The Creation of the Nazi Party (Edexcel GCSE History)

How Involved was Hitler in the Creation of the Nazi Party? - Summary & Timeline

Adolf Hitler served as a messenger in the First World War. His role was to pass messages between regiments. Being a messenger was a dangerous job and Hitler was awarded two medals for his bravery. In October 1918, a mustard gas attack injured Hitler. He was temporarily blinded and required hospital treatment. It was in the hospital that Hitler learnt about the armistice of the First World War and Germany’s defeat. He, like many other soldiers, believed that Weimar politicians committed a ‘dolchstoss’ by agreeing to the Treaty of Versailles

The abdication of the Kaiser in November 1918 led to the creation of many new political parties. The Weimar government became increasingly worried about the threat these new parties posed to public safety. As a result, the government employed Hitler as part of their intelligence operation. His job was to attend a meeting of a new political party and report back to the government how dangerous it was. This is when Hitler discovered the DAP - The German Workers’ Party

Over the next two years, Hitler’s involvement in the party grew until he became leader. His skills as an orator and his political vision caused an increase in party membership. As a result, he rebranded the party to the NSDAP or the Nazi Party.

Historians have debated the extent of Hitler’s involvement in creating the Nazi Party. Some state that he simply took leadership of an existing party and tweaked its aims.  Others argue that his involvement changed the party from a small, insignificant group to an electable organisation

Hitler & the DAP

• Anton Drexler founded the DAP in February 1919

  • Drexler was a railway mechanic from Munich

  • In September 1919, the DAP had 23 members

  • It was a right-wing party that targeted the working classes

• The government hired Hitler to spy on political parties in Munich

  • The Weimar Republic had struggled to survive threats from extremist parties

  • As an ex-soldier, Hitler desperately needed the work

    • The majority of Germany’s armed forces had been made unemployed after the Treaty of Versailles restricted the German army to 100,000 soldiers

• Hitler attended his first meeting of the DAP on 12th September 1919

  • The ideas discussed at the meeting aligned with Hitler’s personal beliefs

  • On 19th September 1919, Hitler signed up as a member

    • This went against his government assignment

Changing the DAP to the NSDAP

• By 1920, the DAP had changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (the NSDAP or Nazi Party)

• Hitler implemented his takeover of the NSDAP by 1921 in five ways:

1. Changing the party’s policies to the Twenty-Five Point Programme

2. Hitler’s personal appeal

3. Developing the party’s organisational structure

4. Forcing a change of leadership and choosing members for key positions

5. Creating the NSDAP’s private army, the SA (Sturmabteilung)

• The process that Hitler used to increase his influence on the DAP is shown below:

The Twenty-Five Point Programme

• When Hitler became responsible for the DAP’s propaganda, he realised the party needed an official document stating its policies

  • The DAP already spoke on key issues such as:

    • The removal of Weimar politicians who had signed the Treaty of Versailles

    • The rewriting of the Weimar Constitution and restrictions on democracy

    • The blaming of the Jewish people for all of Germany’s issues

• In January 1920, Hitler and Drexler wrote the Twenty-Five Point Programme, which formalised the aims of the DAP

• The table below is an overview of the key policies from the Twenty-Five Point Programme

A Table showing the key policies in the Twenty-Five Point Programme

The Appeal of Hitler

• The DAP experienced a rapid increase in membership in 1920

  • By June 1920, the DAP had 1,000 members

  • By the end of the year, this increased to 3,000

• The main cause of this increase in membership was the appeal of Hitler

• Hitler spent a considerable amount of time practising his speeches

  • Hitler developed a unique pattern of oration, increasing his tempo of speaking until he reached a frantic and aggressive crescendo. This made his arguments very persuasive

  • He would practice hand gestures to utilise in certain sections of his speeches. To ensure these had maximum impact, he took pictures of how he looked as he practised them

  • As propaganda minister, he created images and posters of himself speaking

• In the first year of his DAP membership, he delivered 31 speeches

Nazi Party: Organisation & Leadership

• Hitler used his influence over Drexler to make key changes in the organisation of the party

• In January 1920, the DAP created a headquarters in Munich

  • Rudolf Schüssler, a friend of Hitler, took over the party’s administration

  • Meetings became better organised and funds for the party increased

• Hitler suggested that the party be called the NSDAP to represent the nationalist and socialist elements

  • The intention behind the new name was to appeal to multiple groups of people

• The NSDAP adopted the swastika and straight-armed salute to distinguish it from other nationalist parties

  • The swastika derived from Asia to symbolise prosperity

  • The Nazi salute originated from Ancient Rome

• In December 1920, the NSDAP began producing a newspaper called Völkischer Beobachter (the ‘People’s Observer’)

  • Within a year, the NSDAP was distributing 17,000 copies of the newspaper

  • The party’s influence was spreading beyond Munich

• In July 1921, Hitler triggered a leadership contest 

  • Hitler’s popularity meant he defeated Drexler to gain control of the NSDAP

• Hitler needed to consolidate his position as leader of the party. He made some key changes to the inner circle of the NSDAP:

The structure of the NSDAP

What was the SA?

• The Sturmabteilung (‘Stormtroopers’ or ‘SA’) was the NSDAP’s private army

  • The political violence in the streets of Weimar Germany made many political parties adopt a paramilitary force

  • The SA was formed in August 1921

  • They gained the nickname ‘Brownshirts’ due to the colour of their uniform

• Hitler hired the unemployed, students and ex-soldiers into the SA

  • These groups were very angry with the Weimar government

  • Hitler offered them money and a daily structure

• Hitler used the SA to:

  • Control crowds at meetings

  • Start fights on the streets

  • Disrupt the meetings of opposition groups like the KPD

  • Strengthen the image of the NSDAP

• The SA became problematic

  • By 1922, there were 800 Brownshirts. This number was increasing

  • Ernst Röhm became the leader of the SA in 1923

    • The SA was not under Hitler’s direct control

    • Ernst Röhm was popular amongst the stormtroopers

  • To combat this, Hitler created the Stosstrupp or ‘Shock Troop’

    • These were Brownshirts specially selected by Hitler as his bodyguards

The Impact of Hitler on the NSDAP

• In January 1922, Hitler called a party conference. Hitler established his autocratic control of the party

  • He spoke for two and a half hours

  • He persuaded the NSDAP members to surrender their right to elect the leader of the party

    • This effectively made the NSDAP a dictatorship

• The popularity of the NSDAP accelerated in 1923

  • By November 1923, the NSDAP had 50,000 members

  • The Weimar government was dealing with the hyperinflation crisis. Many Germans began to look at extremist parties like the NSDAP for solutions