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Description
     Nazism: Death Cult Armageddon

     On August 2, 1934 Adolf Hitler became sole ruler of Germany. He rose to power by forging a mass movement that exploited the social, economic, and political conditions of post World War I Germany. The spearhead of this movement was the Nationalist Socialist German Workers Party, NSDAP, or often referred to as the Nazi party. Indigenous to this party and critical to the success of this movement was a consistent ideology. This ideology was given written form by Hitler in his 1923 work, Mein Kampf. Among other things, it called for the creation of a Volksgemeinschaft in which every aspect of society would be coordinated and placed in the service of the state which is led by a single leader. To fully understand how the Nazi party and Hitler were able to wedge themselves so deeply into German politics, first the conditions of Germany before and after World War I must be analyzed. Once it is clear how they came to power, their ideology manifests itself in their actions, primarily the T4 program, which leads to the Holocaust, and the ideal of Lebensraum, which leads to World War II. Finally, could Hitler, the Nazi party, the Holocaust and World War II have been stopped? Who is responsible for the events from 1914-1945?

     Condition of Germany

Political
     Germany was doomed to enter World War I due to the foreign policies of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Wilhelm II motivated the German Empire to gain better trade policies with Austria-Hungary, more colonies to increase resources, and hopefully an alliance with Britain. The goal seemed tangible with the creation of the Baghdad Railway from 1900-1911 with the intention of having a German port in the Middle East. The United Kingdom supported the railroad believing it would increase trade between their country and Germany. As time passed they realized Germany was attempting to expand its influence in the Middle East and demanded a block to the expansion in 1911. Wilhelm’s conquest of the few remaining African and Pacific territories would further increase the tension between Britain and Russia. The brutalization of the Herero and Namaqua peoples in German Southwest Africa or modern Namibia, it’s belligerence towards France and the support of Austria-Hungary’s occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina caused Germany to lose previously good relations with Russia and evaporated any chance of an alliance with Britain. Wilhelm’s foreign policy left Germany isolated.
     Not only did Wilhelm’s foreign policy cause distress, but his domestic policy would find disfavor among the German peoples. With the rise of newly formed Social Democratic Party in the 1890s, German government was threatened by communism continuously. Wilhelm sought a solution by setting aside the differences with the Roman Catholic Church and putting all their energy into opposing socialism at all costs. The policy failed when the Social Democratic Party won a third of the votes in the 1912 elections to the Reichstag and became the largest political party in Germany. Wilhelm’s second notable blunder was his increase in militarism, causing many to flee Germany in order to avoid military service. Most fled to the United States.
     Wilhelm’s aggressive attitude towards colonial adventures and their relations with Austria-Hungary are the leading reasons for Germany’s involvement in World War I. The individual battles and tactics in the war did little to shape the Germanic attitude that lead to the rise of the Nazi party, however the aftermath and surrender conditions are of great importance. The surrender conditions the Allies drew out in the Compiègne Armistice with Germany were rather brutal. Germany was to withdraw troops from Belgium, France, and Alsace-Lorraine to the west and a retreat to the original territorial boundaries in the east. Germany was also to surrender large amounts of materials, including weapons and warships. Finally they were called upon to renounce the treaties of Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest. Wilhelm and Germany were in no position to argue the terms the Allies demanded. Of course they were able to make a few changes, such as the removal of more submarines than they actually possessed and registered and official complaint to the harshness. The Allied blockade was to continue until Germany surrendered and was completely demilitarized. The Armistice was agreed at 5 AM on November 11, to come into effect at 11 AM Paris time.
     The second contributing factor, and quite easily the most important, for the optimal conditions of the Nazi rise to power was the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was designed to officially end World War I. While the Compiègne Armistice ended the fighting, it took six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude peace. The most important part of this event is to understand the conditions of the treaty. As an overview Germany lost the following: thirteen percent of its national territory, all of its overseas colonies, twelve and a half percent of its population, sixteen percent of its coalfields, fifty percent of its iron and steel industry , union with Austria was forbidden, and to be solely responsible for the entire war.
     First the territorial losses were rather extreme after a substantial portion of the German Empire was completely dismantled and given to several Allied countries. Alsace-Lorraine was restored to French sovereignty without a plebiscite (an area of about 14,522 km² and 1,815,000 inhabitants). Northern Schleswig, after the Schleswig Plebiscite, was given to Denmark (an area of about 3,984 km², and 163,600 inhabitants). Most of the Prussian provinces of Posen and of West Prussia were returned to Poland (an area of about 53,800 km², and 4,224,000 inhabitants), thus creating so called the Polish Corridor. The Hlučínsko Hulczyn area of Upper Silesia was given to Czechoslovakia (an area of about 333 km², and 49,000 inhabitants). The eastern part of Upper Silesia was given to Poland (an area of about 3,214 km², and 965,000 inhabitants), after the plebiscite for Upper Silesia. The port of Danzig was made the Freie Stadt Danzig, or Free City of Danzig, under the League of Nations (an area of about 1,893 km², and 408,000 inhabitants). Finally Germany acknowledges and will respect strictly, the independence of Austria. The loss of land accounts for the coalfield and population losses from the seizure of the Allies. The countries of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia became free states after being acquired by Germany from Russia at Brest-Litovsk. Germany’s division of land will be the key to the economic collapse and hyperinflation.
     Second, strict military regulations were demanded that left Germany crippled. The following are all restrictions: Germany was to be demilitarized, German armed forces cannot number more than 100,000 troops, the manufacturing and import/export of weapons was prohibited, manufacturing and/or stockpiling of poison gas was prohibited, tanks were prohibited, naval forces were limited to 15,000 men, six battleships at no more than 10,000 tons displacement each, six cruisers at no more than 6,000 tons displacement each, twelve destroyers at no more than 800 tons displacement each and twelve torpedo boats at no more than 200 tons displacement each, submarines, military aircraft, artillery, and blockades on ports were also all prohibited.
     Third, severe war reparations were to be paid to the Allies. The total sum to be paid by Germany was decided by the Inter-Allied Reparations Commission. They demanded that Germany pay an amount of 226,000,000,000 Reichsmarks in gold (roughly 170,000,000,000 dollars). The sum was later reduced to 132,000,000,000 Reichsmarks (about 99,315,000,000 dollars). Naturally this was not all paid in currency, but could be paid in other trade goods such as steel, agriculture, coal, and intellectual property or a state of hyperinflation would occur.
     The Treaty of Versailles is clearly responsible for the majority of Germany’s woes and distress that lead to the ideal conditions leading to possibility of Adolf Hitler rising to power. Oddly, most Allied countries felt that the treaty was too harsh as well. Britain felt that causing dissatisfaction at such an extreme might cause problems in the future. The United States refused to ratify the treaty because they felt it was Europe’s problem; however it was also widely believed the United States Senate felt it was too harsh.
     They keystone to Nazi rule was the creation of the Weimar Republic. The Allies required that Germany modify its current government to model the liberal democracy of Britain. Weimar is actually a nickname given by historians in honor of the city of Weimar. Weimar was where a national assembly convened to write and adopt a new constitution for the German Reich which came into effect on August 11, 1919. Under the rule of both a Chancellor and a President, the Republic had severe institutional problems that could be easily exploited by the Nazi party. Four important flaws in the 1919 constitution stood out as easily manipulated and accounted for many of the Nazi exploitations of power. First Article 48 of the constitution gave the President power to “take all necessary steps” if “public order and security are seriously disturbed or endangered”. Article 48 was intended as an emergency clause but was often used to issue decrees without the support of Parliament. Article 48 made Gleichschaltung, a Nazi term for totalitarian control, significantly easier. Second, the use of almost pure proportional representation meant any party with a small amount of support could gain entry into the Reichstag. As a result many small parties, most extremist, built political basis within the system, particularly the NSDAP and several communist parties. Third, the Reichstag could remove the Reichskanzler from office even if it was unable to agree on a successor, leading to many chancellors in quick succession. Fourth, the constitution provided that in the event of the president’s death or resignation, the Reichskanzler would assume that office. This allowed Hitler to unite the offices of Reichskanzler and Reichsprasident after Hindenburg’s death in 1934.
     The Nazi party was able to manipulate the government and its constitution allowing Hitler to not only gain Chancellorship, but eventually becoming the Fuhrer, or sole ruler, of Germany. Clearly, the Nazi’s were able to feed the peoples starvation of a promising government, since the Weimar Republic had them feeling cheated or nervous from its instability and weakness. Hitler offered them a solid rule, free of socialism and communism. As Hitler and the Nazi party began embedding themselves into German politics, their fame grew. The Enabling Act of 1933 was the final piece for political rule. Under the Enabling Act, the government had the authority to pass lows without parliamentary consent, laws that could deviate from the German constitution. It effectively eliminated the Reichstag, which in turn allowed Hitler to ban all other political parties, leaving the Nazi party as the sole ruling party of Germany.

