How did the Nazi Party change and develop in the period 1919-1924?

In 1919 Anton Drexler, Gottfried Feder and Dietrich Eckart formed the German
Workers Party (or the DAP). Germany was in a state of turmoil due to the end of the
war and all of the events succeeding it, including treaties and hyperinflation.
Disillusion was common amongst the German people, who felt that they had been
‘stabbed in the back’ by those in power who had signed the Treaty of Versailles.
Hyperinflation in 1923 made life worse for Germans, and due to the discontent there
was a Spartacist (left-wing) uprising and the Munich Putsch – started by the Nazis.

After the Spartacist’s attempted revolution in January 1919 the government was
worried about another uprising from the left trying to overthrow them. The Freikorps
were used to stop the Spartacists, which sullied the relationship between the USPD,
who supported the Spartacists, and the SPD even further. Although the rebellion had
been quashed the government and army started to employ spies to investigate possible
left wing, especially communist, threats. Hitler was one of these and was sent to find
out how much of a socialist threat the German Workers Party was to the government.
He began to take an interest in the nationalist and anti-Semitic political ideas of the
group, but was unconvinced by the organisation. At this point the DAP was less of a
political party, and more of a working men’s club to discuss politics and ideas.
Drexler was impressed with Hitler and his skills as an orator and invited him to join
the party. Hitler was reluctant – he had plans to form his own party – but urged on by
his commanding officer he eventually agreed. Hitler brought in other members of the
army to the party.

After joining the party as the 55th member Hitler soon became an executive of the
DAP and changed his membership card to 7th member, so he seemed like one of the
founders. He was put in charge of propaganda, and his skills as a public speaker
meant he became a leading face in the DAP, and eventually the recognised leader on
28th July 1921. He started formulating policies for the party, and so was content with
using the already existing party to further his political scheme rather than starting his
own. In April Hitler urged the party to change its name to the National Socialist
German Workers Party (NSDAP, or the Nazi Party). It reflected their nationalistic
views that only Germans of pure descent deserved rights in the country, whilst still
maintaining the socialist stance, which was popular in Germany at the time. Hitler
was against some of the socialist ideals such as equality for both sexes and all races.

Hitler’s changes culminated in the 25 Point Programme which was published in

February 1920. This was a basic outline of the aims and policies of the Nazi Party. It
was a mixture of nationalist ideas and anti-Semitism and used the German people’s
discontent with the mistakes of the current government to promote their plans for the
country. Nazi writer Josef Pfitzner called it “the synthesis of the two great dynamic
powers of the century, of the national and social idea…” which adequately describes
how it combined both aspects of the Nazi’s ideologies. Economic ideals are also
prevalent in the programme, and this would appeal to those who had suffered from
poverty during and after the war. Eventually, after the hyperinflation in 1923, this
would also be appealing to middle class people who were affected by this.
The Munich Putsch on the 8th of November 1923 was also fundamental to the
development of the Nazi Party in its early years. The Munich – or ‘Beer Hall’ –
Putsch was an attempt by the Bavarian right wing politicians, including the Nazi
Party, to overthrow the government. The leaders Kahr,Von Lossow and Seisser
decided to initiate a putsch, but then resolved to postpone the revolution. However the
Nazis stormed a beer hall where Von Lossow was speaking and forced them to join
their putsch. The Storm Troopers (or the SA) were an important part in this, they were
the NSDAP’s fighting force. Despite the power the Nazis had it wasn’t enough and
the Putsch was stopped by the police, after a short gun battle. Sixteen Nazis were
killed and the Nazi leaders were put on trial for treason and others related to the
putsch and the party were arrested, such as General Ludendorff. The trial was
probably the most important part of the putsch for the Nazi Party, as it gave a platform
for Hitler and the other leaders to spread their views and ideas. Hitler became a right-
wing hero and his punishment was a 9 month imprisonment, released on 20th
December 1924, in which he developed his ideas and write the infamous book Mein
Kampf. He was considered a leader for any right wing opposition to the current
Weimar government. The putsch also showed Hitler that force was not how he was
going to achieve power, and that a more political, ‘legal’ approach would be needed.

