Editing Nazi Party (section)

=== Rise to power: 1925–1933 ===
{{Further|Adolf Hitler's rise to power}}
{{Redirect|Rise of Nazism|the culmination of the rise|Nazi seizure of power}}
{{More citations needed section|date=February 2017}}
[[File:Refoundation.jpg|thumb|right|Adolf Hitler (standing) delivers a speech on the occasion of the refoundation of the NSDAP in February of 1925. Next to him from the perspective of the onlooker: On the right: Gregor Strasser and Heinrich Himmler. On the left: Franz Xaver Schwarz, Walter Buch and Alfred Rosenberg. Behind Hitler the Blutfahne (blood-flag), a central relique within the propaganda of the National-Socialists, can be seen attached to the wall.]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 119-0289, München, Hitler bei Einweihung "Braunes Haus".jpg|thumb|Hitler with Nazi Party members in 1930]]

Pardoned by the Bavarian Supreme Court, Hitler was released from prison on 20 December 1924, against the state prosecutor's objections.{{sfn|Kershaw|1998|p=239}} On 16 February 1925, Hitler convinced the Bavarian authorities to lift the ban on the NSDAP and the party was formally refounded on 26 February 1925, with Hitler as its undisputed leader. It was at this time Hitler began referring to himself as "''der [[Führer]]''".{{sfn|Childers|2001b|loc=13:45–14:12}} The new Nazi Party was no longer a paramilitary organisation and disavowed any intention of taking power by force. In any case, the economic and political situation had stabilised and the extremist upsurge of 1923 had faded, so there was no prospect of further revolutionary adventures. Instead, Hitler intended to alter the party's strategy to achieving power through what he called the "path of legality".{{sfn|Childers|2001b|loc=15:50–16:10}} The Nazi Party of 1925 was divided into the "Leadership Corps" ({{lang|de|Korps der politischen Leiter}}) appointed by Hitler and the general membership ({{lang|de|Parteimitglieder}}). The party and the SA were kept separate and the legal aspect of the party's work was emphasised. In a sign of this, the party began to admit women. The SA and the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] members (the latter founded in 1925 as Hitler's bodyguard, and known originally as the {{lang|de|Schutzkommando}}) had to all be regular party members.{{sfn|Weale|2010|pp=26–29}}{{sfn|Koehl|2004|p=34}}

In the 1920s the Nazi Party expanded beyond its Bavarian base. At this time, it began surveying voters in order to determine what they were dissatisfied with in Germany, allowing Nazi propaganda to be altered accordingly.{{sfn|Childers|2001b|loc=17:00–17:27}} Catholic Bavaria maintained its right-wing nostalgia for a Catholic monarch;{{Citation needed|date=July 2016}} and [[Westphalia]], along with working-class "Red Berlin", were always the Nazis' weakest areas electorally, even during the Third Reich itself. The areas of strongest Nazi support were in rural Protestant areas such as [[Schleswig-Holstein]], [[Mecklenburg]], [[Pomerania]] and [[East Prussia]]. Depressed working-class areas such as [[Thuringia]] also produced a strong Nazi vote, while the workers of the [[Ruhr]] and [[Hamburg]] largely remained loyal to the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrats]], the [[Communist Party of Germany]] or the Catholic [[Centre Party (Germany)|Centre Party]]. Nuremberg remained a Nazi Party stronghold, and the first [[Nuremberg Rally]] was held there in 1927. These rallies soon became massive displays of Nazi paramilitary power and attracted many recruits. The Nazis' strongest appeal was to the lower middle-classes—farmers, public servants, teachers and small businessmen—who had suffered most from the inflation of the 1920s, so who feared Bolshevism more than anything else. The small business class was receptive to Hitler's antisemitism, since it blamed Jewish big business for its economic problems. University students, disappointed at being too young to have served in the War of 1914–1918 and attracted by the Nazis' radical rhetoric, also became a strong Nazi constituency. By 1929, the party had 130,000 members.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=194}}

The party's nominal Deputy Leader was [[Rudolf Hess]], but he had no real power in the party. By the early 1930s, the senior leaders of the party after Hitler were [[Heinrich Himmler]], [[Joseph Goebbels]] and [[Hermann Göring]]. Beneath the Leadership Corps were the party's regional leaders, the {{lang|de|[[Gauleiter]]s}}, each of whom commanded the party in his {{lang|de|[[Gau (country subdivision)|Gau]]}} ("region"). Goebbels began his ascent through the party hierarchy as {{lang|de|Gauleiter}} of Berlin-Brandenburg in 1926. Streicher was {{lang|de|Gauleiter}} of [[Franconia]], where he published his antisemitic newspaper {{lang|de|[[Der Stürmer]]}}. Beneath the {{lang|de|Gauleiter}} were lower-level officials, the {{lang|de|[[Kreisleiter]]}} ("county leaders"), {{lang|de|[[Zellenleiter]]}} ("cell leaders") and {{lang|de|[[Blockleiter]]}} ("block leaders"). This was a strictly hierarchical structure in which orders flowed from the top and unquestioning loyalty was given to superiors. Only the SA retained some autonomy. Being composed largely of unemployed workers, many SA men took the Nazis' socialist rhetoric seriously. At this time, the [[Hitler salute]] (borrowed from the [[Italian Fascism|Italian fascists]]) and the greeting "Heil Hitler!" were adopted throughout the party.