Social
     With the defeat of Germany and the fall of the empire, the population’s mental framework was crushed. Now that Austria was no longer associated with Germany, the Reich was no more. The moral and sense of nationalism of the German peoples came crumbling down with the empire. Humiliated and beaten, the German people sought a scapegoat for their defeat in World War I and the collapse of the imperial government. The easiest party to blame was the government and each other. They reasoned that their defeat had several contributing factors. First they believed that Germany did not show enough national loyalty, or that they didn’t support their country enough, especially in the Jewish community. The socialists, communists, and Jews had seemed to stab Germany in the back by selling the fatherland out to its enemies. Germany had already defeated Russia, and was gaining ground on the Western Front when strikes from workers hit the arms industry, crippling the army. These November Criminals, or those who seemed to benefit from the newly formed Weimar Republic, were seen to have "stabbed them in the back" on the home front, by criticizing German nationalism, instigating unrest and strikes in the critical military industries.
     Second, Communism was a rising threat in Europe, and many thought they played a role in the downfall of Germany. The German peoples blamed their lack of support and grasp for power. It was convenient that during the implementation of the Weimar Republic, the Social Democratic Party gained a seat in the Reichstag as the largest party in Germany. The SDP threatened the very freedoms of the people, creating a “Red Scare”, or fear of communist or socialist power.
     The important thing to understand about the social issues in Germany is their dehumanization, or who they are as a people. This second conditional facet allowed the Nazi party to preach nationalism, making the Jewish population a scapegoat that all of Germany can hate as a united people. It also played on the Aryan perfection of the people’s ideology by harping on the need for a pure German race by euthanizing the impurities of the blood, mainly the Jewish population. Nazi eugenics is more about the ideology, but it touches on the state of mind the German people.

Economic
     After World War I, the economic state of Germany fell to pieces. The demands from the Treaty of Versailles were too harsh on the German economy. In the year of 1923 Germany entered a state of hyperinflation, meaning the value of the Reichsmark plummeted. Many believe that the large gold demand from Britain and the seizure of resource-rich land caused the 1920s hyperinflation. To cope with this loss, Germany was forced to borrow money from the United States, which actually worsened their situation. The explosive hyperinflation had severe impacts on employment and living standards, as they too dropped at an alarming rate.
Things only got worse during the Great Depression. Not only was the United States severely affected, but as a result Europe fell into depression. Germany was hit hard especially because it was already borrowing money from the United States, but to compound Germany’s problems, the United States economy crashed. Many had thought the situation was bad enough, but quickly unemployment skyrocketed to a high of thirty percent. The depression did not change the rate of hyperinflation too much because it was already out of control and there was no clear sight of relief until the Nazi party gained control of the Reichstag and Chancellorship.

