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In 1928, the Nazis had only 12 seats in the Reichstag; by July 1932 they had 230 seats and were the largest party.

The appeal of Hitler and the Nazis

Because the Nazis’ 25 Point Programme appealed to people all over the country from all walks of life, they became popular. Other extremist groups like the communists only really appealed to the industrial workers in Germany’s cities and couldn’t keep up.

• Wealthy businessmen: were frightened communists would take their wealth away and did not want to see any more increase in support for them. To combat this, they began to give money to Hitler and the Nazis, hoping they would gain more seats – not the communists.
• The middle-class: were generally quite traditional and were not convinced by the Weimar democracy. Hitler promised them a strong government and won their votes.
• Nationalists: they blamed the legacy of the Treaty of Versailles and reparations for causing the depression and so lent their support to the Nazis who had promised to make Germany strong again.
• Rural areas: The Nazis appealed to people in the countryside - especially middle class shopkeepers and craftsmen, farmers and agricultural labourers.

The effects of propaganda

Nazi propaganda was controlled by Joseph Goebbels and had three main themes:

• The Führer cult. Hitler was always portrayed as Germany’s saviour – the man who would rescue the country from the grip of depression.
• Volksgemeinschaft (people’s community). This was the idea that the Nazis would create one German community that would make religion or social class less relevant to people.
• Scapegoating the Jews (and others) for Germany’s ills. Jews were often portrayed as sub-human, or as a threat to both the racial purity and economic future of the country.

Hitler was a great speaker with an extraordinary power to win people over. Goebbels' propaganda campaign was very effective (he used aeroplanes to bring Hitler to speak across the country, radios to broadcast important speeches and rallies to make supporters excited) and brought huge support for the Nazis by targeting specific groups of society with different slogans and policies to win their support.

The work of the SA

The SA played a part in the Nazis’ increasing popularity by:

• intimidating the Nazis’ political opponents – especially the communists – by turning up at their meetings and attacking them
• providing opportunities for young, unemployed men to become involved in the party
• protecting Hitler and other key Nazis when they organised meetings and made speeches