marriott0.01
16-03-2009, 12:33 AM
How far did Hitler go into creating Germany into a totalitarian state?
Hitler is deemed one of the most evil and powerful dictators of all time, but many believe that he may not have had total control over Germany and its people. Within this essay I am going to explore the claims that Hitler did indeed create a totalitarian state, and also explore the reasons why many people believe that Hitler did not have complete power or control, and why he did not have complete control. Although Hitler tried to be a complete dictator ruling every aspect of everyone’s lives, he wasn’t able to beat down the criticisms from the opposition, who were constantly persuading people to go against the man who believed he had it all, Adolf Hitler.
When Hitler came into power he promised law and order to the already crippled Germany. But how successful was Hitler on getting the complete law and order depended on him forcing the criticism to join him, which proved difficult, because although he had got rid of many opponents with harsh consequences, he did not deter the other opponents, they just simply went underground where they could not be found by the evil Nazi Regime. However Hitler was very successful with deterring the opponents as the majority did not speak up against him which could prove that he had used fear as a weapon to create a totalitarian state, which Hitler used very well, with the constant threat of the Gestapo and the concentration camps. Hitler also protected Germany from Communism very well, by ensuring they were banned from the Reichstag, right from the very start of Hitler’s rule. This was done by accusing them of burning down the Reichstag, and with them out of the Reichstag; they were unable to take control of Germany, as the constitution stated, which now protected the Germans from the communists. Hitler was also able to prosecute many people under the accusation that they were indeed communist, which acted as a deterrent of people who were thinking of supporting communism. Forcing the Communists underground, also ultimately got rid of them publically trying to ruin the regime, although it did not completely get rid of the threat.
Hitler had made a key priority of his time as Fuhrer, to ensure that Germany had financial security, and overall Hitler did very well with ensuring this, as they had solved the massive problem of unemployment and the government was now making enough money to fund numerous investments and new laws to ensure the stability of Germany. This created Germany into a totalitarian state, as it showed that Germany could now use its money as a way of funding things it liked, to destroy smaller things, such as Jewish businesses which could lose out, if the Government decided to fund into true German Department stores etc...
The German propaganda was probably the most successful part of the German regime and contributed most to the creation of a totalitarian state. This was due to the fact that they were able to completely brainwash the population and control them using it. This was a way of ensuring that Hitler had control of every aspect of their lives. They also used Propaganda to censor things, such as cinemas and radio. This was a great way to control the entertainment aspect of people’s lives, which Hitler and the Nazi’s did very successfully, which contributed dramatically to the creation of a totalitarian state. The Nazi’s strongest weapon against its own people was propaganda, as it enabled them to control aspects of their life that the Kaiser was unable to control, as he didn’t have as powerful Propaganda as the Nazi’s. The propaganda the Nazi’s had far surpassed any other leader at the time, and was one of the reasons that Germany could have been classed as a totalitarian state, as it had control of the most important aspect of people’s lives.
Hitler’s anti-Semitism views, created a very totalitarian view of Germany, as Hitler was not only controlling the lives of the people in Germany, but the people who were actually in Germany. This means that Hitler was controlling every aspect of Germany, as he could pick and choose who he wanted in Germany, to make an ethnic cleansing on Germany. It also was a way to show the rest of the world that the Aryan race was superior. The totalitarian view of Germany mainly comes from the thought that Hitler was controlling the lives of people, as he wanted people to be Aryan and perfect. Not Jewish, homosexual, disabled or anything else that could be considered as an imperfection. This shows Hitler was able to have complete control over the image the country gave. And he wanted that to be a fully Aryan country. And he was able to create Germany into as fully-Aryan as possible, which shows us that, Hitler, was able to control the races in Germany, further hinting towards the idea of Germany being totalitarian.