Nazi Exploitation and Expansion
     The Nazi party was able to exploit each of these three conditional aspects to gain control of Germany and create a model for the German people to mold into. From the creation of the DAP as early as 1918 to Hitler consolidating the offices of Reichskanzler and Reichsprasident every step made played on the downtrodden German moral.
     First the Nazi party had to gain control of the offices. From 1919-1933 the goal of the Nazi party was to gain entry into the Reichstag, which they did in several ways. First, like any political party, they adopted ideals that the majority of the German people needed, because they themselves sought the implantation of these ideals. They consistently harped on the idea of German reunification, or Pan-Germanism, which they thought would bring an end to their political, social, and economic problems that were supposedly brought upon them by the Jews: the very same ideals that Adolf Hitler mentions in his book, Mein Kampf.
     Hitler was the perfect candidate as the party leader, or Fuhrer, of the Nazi party. His political prowess allowed him to excel in the ranks of the party very quickly, gaining him the office of Reichskanzler of Germany in 1933. In one year Hitler had become the sole ruler of Germany and was named Fuhrer. In the following few years, Hitler and the Nazi party had reversed the pitiful economic state of Germany and secretly constructed a military, which gave the Nazi party the second key to success. However the reality of the economic stability was false, it was only a charade. Hitler’s method for supposed economic success had two forms; first they consistently burrowed money from other countries, because they still were unable to rely upon themselves without risking another period of hyperinflation. Second because Hitler was recreating the German military, he was able to artificially create jobs in the arms industry. The construction of factories, bridges, and political buildings significantly decreased the unemployment rate, thus improving inflation. Another important factor for Hitler’s rise to power was the fact that he made the trains run on time. I think without this Nazism could never have matured.
     Under a pact with Russia, Germany was able to build and train its army in Russian territory, with the trade off of allowing Russia access to its technology. Technically this did not violate the Treaty of Versailles even though Germany was forbidden to have an army of more than 100,000 troops. With an army, Germany would once again feel safe from outside threats, primarily from communism. The Nazi’s had also created their own paramilitary force, the Sturmabteilung, or often called Stormtroopers. The SA was the muscle of the Nazi party, and allowed them to take things by force that they couldn’t take with reason or politics. The SA also would forcefully suppress communist revolts. The SA would stay as the armed police for the Nazi party until the creation of the Schutzstaffel, or SS, in 1925 by Heinrich Himmler. Later the SS would disband the SA and kill their leaders during the Night of the Long Knives in 1934. Under Nazi ideology the SS was the cream of the crop, the physical manifestation of Nazi ideals and pure blood.

