Final Exam for Leadership class

Billy Wood
Leadership and Ethical Decision Making
Spring 2011
Final Exam
1. How did Hitler use the political climate after World War I and his prejudice toward the Jews to implement his rise to power and his "final solution"?

2. How were the propaganda techniques of scapegoating and stereotyping used by the Third Reich to condone and even encourage behavior that most German citizens would have considered abhorrent?


The Political Climate after World War One
In 1918, the Germans came to the realization that they had effectively been defeated by the British, French, and the United States. In the Armistice that followed, Germany was allowed to keep its army intact and did not have to admit to defeat. The end of the Great War also marked the end of the monarchy for Germany. This pleased other European nations who envisioned a democratic Germany. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles saw the breakup and decrease of German territory. Blame for the war had been placed on Germany alone. The outcome of the Treaty enraged most Germans and set the stage for retribution and a feeling of nationalism (Ferguson, 2006).
Europe’s Naiveté
For the most part, the great powers of the time believed that Germany would never be a threat again. Many failed to predict that Germany would embolden itself towards nationalism and not towards a democracy. Many in the German Army General Staff believed that the Army could have won the war had they not been betrayed. They felt that the political leadership of Germany had been corrupted by Marxists and Jews, both of which were not favored amongst the Army General Staff. Adolph Hitler was a member of the General Staff and a staunch believer in this theory (Mark, 2008). Hitler believed that many Jewish soldiers who fought in World War One abandoned the military. This enraged Hitler and would later come to light during his rise to power.
How Hitler used this climate and his prejudice towards Jews to rise to power
After World War I, there was a great purge of Germans from Poland and Czechoslovakia. In Poland, the Polish independent state had acquired 90 percent of Prussia. There were approximately one million German speaking people living in Poland at that time. However, Germans living in Poland were seen as second class citizens. German soldiers and Polish troops fought each other in the streets. These German soldiers were known to carry swastikas and Death’s Heads. Weimar (German Chancellor) appointed Manfred Von Killinger, known for his hatred of Jews, Marxists, and Slavic people, to fight off the Poles. Fighting of this nature would continue for a time in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, and Eli Wiesel’s country of birth, Romania (Wiesel, 1955).
Eventually there was a mass exodus of Germans from Poland and other German minority countries. This was due in part to land reform in which former German aristocracies were forced to give up their land. Land reform was also implemented in Czechoslovakia. In Czechoslovakia, Czech was made the official language and German workers had a short period of time to learn the language or lose their jobs (Ferguson, 2006). This was an attempt to destroy German nationalism in these countries. This would be a bitter blow to Germany who would not forget what happened and blamed the mostly Jewish and Slavic peoples of these countries.
On January 30th, 1933 Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. Hitler was the leader of the Nazi, or The German Workers, political party. The Nazi party consisted of former army General staff members as well as non army members who were bitter over how the democratic republic was being run. Several non Nazi political parties in Germany wanted to see a return to an authoritarian rule, which they felt would stabilize their nation and secure their place in Europe as a great power. These parties saw this chance through Adolf Hitler as Chancellor.
Hitler and his Nazis promised to restore Germany to a state of greatness and to provide a unified nationalism. Hitler also promised to take back German land acquired by the Polish. The Nazis nationalism harkened back to the 1870 establishment of the German Republic or The Second Reich (Mark, 2008). This nationalism excluded Jews and Slavic peoples who were viewed as inferior. Most Germans accepted this as retribution for the treatment of Germans throughout Europe, after World War One.
The Nazis also promised that Germany would become a great Aryan nation, or a nation of Germanic pure blood further instilling a sense of nationalism. This anti-Semitism had been widely popular in the nineteenth century and had made a return in part due to Hitler’s book Mein Kampf. In Mein Kampf, Hitler refereed to the Jews as “parasites, liars, dirty, crafty, sly, wily, and clever, without any true culture, a sponger, a middleman, a maggot, eternal blood suckers, repulsive, unscrupulous, monsters, foreign, menace, bloodthirsty, avaricious, the destroyer of Aryan humanity, and the mortal enemy of Aryan humanity...” (The History Place, 1996). This portrayal of Jews was popular, to some degree, throughout Europe as well as the United States. Hitler’s prejudice towards the Jews would result in bringing back a nineteenth century proposed plan for the Jews known as The Final Solution.
The Final Solution and stereotyping
