Why didi the Nazis became the leading party in the Reichstag in 1932?

Nazis became the leading party in the Reichstag in 1932 gaining huge amount of popularity among Germans.

First of all, Hitler was a powerful speaker that could easily move German people’s mind. He attracted people as a dynamic, ambitious man being the leader of a modern party and ideas. German people thought he understood and able to solve the problems that Germany was facing. He was seen as the man who would unite the country under a strong leader like him, restore order from social unrest during Weimar government, persuade other nations to treat Germany fairly and opposing the Treaty of Versailles to protect his nation from unfairness. This was one of the effective reason making Germans support Hitler and his party.

The great depression was one of the factors that influenced Nazis to become the leading party of Germany. It led to banks losing huge amounts as they were major investors in the shares. Businesses were closed and the rate of unemployment rose. By 1933, there was 6 million Germans who lost their jobs. Anger and bitterness helped the Nazis to gain more support during the depression. This made Hitler more determined on his aim of making Germany powerful. Hitler rallied Germans around him by appealing to their patriotism and promising to fight the opponents and fix the money problems. Middle classes were inspired as they saw Hitler as a strong leader and believed that he would help the country recover and could have the loss of their savings and pensions back. During the Great Depression, his ambition and determination attracted people in Germany which is one of the reasons why Nazi became a leading party of Germany.

The next point is that the weaknesses of Weimar Republic made German people lose their faith towards the government. The government had failed to deal with the depression as they had too much pressure on paying reparations, they failed to communicate with citizens. For example, the government proposed to raise taxes to pay the cost of unemployment benefit however didn’t please anyone as people lost their benefits and was waste of work. Hitler then begun to gain another popularity from German people as he had a strong belief that he could solve the problems that the Weimar government had sold Germany out by agreeing to the Treaty of Versailles. In addition, Hitler had a strong opposition towards Weimar government and had a strong hatred towards them and as well as people in Germany. He organised the German Army and gave people an impression of discipline and order. People started to support Nazis not because they shared the same ideas but because they shared Nazi fears and hatred towards the Weimar government which is called a ‘negative cohesion’. They disliked the fact that the Weimar government was not strong and decisive enough to improve the situation. This boosted up and gave confidence for NSDAP to make a way to control Germany.

Nazi became the leading party as Hitler asked Hindenburg (chancellor of Germany) to pass the law for the protection of the people and the state to grant him emergency powers in view of the communist takeover. Eventually, Nazi party didn't get the majority of votes in the election took place in March gaining 17.3 million votes. However, Hitler made a way to make himeself a Fuhrer.

Teacher's comment

6/8, Good focus on the question throughout the essay. There were variety of factors with some common knowledge. Try to give specific details in each paragraph for example, facts and figures. Use the conclusion to help link the factors.