     Nazi Ideology

     The third and final key for success was the Nazi ideology. Nazi ideology is really the heart of it all and goes much farther back that post World War I Germany. The roots of Nazi ideology can be founded with Madame Helena Blavatsky and Guido von List. What Madame Blavatsky had created was a new way of thinking, possibly even starting what is now called New Age thinking. She wrote that all religions were both true in their inner teachings and problematic or imperfect in their external manifestations. Her writings connected esoteric spiritual knowledge with new science. What this means for Nazism is that the occult roots of Aryan man are connected with eugenic theory, that Aryan man can be reborn through the religion of the blood. Guido von List was another major player in Nazi ideology. A German occultist and volkisch author, he was influenced by Madame Blavatsky and had created a doctrine called Armanism, which was concerned with the esoteric doctrine of the gnosis. This played a huge role in Nazi practices and paganism. What List had created was the basis that the old German paganism, the old religions, was much more powerful and natural. Through these two important individuals, the Thule Society was born and had sought to raise the old gods.
     To understand Volksgemeinschaft is to understand the Thule Society, which was the spearhead of the volkisch movement. The Thule Society was adopted by Rudolf von Sebottendorff in 1911. The primary focus of this occult group was the origins of the Aryan race, the land of Ultima Thule that had once existed in the Atlantic. Ultima Thule was home of the powerful god-men, the Aryans. The focus on ancient Aryan culture and race is also known as Ariosophy. Also prominent of the Thule Society, and something that would be adopted by the Nazi party, was the swastika. Prominent in many cultures, primarily those in the Middle East and the Orients, the swastika is generally a religious symbol for good or well. Hitler claimed the swastika his own from the beliefs that Aryans had once dominated in regions around India.
On the surface the Nazis played on the Volksgemeinschaft, the spirit of the people. The volkisch movement was the consolidation of what it meant to be German, the art, the music, the spirit or heart of the people. It also meant what it meant to be German by blood, to be a true Aryan. The Nazi party sought to create a race of pure Aryan power, which originated thousands of years ago. To create this they needed to literally purify the blood. What they created was a perverse spiritual movement that demanded blood for salvation, the blood of the Jews. The German people were diseased from non-Aryans, and the Nazi party was the cure. Adolf Hitler said this himself in Mein Kampf. Before Hitler and the Nazi’s could institute their racial hygiene, that is the cleaning of the German blood, they needed to instill two principles, Gleichschaltung and Fuhrerprinzip.
     As mentioned before, Gleichschaltung is the tight coordination over all aspects of society and economy which is made possible by the Fuhrerprinzip; the Nazi term for a system of control with a hierarchy of leaders that resembles a military structure. By the time Hitler had complete control, the Nazi racial hygiene had already begun. In 1933 the Action T4 program was construed. It marked the first signs of euthanasia in Germany before the Holocaust, and in fact was an early field testing of Nazi ideology. The first law passed in 1933, the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring, ordered the forced sterilization for people with a conditions thought to be hereditary, like epilepsy and schizophrenia. Later this ideal would spread to physical and mental deformities, especially those in children. The T4 program also tested methods of death including gassing and cremating, methods that would be used in the death camps.
     The T4 program played on the ideas of Social Darwinism as outlined by Frances Galton. Social Darwinism is the idea that the Charles Darwin theories about evolution can be applied to social aspects, meaning that competition between individuals, groups, or nations drives social evolution in humanity. The tie to understand is that the Aryan man was the supreme being, and if the German populous was to restore their former glory, they must compete with other races through eugenics and slaughter.
     Hitler knew that the T4 program would attract unwanted attention, specifically from the German people itself, who would likely oppose the killing of their own peoples. To counter this, the Nazi party had effectively brainwashed its citizens, masking their racist attitudes for nationalism. They truly believed that the tainted German blood was the root of their problems. Interestingly enough, they had met little to no opposition in their medical conquest. The Nazi’s already had their population under control, clearly they would not object, but there was also no foreign objection for two reasons; either they agreed with eugenic theory, as many countries did, including the United States, or they simply didn’t care, probably believing it wasn’t any of their concern.
     If Nazi ideology was the religion of Germany, Hitler as their messiah, Mein Kampf as their bible, preaching Aryan racism and the swastika as their holy symbol, then the SS were the holy warriors, cleaving apart any opposition. Clearly the SS was the embodiment of Ariosophy, the pure blood of Germany. Under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler, the SS had created a death cult. They were the force that drove the Jews from their homes and into the ghettos, killed them in the streets, or sent them to the death camps. They were also the pure bloods that were to breed to create the perfect Aryan race.
     Aside from the T4 program, another principle called Lebensraum was used to justify eugenics. Lebensraum served as the motivation for the expansionist policies, providing extra space for the growth of the pure German population and also came hand-in-hand with Pan-Germanism. By this ideology, they should kill, deport and/or enslave the neighboring Polish, Russian, Czech, and Slavic populations because they were inferior, and consequently occupy their lands and consume their resources. World War II was the result of Lebensraum and the reclaiming of Germany’s lost territory. However Germany was able to reclaim Poland, Austria, and conquer France before World War II even began.
     World War II did little, if anything, to halt Hitler’s eugenic program. As early as 1933 the gears began to churn for the Nazi party’s evolved expression of eugenic ideology, the Holocaust, which literally means a burnt offering. The Holocaust consolidated and manifested Nazi ideology in a physical form. I would argue that if Nazism was the religion and eugenics the science, then the Holocaust was the ritualistic sacrifice for the salvation of the Aryan race. The Holocaust solved many ideological problems in one fell swoop. First it removed the Jewish population from society in a number of stages. The first stage was the deportation of Jews into the ghettos on the outskirts major cities. There they remained until concentration camps and death camps had been established. Not all of the Jews had been moved out of the ghettos, but the majority had been processed and shipped into concentration camps. These camps were usually placed beyond the cities, near the factories and mills. Concentration camps served as a way to organize slave labor for the industrialists. The final stage was the shipment of Jews into the death camps. These death camps were designed to either starve or gas the populations being shipped.
With the parasitic Jewish populations being exterminated, another problem to be dealt with was the growing economic issue. As noted before, the Jews were used as slave labor by industrialists. This meant that they no longer needed to higher workers, instead using workers that could easily be replaced and worked for nothing. This aspect is especially important when Hitler began to rearm Germany. Adolf Hitler makes it very clear in Mein Kampf that the only solution to German woes is the complete annihilation of the Jews.

     Placing Responsibility

     So who shares the responsibility to the deaths of over 12 million people? Personally I think there are too many contributing factors to determine a significant cause, but rather the Holocaust and World War II were designed to happen. Not in a destined sense, but instead that event after event gained favor of Nazi rule, but if I had to guess, I would say that post World War I was really the spark that set the flame.
     Post World War I really set the stage for the Nazi’s ability to come to power. Germany was left in shambles; its political power dissipated, social moral crushed, and economic stability lost, all due to their defeat, the Compiègne Armistice and the Treaty of Versailles. The Nazi’s defiantly needed those three aspects in order to secure control and that without them they could never have come to power. While the autocrats and industrialists that profited from Nazism, for whatever reason, are probably to blame as well, I don’t think the fault lies too heavily on them. It is a rather human tendency to procure the most profitable business venture. In a sense they were almost forced to cooperate, as I’m sure some were. The economy was in a real slump, the only way to get out of it was to create jobs to stimulate the market and maintain control of the hyperinflation. As far as other nations go, they could have done more; perhaps Hitler could have been stopped early if someone had paid more attention to his ideology in Mein Kampf as it clearly illustrates his intentions. I think that foreign nations had their own problems to deal with for one, or perhaps they agreed with what Hitler was doing. Some nations may have felt that Hitler and the Nazi party would be a bulwark against communism.
     The focus should be more on the key party officials, like Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, Rudolf Hess, Reinhardt Heydrich, and Joseph Goebbels who perverted what Nazism could have done. It is my personal belief that Nazism could have been something better for the world, not a twisted eugenic experiment. These party leaders are who to be blamed. They issued the commands, wrote the plans, and organized the people. Every event from 1919-1945 can be traced back to a leading party member, as well as dozens of other Nazi members, primarily the individuals that operated the death camps. I am well aware that many soldiers were just following orders and serving their country, but many actually believed what they were doing was holy justice, that the Jews really were a sickness. Concerning the German populous, they were brainwashed by Nazi propaganda, it is no surprise at all that due to their condition they blindly followed the Nazi party. Hopefully people won’t be blind enough to let this happen again.