[[File:1930-election.jpg|thumb|Nazi Party election poster used in [[Vienna]] in 1930 (translation: "We demand freedom and bread")]]
The Nazis contested elections to the national parliament (the {{lang|de|[[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]]}}) and to the state legislature (the {{lang|de|[[Landtag]]e}}) from 1924, although at first with little success. The "[[National Socialist Freedom Movement]]" polled 3% of the vote in the [[December 1924 German federal election|December 1924 ''Reichstag'' elections]] and this fell to 2.6% in [[1928 German federal election|1928]]. State elections produced similar results. Despite these poor results and despite Germany's relative political stability and prosperity during the later 1920s, the Nazi Party continued to grow. This was partly because Hitler, who had no administrative ability, left the party organisation to the head of the secretariat, [[Philipp Bouhler]], the party treasurer [[Franz Xaver Schwarz]] and business manager [[Max Amann]]. The party had a capable propaganda head in [[Gregor Strasser]], who was promoted to national organizational leader in January 1928. These men gave the party efficient recruitment and organizational structures. The party also owed its growth to the gradual fading away of competitor nationalist groups, such as the [[German National People's Party]] (DNVP). As Hitler became the recognised head of the German nationalists, other groups declined or were absorbed. In the late 1920s, seeing the party's lack of breakthrough into the mainstream, Goebbels proposed that instead of focusing all of their propaganda in major cities where there was competition from other political movements, they should instead begin holding rallies in rural areas where they would be more effective.{{sfn|Childers|2001b|loc=23:30–24:00}}

Despite these strengths, the Nazi Party might never have come to power had it not been for the [[Great Depression]] and its effects on Germany. By 1930, the German economy was beset with mass unemployment and widespread business failures. The Social Democrats and Communists were bitterly divided and unable to formulate an effective solution: this gave the Nazis their opportunity and Hitler's message, blaming the crisis on the Jewish financiers and the [[Bolshevik]]s, resonated with wide sections of the electorate. At the [[1930 German federal election|September 1930 ''Reichstag'' elections]], the Nazis won 18% of the votes and became the second-largest party in the {{lang|de|Reichstag}} after the Social Democrats. Hitler proved to be a highly effective campaigner, pioneering the use of radio and aircraft for this purpose. His dismissal of Strasser and his appointment of Goebbels as the party's propaganda chief were major factors. While Strasser had used his position to promote his own leftish version of national socialism, Goebbels was completely loyal to Hitler, and worked only to improve Hitler's image.

The 1930 elections changed the German political landscape by weakening the traditional nationalist parties, the DNVP and the DVP, leaving the Nazis as the chief alternative to the discredited Social Democrats and the Zentrum, whose leader, [[Heinrich Brüning]], headed a weak minority government. The inability of the democratic parties to form a united front, the self-imposed isolation of the Communists and the continued decline of the economy, all played into Hitler's hands. He now came to be seen as ''de facto'' leader of the opposition and donations poured into the Nazi Party's coffers. Some major business figures, such as [[Fritz Thyssen]], were Nazi supporters and gave generously{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=372}} and some Wall Street figures were allegedly involved,{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}} but many other businessmen were suspicious of the extreme nationalist tendencies of the Nazis and preferred to support the traditional conservative parties instead.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=224}}