However some things the Nazi’s did show us that they did not have complete say over everyone’s lives, a good example of this was the church. Although Hitler tried to compete with the church, he was unable to, and his agreement with them, the concordat, meant that Hitler’s powers could do little harm to the church. Although Hitler couldn’t directly strike at the church he tried to, but this failed, as the Church was still winning and was able to keep all its Catholics faithful to the church, and not go off to the German Faith Movement, which is what Hitler set up to combat the church. This shows us that Hitler did not have control over people’s religion, as he could not force people to join his religion. This is where it starts to show the cracks that the Nazi’s had within their regime.
Although I have already put their anti-Semitism views were a success, there was also some failures, mainly with revolts that occurred between the Nazi’s and the Jews. The most famous revolt was the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, which shows us that the Jews were not completely controlled as they could break free of the Nazi’s for several days, and live alone. Although the Nazi’s did regain the Warsaw Ghetto, it is a strong statement showing that the Nazi’s were unable to be totally in control at all times, and also shows that the Jews and other minorities were able to defeat the Nazi’s for a certain length of time. Another example of when the rebellions crippled the views of the Nazi’s is where the detainees at Auschwitz decided to blow up the gas chambers, this once again shows that the law and order, we discussed at the start of this essay, isn’t as good as it should be, or claimed to be.
The Nazi’s also failed to get the youth to obey by their rules. Although the youth clubs were extremely successful, many rebellions went against them including the Edelweiss Pirates, who deemed the worst problem, as they disrupted the Hitler Youth clubs. Many females, refused to go to the League of German Girls, which Hitler strongly encouraged as it taught girls the values of mother care and how to look after a baby. The rebellions by the youth undermined the whole Nazi regime, as it showed the people of the world that the Nazi’s couldn’t even handle some children, when it was expected to handle the rest of the world.
To conclude, my personal thoughts are that Hitler had attempted to create a totalitarian state, but failed due to the constant undermining of the people of Germany who did not agree with the Nazi’s policies. However he did create a totalitarian society in many aspects of German life and was extremely successful in doing so. Hitler unfortunately showed weakness against his own people, especially the Catholics as he could not do anything about them, and had to just stand in line. This shows that Hitler could control most of Germany but not all of Germany, due to the agreements and the constant undermining that took place.
Yum loves Hitler!
Hitler is deemed one of the most evil and powerful dictators of all time, but many believe that he may not have had total control over Germany and its people. Within this essay I am going to explore the claims that Hitler did indeed create a totalitarian state, and also explore the reasons why many people believe that Hitler did not have complete power or control, and why he did not have complete control. Although Hitler tried to be a complete dictator ruling every aspect of everyone’s lives, he wasn’t able to beat down the criticisms from the opposition, who were constantly persuading people to go against the man who believed he had it all, Adolf Hitler.
When Hitler came into power he promised law and order to the already crippled Germany. But how successful was Hitler on getting the complete law and order depended on him forcing the criticism to join him, which proved difficult, because although he had got rid of many opponents with harsh consequences, he did not deter the other opponents, they just simply went underground where they could not be found by the evil Nazi Regime. However Hitler was very successful with deterring the opponents as the majority did not speak up against him which could prove that he had used fear as a weapon to create a totalitarian state, which Hitler used very well, with the constant threat of the Gestapo and the concentration camps. Hitler also protected Germany from Communism very well, by ensuring they were banned from the Reichstag, right from the very start of Hitler’s rule. This was done by accusing them of burning down the Reichstag, and with them out of the Reichstag; they were unable to take control of Germany, as the constitution stated, which now protected the Germans from the communists. Hitler was also able to prosecute many people under the accusation that they were indeed communist, which acted as a deterrent of people who were thinking of supporting communism. Forcing the Communists underground, also ultimately got rid of them publically trying to ruin the regime, although it did not completely get rid of the threat.
Hitler had made a key priority of his time as Fuhrer, to ensure that Germany had financial security, and overall Hitler did very well with ensuring this, as they had solved the massive problem of unemployment and the government was now making enough money to fund numerous investments and new laws to ensure the stability of Germany. This created Germany into a totalitarian state, as it showed that Germany could now use its money as a way of funding things it liked, to destroy smaller things, such as Jewish businesses which could lose out, if the Government decided to fund into true German Department stores etc...