Description
     Nazism: Death Cult Armageddon

     On August 2, 1934 Adolf Hitler became sole ruler of Germany. He rose to power by forging a mass movement that exploited the social, economic, and political conditions of post World War I Germany. The spearhead of this movement was the Nationalist Socialist German Workers Party, NSDAP, or often referred to as the Nazi party. Indigenous to this party and critical to the success of this movement was a consistent ideology. This ideology was given written form by Hitler in his 1923 work, Mein Kampf. Among other things, it called for the creation of a Volksgemeinschaft in which every aspect of society would be coordinated and placed in the service of the state which is led by a single leader. To fully understand how the Nazi party and Hitler were able to wedge themselves so deeply into German politics, first the conditions of Germany before and after World War I must be analyzed. Once it is clear how they came to power, their ideology manifests itself in their actions, primarily the T4 program, which leads to the Holocaust, and the ideal of Lebensraum, which leads to World War II. Finally, could Hitler, the Nazi party, the Holocaust and World War II have been stopped? Who is responsible for the events from 1914-1945?

     Condition of Germany

Political
     Germany was doomed to enter World War I due to the foreign policies of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Wilhelm II motivated the German Empire to gain better trade policies with Austria-Hungary, more colonies to increase resources, and hopefully an alliance with Britain. The goal seemed tangible with the creation of the Baghdad Railway from 1900-1911 with the intention of having a German port in the Middle East. The United Kingdom supported the railroad believing it would increase trade between their country and Germany. As time passed they realized Germany was attempting to expand its influence in the Middle East and demanded a block to the expansion in 1911. Wilhelm’s conquest of the few remaining African and Pacific territories would further increase the tension between Britain and Russia. The brutalization of the Herero and Namaqua peoples in German Southwest Africa or modern Namibia, it’s belligerence towards France and the support of Austria-Hungary’s occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina caused Germany to lose previously good relations with Russia and evaporated any chance of an alliance with Britain. Wilhelm’s foreign policy left Germany isolated.
     Not only did Wilhelm’s foreign policy cause distress, but his domestic policy would find disfavor among the German peoples. With the rise of newly formed Social Democratic Party in the 1890s, German government was threatened by communism continuously. Wilhelm sought a solution by setting aside the differences with the Roman Catholic Church and putting all their energy into opposing socialism at all costs. The policy failed when the Social Democratic Party won a third of the votes in the 1912 elections to the Reichstag and became the largest political party in Germany. Wilhelm’s second notable blunder was his increase in militarism, causing many to flee Germany in order to avoid military service. Most fled to the United States.
     Wilhelm’s aggressive attitude towards colonial adventures and their relations with Austria-Hungary are the leading reasons for Germany’s involvement in World War I. The individual battles and tactics in the war did little to shape the Germanic attitude that lead to the rise of the Nazi party, however the aftermath and surrender conditions are of great importance. The surrender conditions the Allies drew out in the Compiègne Armistice with Germany were rather brutal. Germany was to withdraw troops from Belgium, France, and Alsace-Lorraine to the west and a retreat to the original territorial boundaries in the east. Germany was also to surrender large amounts of materials, including weapons and warships. Finally they were called upon to renounce the treaties of Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest. Wilhelm and Germany were in no position to argue the terms the Allies demanded. Of course they were able to make a few changes, such as the removal of more submarines than they actually possessed and registered and official complaint to the harshness. The Allied blockade was to continue until Germany surrendered and was completely demilitarized. The Armistice was agreed at 5 AM on November 11, to come into effect at 11 AM Paris time.
     The second contributing factor, and quite easily the most important, for the optimal conditions of the Nazi rise to power was the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was designed to officially end World War I. While the Compiègne Armistice ended the fighting, it took six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude peace. The most important part of this event is to understand the conditions of the treaty. As an overview Germany lost the following: thirteen percent of its national territory, all of its overseas colonies, twelve and a half percent of its population, sixteen percent of its coalfields, fifty percent of its iron and steel industry , union with Austria was forbidden, and to be solely responsible for the entire war.
     First the territorial losses were rather extreme after a substantial portion of the German Empire was completely dismantled and given to several Allied countries. Alsace-Lorraine was restored to French sovereignty without a plebiscite (an area of about 14,522 km² and 1,815,000 inhabitants). Northern Schleswig, after the Schleswig Plebiscite, was given to Denmark (an area of about 3,984 km², and 163,600 inhabitants). Most of the Prussian provinces of Posen and of West Prussia were returned to Poland (an area of about 53,800 km², and 4,224,000 inhabitants), thus creating so called the Polish Corridor. The Hlučínsko Hulczyn area of Upper Silesia was given to Czechoslovakia (an area of about 333 km², and 49,000 inhabitants). The eastern part of Upper Silesia was given to Poland (an area of about 3,214 km², and 965,000 inhabitants), after the plebiscite for Upper Silesia. The port of Danzig was made the Freie Stadt Danzig, or Free City of Danzig, under the League of Nations (an area of about 1,893 km², and 408,000 inhabitants). Finally Germany acknowledges and will respect strictly, the independence of Austria. The loss of land accounts for the coalfield and population losses from the seizure of the Allies. The countries of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia became free states after being acquired by Germany from Russia at Brest-Litovsk. Germany’s division of land will be the key to the economic collapse and hyperinflation.
     Second, strict military regulations were demanded that left Germany crippled. The following are all restrictions: Germany was to be demilitarized, German armed forces cannot number more than 100,000 troops, the manufacturing and import/export of weapons was prohibited, manufacturing and/or stockpiling of poison gas was prohibited, tanks were prohibited, naval forces were limited to 15,000 men, six battleships at no more than 10,000 tons displacement each, six cruisers at no more than 6,000 tons displacement each, twelve destroyers at no more than 800 tons displacement each and twelve torpedo boats at no more than 200 tons displacement each, submarines, military aircraft, artillery, and blockades on ports were also all prohibited.
     Third, severe war reparations were to be paid to the Allies. The total sum to be paid by Germany was decided by the Inter-Allied Reparations Commission. They demanded that Germany pay an amount of 226,000,000,000 Reichsmarks in gold (roughly 170,000,000,000 dollars). The sum was later reduced to 132,000,000,000 Reichsmarks (about 99,315,000,000 dollars). Naturally this was not all paid in currency, but could be paid in other trade goods such as steel, agriculture, coal, and intellectual property or a state of hyperinflation would occur.
     The Treaty of Versailles is clearly responsible for the majority of Germany’s woes and distress that lead to the ideal conditions leading to possibility of Adolf Hitler rising to power. Oddly, most Allied countries felt that the treaty was too harsh as well. Britain felt that causing dissatisfaction at such an extreme might cause problems in the future. The United States refused to ratify the treaty because they felt it was Europe’s problem; however it was also widely believed the United States Senate felt it was too harsh.
     They keystone to Nazi rule was the creation of the Weimar Republic. The Allies required that Germany modify its current government to model the liberal democracy of Britain. Weimar is actually a nickname given by historians in honor of the city of Weimar. Weimar was where a national assembly convened to write and adopt a new constitution for the German Reich which came into effect on August 11, 1919. Under the rule of both a Chancellor and a President, the Republic had severe institutional problems that could be easily exploited by the Nazi party. Four important flaws in the 1919 constitution stood out as easily manipulated and accounted for many of the Nazi exploitations of power. First Article 48 of the constitution gave the President power to “take all necessary steps” if “public order and security are seriously disturbed or endangered”. Article 48 was intended as an emergency clause but was often used to issue decrees without the support of Parliament. Article 48 made Gleichschaltung, a Nazi term for totalitarian control, significantly easier. Second, the use of almost pure proportional representation meant any party with a small amount of support could gain entry into the Reichstag. As a result many small parties, most extremist, built political basis within the system, particularly the NSDAP and several communist parties. Third, the Reichstag could remove the Reichskanzler from office even if it was unable to agree on a successor, leading to many chancellors in quick succession. Fourth, the constitution provided that in the event of the president’s death or resignation, the Reichskanzler would assume that office. This allowed Hitler to unite the offices of Reichskanzler and Reichsprasident after Hindenburg’s death in 1934.
     The Nazi party was able to manipulate the government and its constitution allowing Hitler to not only gain Chancellorship, but eventually becoming the Fuhrer, or sole ruler, of Germany. Clearly, the Nazi’s were able to feed the peoples starvation of a promising government, since the Weimar Republic had them feeling cheated or nervous from its instability and weakness. Hitler offered them a solid rule, free of socialism and communism. As Hitler and the Nazi party began embedding themselves into German politics, their fame grew. The Enabling Act of 1933 was the final piece for political rule. Under the Enabling Act, the government had the authority to pass lows without parliamentary consent, laws that could deviate from the German constitution. It effectively eliminated the Reichstag, which in turn allowed Hitler to ban all other political parties, leaving the Nazi party as the sole ruling party of Germany.