In 1930, as the price for joining a [[coalition government]] of the ''Land'' (state) of [[Thuringia]], the Nazi Party received the state ministries of the [[Interior minister|Interior]] and Education. On 23 January 1930, [[Wilhelm Frick]] was appointed to these ministries, becoming the first Nazi to hold a ministerial-level post at any level in Germany.
[[File:Wahl zum Preussischen Landtag, NSDAP-Wahlspendenmedaille 1932.jpg|thumb|right|German NSDAP Donation Token 1932, Free State of Prussia elections]]
In 1931 the Nazi Party altered its strategy to engage in perpetual campaigning across the country, even outside of election time.{{sfn|Childers|2001b|loc=30:35–30:57}} During 1931 and into 1932, Germany's political crisis deepened. Hitler ran for president against the incumbent [[Paul von Hindenburg]] in March 1932, polling 30% in the first round and 37% in the second against Hindenburg's 49% and 53%. By now the SA had 400,000 members and its running street battles with the SPD and Communist paramilitaries (who also fought each other) reduced some German cities to combat zones. Paradoxically, although the Nazis were among the main instigators of this disorder, part of Hitler's appeal to a frightened and demoralised middle class was his promise to restore law and order. Overt antisemitism was played down in official Nazi rhetoric, but was never far from the surface. Germans voted for Hitler primarily because of his promises to revive the economy (by unspecified means), to restore German greatness and overturn the [[Treaty of Versailles]] and to save Germany from communism. On 24 April 1932, the [[Elections in the Free State of Prussia|Free State of Prussia elections]] to the [[Landtag of Prussia|Landtag]] resulted in 36% of the votes and 162 seats for the NSDAP.

On 20 July 1932, the Prussian government was ousted by a coup, the {{lang|de|[[Preußenschlag|Preussenschlag]]}}; a few days later at the [[July 1932 German federal election|July 1932 ''Reichstag'' election]] the Nazis made another leap forward, polling 37% and becoming the largest party in parliament by a wide margin. Furthermore, the Nazis and the Communists between them won 52% of the vote and a majority of seats. Since both parties opposed the established political system and neither would join or support any ministry, this made the formation of a majority government impossible. The result was weak ministries governing by decree. Under [[Comintern]] directives, the Communists maintained their policy of treating the Social Democrats as the main enemy, calling them "[[social fascism|social fascists]]", thereby splintering opposition to the Nazis.{{efn|"Social democracy is objectively the moderate wing of fascism.&nbsp;... These organisations (ie Fascism and social democracy) are not antipodes, they are twins." ([[Joseph Stalin|J.V. Stalin]]: ''Concerning the International Situation'' (September 1924), in ''Works'', Volume 6, 1953; p. 294.) This later led [[Otto Wille Kuusinen]] to conclude that "The aims of the fascists and the social-fascists are the same." (Report To the 10th Plenum of ECCI, in ''International Press Correspondence'', Volume 9, no. 40, (20 August 1929), p. 848.)}} Later, both the Social Democrats and the Communists accused each other of having facilitated [[Hitler's rise to power]] by their unwillingness to compromise.

Chancellor [[Franz von Papen]] called another {{lang|de|Reichstag}} election in November, hoping to find a way out of this impasse. The electoral result was the same, with the Nazis and the Communists winning 50% of the vote between them and more than half the seats, rendering this {{lang|de|Reichstag}} no more workable than its predecessor. However, support for the Nazis had fallen to 33.1%, suggesting that the Nazi surge had passed its peak—possibly because the worst of the Depression had passed, possibly because some middle-class voters had supported Hitler in July as a protest, but had now drawn back from the prospect of actually putting him into power. The Nazis interpreted the result as a warning that they must seize power before their moment passed. Had the other parties united, this could have been prevented, but their shortsightedness made a united front impossible. Papen, his successor [[Kurt von Schleicher]] and the nationalist press magnate [[Alfred Hugenberg]] spent December and January in political intrigues that eventually persuaded President Hindenburg that it was safe to appoint Hitler as Reich Chancellor, at the head of a cabinet including only a minority of Nazi ministers—which he did on 30 January 1933.

==== Ascension and consolidation ====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1982-159-21A, Nürnberg, Reichsparteitag, Hitler und Röhm.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|''Reichsparteitag'' (Nuremberg Rally): Nazi Party leader [[Adolf Hitler]] and SA-leader [[Ernst Röhm]], August 1933]]
In ''[[Mein Kampf]]'', Hitler directly attacked both left-wing and right-wing politics in Germany.{{efn|Hitler stated: "Today our left-wing politicians in particular are constantly insisting that their craven-hearted and obsequious foreign policy necessarily results from the disarmament of Germany, whereas the truth is that this is the policy of traitors [...] But the politicians of the Right deserve exactly the same reproach. It was through their miserable cowardice that those ruffians of Jews who came into power in 1918 were able to rob the nation of its arms."{{sfn|Hitler|2010|p=287}}}} However, a majority of scholars identify [[Nazism]] in practice as being a [[Far-right politics|far-right]] form of politics.{{Sfnm|1a1=Fritzsche|1y=1998|1p=?|2a1=Eatwell|2y=1996|2pp=xvii–xxiv, 21, 26–31, 114–40, 352|3a1=Griffin|3y=2000|3p=?}}{{Page needed|date=June 2020}} When asked in an interview in 1934 whether the Nazis were "bourgeois right-wing" as alleged by their opponents, Hitler responded that Nazism was not exclusively for any class and indicated that it favoured neither the left nor the right, but preserved "pure" elements from both "camps" by stating: "From the camp of bourgeois tradition, it takes national resolve, and from the materialism of the Marxist dogma, living, creative Socialism".{{sfn|Domarus|2007|pp=171–73}}

The votes that the Nazis received in the 1932 elections established the Nazi Party as the largest parliamentary faction of the Weimar Republic government. Hitler was appointed as [[Chancellor of Germany (German Reich)|Chancellor of Germany]] on 30 January 1933.