The German propaganda was probably the most successful part of the German regime and contributed most to the creation of a totalitarian state. This was due to the fact that they were able to completely brainwash the population and control them using it. This was a way of ensuring that Hitler had control of every aspect of their lives. They also used Propaganda to censor things, such as cinemas and radio. This was a great way to control the entertainment aspect of people’s lives, which Hitler and the Nazi’s did very successfully, which contributed dramatically to the creation of a totalitarian state. The Nazi’s strongest weapon against its own people was propaganda, as it enabled them to control aspects of their life that the Kaiser was unable to control, as he didn’t have as powerful Propaganda as the Nazi’s. The propaganda the Nazi’s had far surpassed any other leader at the time, and was one of the reasons that Germany could have been classed as a totalitarian state, as it had control of the most important aspect of people’s lives.
Hitler’s anti-Semitism views, created a very totalitarian view of Germany, as Hitler was not only controlling the lives of the people in Germany, but the people who were actually in Germany. This means that Hitler was controlling every aspect of Germany, as he could pick and choose who he wanted in Germany, to make an ethnic cleansing on Germany. It also was a way to show the rest of the world that the Aryan race was superior. The totalitarian view of Germany mainly comes from the thought that Hitler was controlling the lives of people, as he wanted people to be Aryan and perfect. Not Jewish, homosexual, disabled or anything else that could be considered as an imperfection. This shows Hitler was able to have complete control over the image the country gave. And he wanted that to be a fully Aryan country. And he was able to create Germany into as fully-Aryan as possible, which shows us that, Hitler, was able to control the races in Germany, further hinting towards the idea of Germany being totalitarian.
However some things the Nazi’s did show us that they did not have complete say over everyone’s lives, a good example of this was the church. Although Hitler tried to compete with the church, he was unable to, and his agreement with them, the concordat, meant that Hitler’s powers could do little harm to the church. Although Hitler couldn’t directly strike at the church he tried to, but this failed, as the Church was still winning and was able to keep all its Catholics faithful to the church, and not go off to the German Faith Movement, which is what Hitler set up to combat the church. This shows us that Hitler did not have control over people’s religion, as he could not force people to join his religion. This is where it starts to show the cracks that the Nazi’s had within their regime.
Although I have already put their anti-Semitism views were a success, there was also some failures, mainly with revolts that occurred between the Nazi’s and the Jews. The most famous revolt was the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, which shows us that the Jews were not completely controlled as they could break free of the Nazi’s for several days, and live alone. Although the Nazi’s did regain the Warsaw Ghetto, it is a strong statement showing that the Nazi’s were unable to be totally in control at all times, and also shows that the Jews and other minorities were able to defeat the Nazi’s for a certain length of time. Another example of when the rebellions crippled the views of the Nazi’s is where the detainees at Auschwitz decided to blow up the gas chambers, this once again shows that the law and order, we discussed at the start of this essay, isn’t as good as it should be, or claimed to be.
The Nazi’s also failed to get the youth to obey by their rules. Although the youth clubs were extremely successful, many rebellions went against them including the Edelweiss Pirates, who deemed the worst problem, as they disrupted the Hitler Youth clubs. Many females, refused to go to the League of German Girls, which Hitler strongly encouraged as it taught girls the values of mother care and how to look after a baby. The rebellions by the youth undermined the whole Nazi regime, as it showed the people of the world that the Nazi’s couldn’t even handle some children, when it was expected to handle the rest of the world.
To conclude, my personal thoughts are that Hitler had attempted to create a totalitarian state, but failed due to the constant undermining of the people of Germany who did not agree with the Nazi’s policies. However he did create a totalitarian society in many aspects of German life and was extremely successful in doing so. Hitler unfortunately showed weakness against his own people, especially the Catholics as he could not do anything about them, and had to just stand in line. This shows that Hitler could control most of Germany but not all of Germany, due to the agreements and the constant undermining that took place.
Yum loves Hitler!