Social
     With the defeat of Germany and the fall of the empire, the population’s mental framework was crushed. Now that Austria was no longer associated with Germany, the Reich was no more. The moral and sense of nationalism of the German peoples came crumbling down with the empire. Humiliated and beaten, the German people sought a scapegoat for their defeat in World War I and the collapse of the imperial government. The easiest party to blame was the government and each other. They reasoned that their defeat had several contributing factors. First they believed that Germany did not show enough national loyalty, or that they didn’t support their country enough, especially in the Jewish community. The socialists, communists, and Jews had seemed to stab Germany in the back by selling the fatherland out to its enemies. Germany had already defeated Russia, and was gaining ground on the Western Front when strikes from workers hit the arms industry, crippling the army. These November Criminals, or those who seemed to benefit from the newly formed Weimar Republic, were seen to have "stabbed them in the back" on the home front, by criticizing German nationalism, instigating unrest and strikes in the critical military industries.
     Second, Communism was a rising threat in Europe, and many thought they played a role in the downfall of Germany. The German peoples blamed their lack of support and grasp for power. It was convenient that during the implementation of the Weimar Republic, the Social Democratic Party gained a seat in the Reichstag as the largest party in Germany. The SDP threatened the very freedoms of the people, creating a “Red Scare”, or fear of communist or socialist power.
     The important thing to understand about the social issues in Germany is their dehumanization, or who they are as a people. This second conditional facet allowed the Nazi party to preach nationalism, making the Jewish population a scapegoat that all of Germany can hate as a united people. It also played on the Aryan perfection of the people’s ideology by harping on the need for a pure German race by euthanizing the impurities of the blood, mainly the Jewish population. Nazi eugenics is more about the ideology, but it touches on the state of mind the German people.

Economic
     After World War I, the economic state of Germany fell to pieces. The demands from the Treaty of Versailles were too harsh on the German economy. In the year of 1923 Germany entered a state of hyperinflation, meaning the value of the Reichsmark plummeted. Many believe that the large gold demand from Britain and the seizure of resource-rich land caused the 1920s hyperinflation. To cope with this loss, Germany was forced to borrow money from the United States, which actually worsened their situation. The explosive hyperinflation had severe impacts on employment and living standards, as they too dropped at an alarming rate.
Things only got worse during the Great Depression. Not only was the United States severely affected, but as a result Europe fell into depression. Germany was hit hard especially because it was already borrowing money from the United States, but to compound Germany’s problems, the United States economy crashed. Many had thought the situation was bad enough, but quickly unemployment skyrocketed to a high of thirty percent. The depression did not change the rate of hyperinflation too much because it was already out of control and there was no clear sight of relief until the Nazi party gained control of the Reichstag and Chancellorship.

