Foundations of National Socialist Government

Includes bibliographical references (pages 53-54)In January, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. From that day until May, 1945, the Rational Socialist German Workers' Party, of which Hitler was the Leader, held political power in Germany. This regime was not overthrown from within, but was overthrown by the armies of other nations. The concern in this paper is to point out the foundations which underlay this regime. In order to understand the regime which existed under National Socialism from 1935 t0 1945, it is first necessary to understand what existed prior to it. Thus the first part of this paper will deal with events prior to the taking over of political power in 1933. We shall describe the situation which conditioned the rise of the National Socialist movement. This will consist of a consideration of the Weimar Constitution and the Weimar Republic which existed from 1919 until 1933. The contribution of social and economic conditions to the rise of the movement will be brought in also to aid our understanding of the regime. In concluding the examination of factors leading to the rise of Rational Socialism politically, a study will be made of the growth of the Rational Socialist German Workers' Party. Finally a description of the events which led to the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor will terminate the first part of the study. The second part of this paper will be devoted to an examination of the foundations of a totalitarian political system. These will be summarized as following: (1) an ideology; (2) an authoritarian party; (3) an authoritarian State; and (4) psychological inducement. Each of these four foundations will be examined to see how a group managed to hold political power within a given social system until the very end, when such control was not overthrown from within but by foreign military intervention.M.S. (Master of Science