NSDAP Rhetoric Essay

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Second, Hitler's rhetoric created an idyllic vision of volksgemeinschaft, a community of the people. NSDAP policy reached past traditional class divides and appealed to voters first and foremost as citizens of Germany. Hitler welcomed (almost) all Germans, arguing, “We do not recognize classes, but only the German people, its millions of farmers, citizens and workers who together will either overcome this time of distress or succumb to it.” The NSDAP’s deceptively inclusive agenda centered on economic restoration, a common concern for German citizens. As Hitler quipped in his address, “It is an appalling inheritance which we are taking over.” The instability of the Weimar economy contributed to the rise of the NSDAP and, once in power, the …show more content…

First, Hitler’s address leaves out the ethnopolitical overtures of the NSDAP’s policies. To maximize electoral support, NSDAP rhetoric on the national level downplayed its virulent anti-Semitism. However, this document contains veiled racial attacks. Hitler identified the Communist Party as the main threat to the German renewal. However, as perceived by the Nazi Party, Communist ideology was propagated by a Jewish world-wide conspiracy. Thus, the Communist Party was harmful not only because of its political beliefs, but also because proponents of Communist ideology posed a threat to the racial and ethnic homogeneity of Germany. To Hitler, German national renewal was contingent on the coupling social and economic stability with a return to, “racial and political unity and the obligations arising therefrom.” Although NSDAP policy brimmed with anti-Semitism, Hitler’s address minimizes ethnopolitical messages. Hitler’s speech additionally downplays the importance of Lebensraum in Nazi ideology. Hitler argues that restoring peace to Germany was a movement towards “the integration into the community of nations of a state having equal status and therefore equal rights with the rest.” Hitler’s speech masked his true intentions. He noted that German policy strove to maintain the “consolidation of peace which the world needs today more than ever before.” However, part of Nazi ideology was a belief in the superiority of German citizens. As such, the country required Lebensraum to expand and grow. Soon after his appointment as Reich Chancellor, Hitler would begin his campaign to unite ethnic Germans across Europe. Hitler’s address downplays this ideology because, as the new Reich Chancellor, Hitler needed to create an air of cooperation and stability. A promise to expand into Eastern Europe would precipitate international outrage. As such, Hitler’s words do not reflect the true Nazi feelings towards

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