HITLER:

THE RISE OF EVIL

Mariona Gras 4t D
Biography:

Adolf Hitler:
(1889-1945) was born on April 20, 1889 in the town of Braunau am Inn, on the border of
Upper Austria. Adolf Hitler was the undisputed leader of the National Socialist German
Workers Party, known as the Nazis, since 1921. In 1923 he was arrested and imprisoned for
attempting to overthrow the German government. His trial made him famous and gained him
followers. Hitler took advantage of the time he spent in prison to express his political ideas in
a book titled Mein Kampf (My Struggle). Hitler's ideological goals were territorial expansion,
the consolidation of a racially pure state, and the elimination of European Jews and others
whom he perceived as enemies of Germany.

Hindenburg:
Posen, Kingdom of Prussia, 2 October 1847, Gau of East Prussia, Germany, 2 August
1934). was a German military, statesman and politician who largely directed the politics
of Germany during the second half of World War I and served as President of Germany
from 1925 until his death in 1934. He studied at the Berlin Cadet Academy and enlisted
in the Prussian Army in 1866. He participated in the Austro-Prussian War and the
Franco-Prussian War. General in 1905, in 1911 he left the service. Presented in the 1932
elections he was the only candidate who could defeat Adolf Hitler's National Socialist
(Nazi) Party. However, despite having won the elections, Hindenburg appointed Hitler
chancellor on January 30, 1933.
Gerlich:
He was a German historian and journalist, who severely criticized Nazism and Hitler in many
of his works, books and articles. He was editor and publisher of numerous German
newspapers and was part of groups opposed to extremist ideologies such as communism
and national socialism. Nazis killed Fritz Gerlich on January 30, 1933, when they took
power. On March 9 he was kidnapped by the SA in the editorial office of the newspaper
where he worked and taken to the Dachau camp, where he was tortured until his death on
July 30, 1934.

Ernst Hanfstaengl
(Munich, Germany; February 2, 1887-ibid., November 6, 1975). Ernst Hanfstaengl, also known
as Putzi, was a German-American businessman and personal friend of Adolf Hitler. He was
an influential figure in the early years of Nazism, and helped Hitler in his rise to power.
Hanfstaengl was the son of a river publisher father and a German-American mother, and was
popular with his classmates at Harvard. After World War I, Hanfstaengl returned to Germany
and became fascinated with Hitler after hearing him speak at a Munich beer hall. He helped
Hitler to enter society and was his confidant and personal pianist. However, Hanfstaengl
began to have doubts about Hitler and broke with the regime in 1937, fleeing to Britain.
Ernst Röhm.

Röhm was born in Munich, Germany, on November 28, 1887. He was an officer in the
German Army and, between 1931 and 1934, commander of the Sturmabteilung (SA). In
November 1923, Ernst Röhm participated, along with Hitler and Ludendorff, in the
attempted coup d'état in Munich, Bavaria, which is known in German as the "Hitler
Putsch." Röhm was arrested and put on trial. He was found guilty of participating in the
thwarted coup attempt and sentenced to a year and a half in prison. However, he was
released in exchange for a promise of good behavior.

Due to his homosexual condition and after having strong confrontations with Hitler, in
1934 he was executed during the political purge carried out within the Nazi Party, known
as the Night of the Long Knives.

Hermann Goering

January 12, 1893 and October 15, 1946. Leader of Nazi Germany. He had stood out as
an aviator in the First World War. In 1922 he joined Hitler's National Socialist Party, who
put him at the head of his armed wing, the "Assault Sections" (SA). He participated in
the failed Nazi coup d'état in Munich (1923), in which he was wounded. He then fled
Germany, where he returned in 1927, to be elected deputy (1928) and president of the
lower house of Parliament (1932).
Joseph Goebbels

born October 29, 1897, Rheydt, Germany and died May 1, 1945, Berlin, was the minister
of propaganda for the German Third Reich under Adolf Hitler. A master orator and
propagandist, he is generally held responsible for presenting a favourable image of the
Nazi regime to the German people.

Hess:

Rudolf Hess was born in Alexandria, Egypt, April 26, 1894. One of Adolf Hitler’s principal
lieutenants in the 1920s and ‘30s. Hess, the son of a German merchant, was born in
Alexandria, Egypt. After serving in the German army during World War I, he joined the
fledgling Nazi Party in 1921.

Hess participated in the Nazi attempt to overthrow the Bavarian government in 1923 and
was imprisoned with Hitler at Landsberg, becoming the Nazi leader’s private secretary.
After Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933, he appointed Hess his deputy in
charge of the party organization. In 1934 he was elevated to the rank of minister and
appointed a member of Hitler’s cabinet. Hitler named him third deputy of the Reich in
1939.

1. The Spartacists and the communist danger: The situation that Adolf Hitler finds

at the end of the war in Munich and the fears that the triumph of the Russian

Revolution arouses in German society.

When Hitler returns from Munich, he sees that the problematic communists that cause
problems are killed by the german army, which is led by Ernst RhÖm. Then, the
communist regime started at the same time as the collapse of the economy and
monarchy. He had a feeling of disappointment about the Treaty of Versailles and make
revolution.

2. How he rehearses the speeches, the staging:

He practices so much with his speeches, looking obsessed with perfection. His goal was
to impress and manipulate people. He practiced again and again and spent so many
hours in the bar where he did his speeches. He studied the psychology of manipulation
to know which phrases and arguments had more impact on the public. Also practiced in
front of the mirror to improve his corporal posture and facial expression.

3. The role of the bourgeoisie: How they help him get out of the beer hall and
make him speak in Germany through promotion and propaganda.

The bourgeoisie financed the nazi party mitjançant donations and subscriptions, which
allowed the party to finance their political campaign and indoctrination. Also they
difunded hitler’s speeches by the radio and his point if view. But the first one who saw
his potential and introduced him to the bourgeoisie, was Ernst, who had the idea to
make a logo for the party (that Hitler made) and recommended him to have a personal
peculiarity( his bread).

4. The organization of the National Socialists: The combination of what the people

want to hear with the violent action towards the opponents.

They did very clear and powerful ideas and gave an assurance about the Aryan race. Also,
because of the crisis in Germany, they promised solutions for German workers, since they didn’t
have any jobs and food to eat. Everyone who was opposed to Hitelr’s ideas, was killed or the
military actuated with violence.

5. The values of democracy: The role of the press and democratic forces during
the rise of National Socialism.

The press had a very important role. It was a means of communication that went against
the nazis i hitler and tried to denounce the dangers of the nazism and altered the public
and other ones showed sympathies for the nazis and also promoted it. The democratics
tried to join up against the nazism and promoted the defense of human rights, but their
influence was limited due to the growing popularity of te nazi party.

The most important reporter was Gerlich, who was so opposed to hitler’s ideas and
wrote books and news against the nazism.

6. Match the five topics to be analyzed with the characters whose biographies you

made earlier.

There’s a scene where Hitler is practicing his speeches in the bar, looking obsessed with
doing it perfectly and Ernst Hanfstaengl appears to say something to him. Then Ernst
introduced to the bourgeoisie Hitler, to make him known by the richests.

Gerlich and Goebbels are very important, especially Gerlich, who during all the movie
appears fighting against nazism, making news about Hitler and opposing his ideas.
Goebbels is the ally of Hitler, so he’ll help make Hitler’s ideas.

Rhöm and Göring are Hitler’s supporters, being part of the military. We can see scenes
where they use their leadership with violence.