The German Social Reform Party of the late nineteenth century coined the phrase “final solution” (Ferguson, 2006). The Final Solution called for exterminating the Jews the same way that Brittan had “exterminated” dissidents in India (Ferguson, 2006). To some, this Final Solution was the answer to the “Jewish Question”. The Jewish Question arose from fear of losing German bloodlines through intermarriage with Jews. This form of Anti-Semitism was not solely contained to Germany. Throughout predominantly Christian Europe and for at least several hundred years prior too, Jews were seen as a lesser race and a threat to Christianity. However at that time, there were many who disagreed with the idea of extermination particularly in Germany. Unfortunately this “solution” would rear its ugly head once Germany came under control of the Nazis.
Hitler’s use of scapegoating, and propaganda
The Reichstag fire of 1933 would be a turning point in Hitler’s rise to power and the scapegoating of the Jews and other political dissidents. According to History.com, “the Reichstag was the building in Berlin where the elected members of the republic met to conduct the daily business of government”, (The History Place, 1996). The Nazis wanted to have a majority in the Reichstag so that Hitler could carry out his plans unhindered. When Hitler realized that this would not be so, he hatched a plan to burn the Reichstag and take advantage of the incident to implement his dictatorial policies. Hitler’s media immediately blamed the German communist party and their sympathizers as the culprit. Much propaganda was used to make this lie seem true. Communist party members were rounded up and placed in work or “concentration” camps. Through propaganda, Hitler convinced most people that the Communist party was mostly made up of Jews. Hitler used the idea of Trotsky (a Russian Jewish communist leader from the October Revolution) to spread fear of a communist revolt in Germany (Ferguson, 2006). The last thing that the mostly conservative nation of Germany wanted was a socialist or communist way of government.
The Nazis became viewed as heroes for ending the communist threat. Germany held its final free elections in March of 1933 which resulted in Hitler’s Nazi majority plan being put into place. Hitler’s minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, was now able to begin a political campaign of unprecedented proportion which would result in Hitler becoming a dictator and the Jews becoming enemies of the state (The History Place, 1996).
More on Propaganda and Hitler’s Final Solution
Beginning in 1933, Goebbels began a propaganda war that would ultimately move the majority of Germans to put the blame of all of their problems on the Jews. Goebbels accomplished this through newspapers, cartoons, newsreels, speeches, records, exhibits and radio announcements (Mark, 2008). This propaganda made Hitler’s false views in Mien Kampf into accepted truth. Hitler’s beliefs about the Jews were being taught to Germany’s youth, written into textbooks, and instilled into every member of Hitler’s S.S (The History Place, 1996).
Hitler portrayed the Jews of Europe as conspirators attempting world control. The “Jewish Question” of the last century had been brought back to light. Hitler and his inner circle believed that anyone who stood in the way of German progress was an enemy of the state. This proclamation included the Jewish threat conceived by Hitler. Hitler saw the Jews as a road block to progress. According to The History Place, “the initial goal of the Final Solution was to round-up and deport Europe's Jews to the already-established SS-run ghettos in Poland, where many would perish through harsh conditions including brute physical labor”, (The History Place, 1996). This began an intense growth of the already established concentration camps and the rounding up of Jews into Ghettos. This “plan” for the Jews, was carried out in all German occupied territories.
By 1942, Jewish Ghetto’s became places of starvation and death. Soon after, places like Auschwitz, evolved into extermination camps. People deemed unfit for hard labor were eliminated. This included women, children, and the elderly (Wiesel, 1955). At this point the “Final Solution” idea of the nineteenth century German Socialist Party was enacted. The truth of the final solution was kept under wraps. Many Germans had no idea that such atrocities were going on. Many of the Jews outside of Germany, like those in Romania, had their doubts as to what was happening. The idea that “it is not happening to me” became prevalent. Even when escapees would try to enlighten the masses they were not believed and thought of as “mad”. (Wiesel, 1955).
Conclusion
Most non Jewish people were not willing to risk their lives for the plight of the Jews. Aiding an enemy of the state was a guarantee of death. Hitler and his Nazis ruled by fear. Fear, especially fear of death, can be quite a motivator. Hitler’s Final Solution would not truly become exposed until the liberation of camps like Buchenwald by the Allied Forces (Wiesel, 1955). Nazi war criminals did eventually pay for their atrocities. Survivors like Elie Wiesel and, locally, Jay Ipson (who I had the honor of meeting through the School of Continuing Studies) keep the memory of the tragic holocaust alive.
William M. Wood Jr.


Works Cited
Ferguson, N. (2006). War of the World Twentieth Century Conflict and the Descent of the West. London: Penquin Press.
Mark, M. (2008). Hitler's Empire How the Nazis Ruled Europe. New York: Penguin Press.
The History Place. (1996). The Rise of Hitler. Retrieved 2 12, 2011, from The History Place: http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/kampf.htm
Wiesel, E. (1955). Night. U.S: Hill & Wang.