JF Ptak Science Books LLC Post 250
This diagrammatic presentation of the German elections from
the end of the First World War to the 1933 elections clearly shows the rapid
and sustained growth of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, called
for short, the Nazi Party (or NSDAP).
It is really the chronicle of the rise of the unemployed sergeant
Adolf Hitler’s rise from total obscurity to the chancellorship of Germany in just
fourteen years. This is accomplished
through a thick and murky collaboration of some of the stupid aspects of the Treaty
of Versailles, the failure of the great base of the German economic enterprise,
the worldwide depression, and the abject and miserable condition of post-war
German society—and of course the rip-tide undercurrent of anti-Semitism, which
was healthiest in Germany but still achieving newish heights in Hungary, Poland
and of course the Soviet Union. Through a
wicked and unrelenting propaganda campaign which fed on fear and retribution
and rage in defeat, Hitler secured a rising power base among disparate
populations: university students,
veterans, farmers, the working lower classes, and a huge dollop of political investment
from a number of different industrial sources. When his part almost wins control of the country outright against the
creakingly old Hindenburg, and others, in 1933, it is Hitler who outmaneuvers
his political rivals to secure the chancellorship and controlling power in the Reichstag. It was all downhill from there, to the ring
of fire.
I’ve seldom seen the rise of the Nazi party presented this way in the year
of their ascendency—this pamphlet was printed in 1933 by the Foreign Policy
Association (founded in 1918 and still in existence) , and written by its
chair, James G. .McDonald (who served 1919-1933 as it turns out) for a radio
broadcast for 11 March 1933. It is
interesting to note that McDonald was the first U.S.ambassador to Israel
(1949-1951).
The front cover of the diagram:
I missed this post while on the road. But I had to comment on this: "Through a wicked and unrelenting propaganda campaign which fed on fear and retribution and rage in defeat, Hitler secured a rising power base among disparate populations: university students, veterans, farmers, the working lower classes, and a huge dollop of political investment from a number of different industrial sources." I wonder where Karl Rove got his ideas?
Posted by: Jeff | 12 September 2008 at 10:21 AM