Nazi Seizure of Power

An excellent book. However my copy was very disappointing, marred by extensive underlining and notes. Made it almost impossible to read. I'll finish rereading when I buy a much better copy.

>The Nazi Seizure of Power< is a solid history book, good enough for use in a college-history syllabus, which is where I came across it. It is something of an eye-opener. Nazism, i.e. "National Socialist German-worker Party" is as enigmatic at the working level as its name is long, which helps it hoodwink German voters and prove that you can establish a dictatorship as easily with ballots as you can with bullets. <br />Nazism in "Thalburg," Professor Allen's sample pseudonym city, was never an overnight sensation but the result of tireless effort by legions of party workers, who were ignorant of Nazism's true intentions: <br />1) A housewife put it clearly: "The ranks of the (Nazis) were filled with young people. The people who joined did so because they were for social justice, or opposed to unemployment." <br />2) Others joined because it looked as though the Nazis would be victorious, and they hoped to profit. <br />3) "Most who joined did so because they wanted a hard, sharp, clear leadership. They were disgusted with the internal political strife of parliamentary party politics." <br /> <br />One cannot read >The Nazi Seizure of Power< and not be impressed at the sophisticated organizing technique that the Nazis employed to sway the elections: <br />1) In the early months of 1930, the (Nazis) held a meeting nearly every week, advertised with such titles as "The German Worker as Interest-slave of Big International Capitalists," or "Saving the Middle Class in the National Socialist State." <br />2) In newspaper advertisements, Thalburgers were urged to give deeply. "Sacrifice" was the key word. <br /> <br />Before the Nazis could succeed, they had to break the hold of private organizations: <br />1) There is a proverb, "Two Germans, three clubs." This was almost true of Thalburg where, in 1930, there were no fewer than 161 clubs. <br />2) There were 21 sports clubs, 47 with an economic or occupational function, 23 religious or charitable societies. <br />3) With hardly an exception, they followed the town's class lines. <br /> <br />The Nazis also had to abolish distinctions between schools: <br />1) There were three public primary schools, arranged so that children could also secure religious orientation. <br />2) Burgerschule 1 was Lutheran; the Katholische Volksschule served Catholic children; Burgerschule 2 was non-denominational. <br />3) Each school had its own School Advisory Council, elected by the pupils' parents. <br /> <br />The abolition of private or exclusive spaces by the Nazis was a process they called "Gleichschaltung," i.e. linking to one source: <br />1) Eventually no independent social groups were to exist. All of society would exist whereby each individual related not to his fellow man but only to the State. <br />2) What social cohesion there had been in the town existed in the club life, and this was destroyed in the early months of Nazi rule. <br />3) With their social organizations gone and with terror a reality, Thalb

This is a good book to read in explaining how a democratic society became totalitarian in a span of six months. THe author Allen explains it using the small town of Northeim in Hanover. Northeim was a typical town that weathered the turmoil of the twenties and thirties. In 1932, 66% percent of the population voted for the Nazis. In 1933, the Nazis took over the town administration and basically wiped out any opposition by the SPD or Nationalists. This book explains how the Nazis did it on a small scale. Initial violence, concentration camps, firing of those who held opposite political views, and police raids silenced the opposition. They were so silenced that the town did not get back its freedom till 1945. This is a fairly long book and centered more toward the academic audience. However it gives a great view of how Germany changed overnight when Hindenburg selected Hitler to be his Chancellor. Democracy died a quick death, even at the local level. A great read for those trying to understand the Nazis.

Mr. Allen's meticulously researched examination of the Nazis' swift rise to power, as illustrated by the experience of one provincial town in Germany, provides a clear answer to the question "how did they do it?" The answer, by the way, may frighten those complacent Americans who think "it can't happen here." Much of the Nazi methodology used to seduce, and ultimately terrorize, the German electorate into passive acceptance of the new regime will seem disturbingly familiar.

By tracing the personal histories of the inhabitants of Nordheim and the practical workings of the local Nazi party structures, Allen illustrates the reasons for the sudden and powerful rise to power of the NSDAP in a way that is insightful and memorable. By using such details as excerpts from local newspapers, attendance records of Nazi and non-Nazi events, and memories of the still-living Nordheim residents, Allen is able to give an amazingly detailed and yet concise and easily readable view of the events and feelings that proceeded and stemmed from the Nazi rise to power.