was imprisoned in 1924 when he was found guilty of treason by leading a failed coupe to overthrow the government in November 1923. His sentence of five years was suspended after serving only nine months. It was during this time he wrote Mein Kampf, which was a combination of autobiography and propagandist attempt to rebuild the party.  Here is an example of a propaganda photograph produced by Hitler's exclusive photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann. While it was meant to show hundreds of supporters at a bierhall rally, a close view shows not one person drinking from their stein of beer; the photo was staged by inviting party faithful and social hopefuls to a photo shoot with Hitler. Hitler continued to push the party ideology forward and propagandized messaging to take over the German government. Then, with more economic downturns (recall the U.S. stock market crash of 1929 and global repercussions) the party went from earning about 2.6% of national election votes in 1928 to 92% of the votes in 1933. Note, however, that the last free and fair election was in 1932.  Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in January 1933 and in March of that year he unilaterally signed the Enabling Act which made Hitler dictator after arson destroyed the Reighstag parliament building in Berlin. The party continued to prepare for war, using donations to weaponize and scheme to re-aquire land lost as outlined in the Treaty of Versailles. While I want this post to focus on the pre-WWII information we learned, students are simpatico with the White Rose Resistance Movement, started in 1942 by medical students from the University of Munich who witnessed the unhumane treatment of the party's targets and attempted to publicize these hidden atrocities by disseminating flyers. Brother and sister Hans and Sophie Scholl, and collaborator Christoph Probst, were reported to the Gestapo by a janitor on campus who was a party loyalist. Within three days they faced trial, were sentenced to death, and beheaded. Please read more White Rose details at https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/white-rose  |