Free Sample Essays > European History
Why did the percent of Germans voting Nazi rise from 2.8% in 1928 to 37.3% in 1932?
The reasons for this dramatic rise can be put down to any number of changes both within the party and outside the party.
First of all the changes within the party had a profound effect on the ability to canvass votes from their respective constituencies. After the Bamberg conference Hitler had established himself as the sole authority within the party and everyone was answerable back to him. Hitler set up Gaues throughout Germany which matched the different constituencies within Germany, this helped to focus propaganda and tailor to match the specific needs of that particular area. For example those constituencies located further north were protestant and were generally working class with socialist tendencies. The Strasser brothers who made up the socialist faction of the Nazi party campaigned heavily in this area and through their support behind trade unions in the area; this helped the Nazis gain a lot of votes in that area. Another example of how a different area means different campaign techniques is in the highly nationalist area of Bavaria which is located in eastern Germany, this area because of its deep rooted national tendencies voted for the Nazis, as we can see from the voting statistics the voting of the electorate there leaned heavily toward the Nazis. Other such changes as the setting up of such organisations as the teacher’s Nazi organisation and the Hitler youth helped to bring the electorate to vote for the Nazis, the way they done this was by broadening there reach with propaganda. Also because of Hitler’s almost godlike status which he gave himself after the Bamberg conference the people now looked upon Hitler as if he were the saviour they were all waiting for. Hitler seen himself as the saviour of Germany and he certainly showed his enthusiasm in his speeches to the German electorate. The Nazis won a higher share of the vote in Protestant, rather than Catholic, areas. In July 1932 the Nazi share of the vote was twice as high in Protestant areas as in Catholic. The Catholic Centre party regularly gained 11-12 per cent of the vote and did not lose support to the Nazis and was the only party not to lose support to the Nazis apart from the communists. This is not to say that Hitler and the Nazis received no support from Catholics, but this support came in special circumstances. In Silesia, for instance, where there were strong nationalist grievances against neighboring Poland, many Catholics did vote Nazi. The Nazis were also strong in rural areas, even though at first their propaganda did not target them. Hitler's first electoral breakthrough, in 1928, came in Protestant rural areas such as Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony. This seems to have been because these areas experienced depression earlier than other parts of Germany and because the other main parties had not attempted to mobilise support there. Even when the full force of the depression hit Germany, Hitler's support was greater in small towns rather than large cities, where the [next page]