Nazi Exploitation and Expansion
     The Nazi party was able to exploit each of these three conditional aspects to gain control of Germany and create a model for the German people to mold into. From the creation of the DAP as early as 1918 to Hitler consolidating the offices of Reichskanzler and Reichsprasident every step made played on the downtrodden German moral.
     First the Nazi party had to gain control of the offices. From 1919-1933 the goal of the Nazi party was to gain entry into the Reichstag, which they did in several ways. First, like any political party, they adopted ideals that the majority of the German people needed, because they themselves sought the implantation of these ideals. They consistently harped on the idea of German reunification, or Pan-Germanism, which they thought would bring an end to their political, social, and economic problems that were supposedly brought upon them by the Jews: the very same ideals that Adolf Hitler mentions in his book, Mein Kampf.
     Hitler was the perfect candidate as the party leader, or Fuhrer, of the Nazi party. His political prowess allowed him to excel in the ranks of the party very quickly, gaining him the office of Reichskanzler of Germany in 1933. In one year Hitler had become the sole ruler of Germany and was named Fuhrer. In the following few years, Hitler and the Nazi party had reversed the pitiful economic state of Germany and secretly constructed a military, which gave the Nazi party the second key to success. However the reality of the economic stability was false, it was only a charade. Hitler’s method for supposed economic success had two forms; first they consistently burrowed money from other countries, because they still were unable to rely upon themselves without risking another period of hyperinflation. Second because Hitler was recreating the German military, he was able to artificially create jobs in the arms industry. The construction of factories, bridges, and political buildings significantly decreased the unemployment rate, thus improving inflation. Another important factor for Hitler’s rise to power was the fact that he made the trains run on time. I think without this Nazism could never have matured.
     Under a pact with Russia, Germany was able to build and train its army in Russian territory, with the trade off of allowing Russia access to its technology. Technically this did not violate the Treaty of Versailles even though Germany was forbidden to have an army of more than 100,000 troops. With an army, Germany would once again feel safe from outside threats, primarily from communism. The Nazi’s had also created their own paramilitary force, the Sturmabteilung, or often called Stormtroopers. The SA was the muscle of the Nazi party, and allowed them to take things by force that they couldn’t take with reason or politics. The SA also would forcefully suppress communist revolts. The SA would stay as the armed police for the Nazi party until the creation of the Schutzstaffel, or SS, in 1925 by Heinrich Himmler. Later the SS would disband the SA and kill their leaders during the Night of the Long Knives in 1934. Under Nazi ideology the SS was the cream of the crop, the physical manifestation of Nazi ideals and pure blood.

