I found this week’s reading to be particularly intriguing because of the manner in which it narrowed the scope of the spread of Nazism to a single town. Allen tracks the manifestation of Nazism in Northeim, but it is the manner in which he explains each progression and slowly captures how Nazism in this small town matured and essentially catapulted that had the greatest effect on me. Perhaps it is the fact that he mentions how the town was a seemingly collective whole, a community, if you will, that became completely engrossed in the Nazi movement.
I was especially taken with how the people of the town responded to the movement. Allen notes the meager beginnings of the movement, how many barely could identify a Nazi, but also how the Nazis understood their audience and molded their propaganda and their initiatives according to the people, thereby creating an image which was warmly received by the people. The Nazis' greatest asset may perhaps have been their ability to draw the people in, to capture. They presented themselves as an effective and strong group, who promoted nationalism and appealed to the anti-Marxist feelings the depression as perpetuated. Allen quotes a townsperson as saying, “I was drawn by the feeling of strength about the party, even though there was much in it which was highly questionable.” (32). What is especially noteworthy about the town is the effects of the depression, mostly how, as Allen says, it engendered fear, a fear which the Nazis seemed capable of quelling because of the image they created for themselves. Northeimers wanted a radical solution to their economic problem and the Nazi’s were the only party who seemed to understand where many people were coming from.
The Nazi, as Allen’s book further demonstrates, had an exceptional way of understanding their audience and capturing them meanwhile remaining ambiguous. They ran soup kitchens, held speeches and parades that appealed most notably to the wants and desires of the townspeople, and proclaimed nationalism. And yet, when their chief economic theorist, Gottfried Feder, came to Northeim to speak, all the people received were generalities, there were no specifics about how the economic problem would be solved and still this meeting was one of the most successful. Furthermore, the Hitler Youth were asked to paint swastikas and slogans throughout the town. Allens states how these youths had wanted to be a part of the movement at no beckoning of their parents, he quotes a former member as saying he joined mainly because he wanted to be a part of a group that was striving for a nationalistic ideal, how none of them really knew what they were doing, but that they felt important doing it (77). Most strikingly, for me anyway, was the ambivalence regarding anti-Semitism. Perhaps this is because I always associated Nazism with Anti-Semitism, but as Allen’s book illustrates, the anti-Semitic aspect of the party remained an abstract, almost unconnected component. The Northeimers, Allen states, became drawn to anti-Semitism because they were drawn to the movement. The Nazis, it seems, generated support and trust by appealing to the main concerns of the people and once this loyalty was attained, then they discreetly brought in the anti-Semitism. Even Allen notes how many trusted the Nazis would be able to deal with the arising Jewish problem, but “If they had guessed how the Nazis did deal with it, not on in a hundred would have joined the party.” (85)
I think Francesca points out a very important feature in this week’s study of Northeim. Namely, that the Nazis’ anti-Semitic agenda was in no way the primary platform upon which they based their campaign. It was focused more upon the manipulation of the citizens’ fear of change. As W.S. Allen indicates, after the crash of 1929 the segment of Northeim’s society that was most affected were the workers, yet it was not the workers that were most prone to the rise of Nazi propaganda in the town, it was the middle classes that though, “What if I’m next?” Hence, the Nazis’ focus on maintaining an image of an organized nationalistic movement is what drew the people of Notheim in. As the housewife noted, the movement seemed “young”, “strong”, and “energetic”. What she found “questionable” about their party line was only secondary.
ReplyDeleteI think you bring up a very important point regarding anti-Semitism and its role in the Nazi Party’s propaganda at this time. Allen writes that during the period of 1925-1928, “Nazi propaganda had been mainly aimed towards the working class and was predominantly anti-Semitic in content…(which) helped recruit the extant pool of bigots” (Allen 28-29), but this tactic/rhetoric was not resonating with the majority of the people of Northeim where the NSDAP got a pathetic 2.3% of the vote in the elections of 1928. The Nazis and Hitler himself realized they had to change their propaganda methods and to which audience they were directing this propaganda to, so naturally they focused on the middle class instead of the working class. The working class and the majority of people were obviously not responding to this theme of anti-Semitism that was being spewed by Nazis on a regular basis. Even Kershaw points out in his book that when Hitler made a speech to 400-450 of Hamburg’s bourgeoisie, his whole attitude was different and not once did he make any mention of the Jews because he knew “that the primitive anti-Semitic rantings…would be counter-productive in this audience” (Kershaw 286). It seems clear that if Hitler and the Nazis stuck with anti-Semitism as the main point of their propaganda instead of shifting gears towards anti-Marxism, something the middle class actually did fear at the time, the Nazis would not have gained power as easily as they were able to in Northeim and in Germany in general.
ReplyDelete