Hitler’s Leadership Abilities (Exploitation of the Fears of Communism)

Exploitation of the fears of communism

• Hitler cleverly exploited the fears that people had of communism to advance his own cause.
• Even though the Communist Party had won four times the votes of the Nazi Party in the 1928 elections, the communists did not form the majority in the Reichstag as many groups of people feared that the communists would take over the government.

1. Farmers feared a communist government, believing they would seize & own lands & assets.
2. Many heard that in the USSR, the government had taken farmers’ lands and killed and imprisoned millions in the process.
3. Owners of big industries also felt threatened by the communists, as in the USSR, businesses had been taken over by the state.
4. Businessmen also feared the increasing strength of the trade unions.

• Hitler exploited these fears by giving farmers and businessmen vague promises that he would help them if he got into power.
• Some industrialists, like Alfred Hugenberg, a newspaper and film studio owner, and August Thyssen, a steel manufacturer, contributed to the Nazis financially.

1. The Nazis used this money in their campaigns for the 1932-1933 elections.
2. Hugenberg also allowed Nazis access to his film studios for the creation of propaganda films.

• In the 1930s, with the poor economic conditions & millions unemployed, as communists fought the police, Hitler would use the Nazi SA to fight the communists and break up their meetings.
• Many began to feel that Germany needed the Nazis to bring order back into their communities.
• Nazis made promises to help unemployed & other groups which had suffered economic losses.