Throughout the development of the party Hitler was important especially because his
adeptness at propaganda. He was made executive or propaganda within the party and
it was a powerful tool for bringing people’s attention to the right wing competition to
the existing left wing government. With propaganda Hitler and the party could appeal
to as many different types of people by presenting the party in different ways. Posters
would show Germany as powerful as it used to be, with empowered, strong figures
representing workers and nationalists, and weak, comical characters for the
government and bureaucracy at the time. His powerful and stirring speeches often
ended in shouting and cheering from crowds. Hitler would end on such phrases as
“My fellow Germans, awaken! The new day is dawning!”1 playing on the Nationalist
tendencies of a country that felt it had been ‘stabbed in the back’ by the Treaty of
Versailles and its leaders. The Germans wanted to see themselves raised from
“pariahs of the world”2 to something more dignified and like the old Germany.

The Nazi Party had a wide appeal in the 1920s, mainly because they promised
answers to problems which faced a wide range of people and classes. The largest
group in the make up of Germany, the middle and working class (and the
unemployed), was faced with economic difficulty due to reparations and the effect of
the war overall. The NSDAP blamed the government for the economic distress and
part of the 25 point programme stated that “the State shall make it its primary duty to
provide a livelihood for its citizens”. Unlike the government those who had suffered
at the hands of the Treaty makers would be helped by the state set up by the NSDAP
if they got into power.

Although the Nazis were a socialist party they had no sympathy for the Communists,
and played on a fear of Communism in the upper classes and industrialists.
Communism would mean a workers uprising, and although these were also common
with Socialist parties Hitler assured these wealthy landowners and capitalists that their
businesses and positions would be safe under the Nazi party and so received
donations from them. It was unusual for a party to appeal to both the upper class
factory owners and their workers - normally the success of one of the classes meant

1
Hitler, May 1923
2
Adolf Hitler, 12th September 1923. Munich.
the exploitation or overthrowing of the other - but this unification where normally
there would be a political fission gave them a lot of power.

Army officers and veterans of the war were full of anger and resentment towards the
reparations and the Treaty of Versailles and Hitler used this to gain their support. He
blamed the ‘November Criminals’ for everything that happened after the war, which
was what the army had been doing also. Feelings of nationalism were very strong at
the time and united people against the Weimar government who they felt had not bee
acting in their best interests. Along with this, anti-Semitism had started to grow in
Germany (although it was always around) and Hitler, who had always been extremely
anti-Semitic, used the Jews as a scapegoat for all of the problems facing Germany. He
claimed that Germany would be “under the thumb of the Jews”3 and that they had
sneaked into positions of power, despite them achieving these positions through a
democratic government. He also claimed that they were slowly taking over the
country, despite only about one percent of the German population. The anti-Semites
of Germany had a representative in Hitler, as did the paranoid and the Nationalists.

It is clear that the NSDAP had a considerable amount of potential supporters, and
many different things helped them develop throughout this period, 1919 to 1924.
Hitler coming into the party was a vital part, it got the party organised and focused,
and eventually noticed as a serious party. The 25 point programme made party
resolute and gave a solid set of ideals and beliefs to present to the German people.
Hitler’s skilfulness as a public speaker and propaganda organiser made many people
sit up and listen to the party. He was persuasive and knew how to appeal to a wide
variety of audiences. Playing on the fears and needs of the public was his forte and his
input into the Programme was important. The Munich Putsch, although unsuccessful,
got the party noticed and took them from the outskirts of mainstream politics to
national heroes and right wing representatives of all those who had suffered under the
Weimar Republic. The trial was widely publicised and Hitler’s popularity was
highlighted by the relatively lenient sentence he received for a charge of treason. The
deaths at the Putsch also created righteousness within the right against the left wing
government and its police force. Most of all, it was the sheer widespread appeal of the
party at this time that was important: they had the socialist based workers’ rights and
equality for citizens that was so popular at the time, with a nationalistic take on the
war and the poverty of Germany, blaming the government and Jews and inciting
feelings of resentment. Hitler took the party as a small group of like-minded men and
made it into a well-known, popular representative of all the feelings of the right.

3
Adolf Hitler, 9th November 1921. Munich.