The [[Reichstag fire|''Reichstag'' fire]] on 27 February 1933 gave Hitler a pretext for suppressing his political opponents. The following day he persuaded the Reich's President [[Paul von Hindenburg]] to issue the [[Reichstag Fire Decree|''Reichstag'' Fire Decree]], which suspended most [[civil liberties]]. The NSDAP won the [[March 1933 German federal election|parliamentary election on 5 March 1933]] with 44% of votes, but failed to win an absolute majority. After the election, hundreds of thousands of new members joined the party for opportunistic reasons, most of them civil servants and white-collar workers. They were nicknamed the "casualties of March" ({{langx|de|link=no|Märzgefallenen}}) or "March violets" ({{langx|de|link=no|Märzveilchen}}).{{sfn|Beck|2013|p=259}} To protect the party from too many non-ideological turncoats who were viewed by the so-called "old fighters" {{lang|de|(alte Kämpfer)}} with some mistrust,{{sfn|Beck|2013|p=259}} the party issued a freeze on admissions that remained in force from May 1933 to 1937.{{sfn|Ingrao|2013|p=77}}

On 23 March, the parliament passed the [[Enabling Act of 1933]], which gave the cabinet the right to enact laws without the consent of parliament. In effect, this gave Hitler dictatorial powers. Now possessing virtually absolute power, the Nazis established [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]] control as they abolished labour unions and other political parties and imprisoned their political opponents, first at {{lang|de|wilde Lager}}, improvised camps, then in [[concentration camp]]s. [[Nazi Germany]] had been established, yet the {{lang|de|Reichswehr}} remained impartial. Nazi power over Germany remained virtual, not absolute.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: right"
|-
|+ NSDAP federal election results (1924–1933){{sfn|Kolb|2005|pp=224–225}}
|-
!rowspan="2"|Election
!colspan="3"|Votes
!colspan="2"|Seats
!rowspan="2"|Notes
|-
!No.
!%
!+/–
!No.
!+/–
|-
![[May 1924 German federal election|May 1924]]<br />{{small|(as [[National Socialist Freedom Movement]])}}
|1,918,300
|6.5 (No.&nbsp;6)
|
|{{Composition bar|32|472|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|
|style="text-align:left;"|Hitler in prison
|-
![[December 1924 German federal election|December 1924]]<br />{{small|(as [[National Socialist Freedom Movement]])}}
|907,300
|3.0 (No.&nbsp;8)
|{{decrease}}&nbsp;3.5
|{{Composition bar|14|493|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|{{decrease}}&nbsp;18
|style="text-align:left;"|Hitler released from prison
|-
![[1928 German federal election|May 1928]]
|810,100
|2.6 (No.&nbsp;9)
|{{decrease}}&nbsp;0.4
|{{Composition bar|12|491|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|{{decrease}}&nbsp;2
|style="text-align:left;"|
|-
![[1930 German federal election|September 1930]]
|6,409,600
|18.3 (No.&nbsp;2)
|{{increase}}&nbsp;15.7
|{{Composition bar|107|577|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|{{increase}}&nbsp;95
|style="text-align:left;"|After the financial crisis
|-
![[July 1932 German federal election|July 1932]]
|13,745,000
|37.3 ('''No.&nbsp;1''')
|{{increase}}&nbsp;19.0
|{{Composition bar|230|608|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|{{increase}}&nbsp;123
|style="text-align:left;"|After Hitler was candidate for presidency
|-
![[November 1932 German federal election|November 1932]]
|11,737,000
|33.1 ('''No.&nbsp;1''')
|{{decrease}}&nbsp;4.2
|{{Composition bar|196|584|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|{{decrease}}&nbsp;34
|style="text-align:left;"|&nbsp;
|-
![[March 1933 German federal election|March 1933]]
|17,277,180
|43.9 ('''No.&nbsp;1''')
|{{increase}}&nbsp;10.8
|{{Composition bar|288|647|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|{{increase}}&nbsp;92
|style="text-align:left;"|During Hitler's term as Chancellor of Germany
|}