     Nazi Ideology

     The third and final key for success was the Nazi ideology. Nazi ideology is really the heart of it all and goes much farther back that post World War I Germany. The roots of Nazi ideology can be founded with Madame Helena Blavatsky and Guido von List. What Madame Blavatsky had created was a new way of thinking, possibly even starting what is now called New Age thinking. She wrote that all religions were both true in their inner teachings and problematic or imperfect in their external manifestations. Her writings connected esoteric spiritual knowledge with new science. What this means for Nazism is that the occult roots of Aryan man are connected with eugenic theory, that Aryan man can be reborn through the religion of the blood. Guido von List was another major player in Nazi ideology. A German occultist and volkisch author, he was influenced by Madame Blavatsky and had created a doctrine called Armanism, which was concerned with the esoteric doctrine of the gnosis. This played a huge role in Nazi practices and paganism. What List had created was the basis that the old German paganism, the old religions, was much more powerful and natural. Through these two important individuals, the Thule Society was born and had sought to raise the old gods.
     To understand Volksgemeinschaft is to understand the Thule Society, which was the spearhead of the volkisch movement. The Thule Society was adopted by Rudolf von Sebottendorff in 1911. The primary focus of this occult group was the origins of the Aryan race, the land of Ultima Thule that had once existed in the Atlantic. Ultima Thule was home of the powerful god-men, the Aryans. The focus on ancient Aryan culture and race is also known as Ariosophy. Also prominent of the Thule Society, and something that would be adopted by the Nazi party, was the swastika. Prominent in many cultures, primarily those in the Middle East and the Orients, the swastika is generally a religious symbol for good or well. Hitler claimed the swastika his own from the beliefs that Aryans had once dominated in regions around India.
On the surface the Nazis played on the Volksgemeinschaft, the spirit of the people. The volkisch movement was the consolidation of what it meant to be German, the art, the music, the spirit or heart of the people. It also meant what it meant to be German by blood, to be a true Aryan. The Nazi party sought to create a race of pure Aryan power, which originated thousands of years ago. To create this they needed to literally purify the blood. What they created was a perverse spiritual movement that demanded blood for salvation, the blood of the Jews. The German people were diseased from non-Aryans, and the Nazi party was the cure. Adolf Hitler said this himself in Mein Kampf. Before Hitler and the Nazi’s could institute their racial hygiene, that is the cleaning of the German blood, they needed to instill two principles, Gleichschaltung and Fuhrerprinzip.
     As mentioned before, Gleichschaltung is the tight coordination over all aspects of society and economy which is made possible by the Fuhrerprinzip; the Nazi term for a system of control with a hierarchy of leaders that resembles a military structure. By the time Hitler had complete control, the Nazi racial hygiene had already begun. In 1933 the Action T4 program was construed. It marked the first signs of euthanasia in Germany before the Holocaust, and in fact was an early field testing of Nazi ideology. The first law passed in 1933, the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring, ordered the forced sterilization for people with a conditions thought to be hereditary, like epilepsy and schizophrenia. Later this ideal would spread to physical and mental deformities, especially those in children. The T4 program also tested methods of death including gassing and cremating, methods that would be used in the death camps.
     The T4 program played on the ideas of Social Darwinism as outlined by Frances Galton. Social Darwinism is the idea that the Charles Darwin theories about evolution can be applied to social aspects, meaning that competition between individuals, groups, or nations drives social evolution in humanity. The tie to understand is that the Aryan man was the supreme being, and if the German populous was to restore their former glory, they must compete with other races through eugenics and slaughter.
     Hitler knew that the T4 program would attract unwanted attention, specifically from the German people itself, who would likely oppose the killing of their own peoples. To counter this, the Nazi party had effectively brainwashed its citizens, masking their racist attitudes for nationalism. They truly believed that the tainted German blood was the root of their problems. Interestingly enough, they had met little to no opposition in their medical conquest. The Nazi’s already had their population under control, clearly they would not object, but there was also no foreign objection for two reasons; either they agreed with eugenic theory, as many countries did, including the United States, or they simply didn’t care, probably believing it wasn’t any of their concern.
     If Nazi ideology was the religion of Germany, Hitler as their messiah, Mein Kampf as their bible, preaching Aryan racism and the swastika as their holy symbol, then the SS were the holy warriors, cleaving apart any opposition. Clearly the SS was the embodiment of Ariosophy, the pure blood of Germany. Under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler, the SS had created a death cult. They were the force that drove the Jews from their homes and into the ghettos, killed them in the streets, or sent them to the death camps. They were also the pure bloods that were to breed to create the perfect Aryan race.
     Aside from the T4 program, another principle called Lebensraum was used to justify eugenics. Lebensraum served as the motivation for the expansionist policies, providing extra space for the growth of the pure German population and also came hand-in-hand with Pan-Germanism. By this ideology, they should kill, deport and/or enslave the neighboring Polish, Russian, Czech, and Slavic populations because they were inferior, and consequently occupy their lands and consume their resources. World War II was the result of Lebensraum and the reclaiming of Germany’s lost territory. However Germany was able to reclaim Poland, Austria, and conquer France before World War II even began.
     World War II did little, if anything, to halt Hitler’s eugenic program. As early as 1933 the gears began to churn for the Nazi party’s evolved expression of eugenic ideology, the Holocaust, which literally means a burnt offering. The Holocaust consolidated and manifested Nazi ideology in a physical form. I would argue that if Nazism was the religion and eugenics the science, then the Holocaust was the ritualistic sacrifice for the salvation of the Aryan race. The Holocaust solved many ideological problems in one fell swoop. First it removed the Jewish population from society in a number of stages. The first stage was the deportation of Jews into the ghettos on the outskirts major cities. There they remained until concentration camps and death camps had been established. Not all of the Jews had been moved out of the ghettos, but the majority had been processed and shipped into concentration camps. These camps were usually placed beyond the cities, near the factories and mills. Concentration camps served as a way to organize slave labor for the industrialists. The final stage was the shipment of Jews into the death camps. These death camps were designed to either starve or gas the populations being shipped.
With the parasitic Jewish populations being exterminated, another problem to be dealt with was the growing economic issue. As noted before, the Jews were used as slave labor by industrialists. This meant that they no longer needed to higher workers, instead using workers that could easily be replaced and worked for nothing. This aspect is especially important when Hitler began to rearm Germany. Adolf Hitler makes it very clear in Mein Kampf that the only solution to German woes is the complete annihilation of the Jews.

     Placing Responsibility

     So who shares the responsibility to the deaths of over 12 million people? Personally I think there are too many contributing factors to determine a significant cause, but rather the Holocaust and World War II were designed to happen. Not in a destined sense, but instead that event after event gained favor of Nazi rule, but if I had to guess, I would say that post World War I was really the spark that set the flame.
     Post World War I really set the stage for the Nazi’s ability to come to power. Germany was left in shambles; its political power dissipated, social moral crushed, and economic stability lost, all due to their defeat, the Compiègne Armistice and the Treaty of Versailles. The Nazi’s defiantly needed those three aspects in order to secure control and that without them they could never have come to power. While the autocrats and industrialists that profited from Nazism, for whatever reason, are probably to blame as well, I don’t think the fault lies too heavily on them. It is a rather human tendency to procure the most profitable business venture. In a sense they were almost forced to cooperate, as I’m sure some were. The economy was in a real slump, the only way to get out of it was to create jobs to stimulate the market and maintain control of the hyperinflation. As far as other nations go, they could have done more; perhaps Hitler could have been stopped early if someone had paid more attention to his ideology in Mein Kampf as it clearly illustrates his intentions. I think that foreign nations had their own problems to deal with for one, or perhaps they agreed with what Hitler was doing. Some nations may have felt that Hitler and the Nazi party would be a bulwark against communism.
     The focus should be more on the key party officials, like Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, Rudolf Hess, Reinhardt Heydrich, and Joseph Goebbels who perverted what Nazism could have done. It is my personal belief that Nazism could have been something better for the world, not a twisted eugenic experiment. These party leaders are who to be blamed. They issued the commands, wrote the plans, and organized the people. Every event from 1919-1945 can be traced back to a leading party member, as well as dozens of other Nazi members, primarily the individuals that operated the death camps. I am well aware that many soldiers were just following orders and serving their country, but many actually believed what they were doing was holy justice, that the Jews really were a sickness. Concerning the German populous, they were brainwashed by Nazi propaganda, it is no surprise at all that due to their condition they blindly followed the Nazi party. Hopefully people won’t be blind enough to let this happen again.