What was the most important reason for the growth of the Nazi party? This is the question we discussed in GCSE history this week. I will first explore various reasons before sharing my students’ opinion and my own.

Between 1929 and 1933 the number of votes for the Nazi Party (NSDAP) grew explosively as you can see in the picture. This gave them enough seats in 1933 to gain a majority in the Reichstag by forming a coalition, pass undemocratic laws and effectively seize power.

So, what made people vote for the NSDAP? First and foremost, the Great Depression. After the crash of Wall Street in October 1929 the global economy collapsed. Many German people lost their job, house, and savings. They grew desperate and looked for radical solutions on the extreme right and left.

Dissatisfaction with the Weimar government was another reason. The governing parties of the Weimar government were unable to deal with the huge social and economic problems caused by the Great Depression and received the blame. The fact that in Weimar Germany there were many parties who formed coalition governments of 3 or 4 parties did not help in this regard.

As the political sentiment changed in Germany, many people started to fear a potential communist takeover, especially business owners and wealthy people. They voted for the Nazi party as they were the enemies of the communists.

Finally, the appeal of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party methods were other reasons to vote for the NSDAP. Hitler’s charismatic speeches inspired many people and the Nazi party spread Hitler’s message through their own media channels. The Nazi party also did a lot of community building by organizing social events and founding various associations.

When we debated the most important reason in class, all students pointed to the Great Depression as the main cause, and I totally agree. It made people look for radical solutions, led to dissatisfaction with the Weimar government and fear of communism. The fact that the Nazi party grew so fast and not another extreme right-wing party is because of their charismatic leader and well-organized party structure. 

Originally posted on Instagram on October 23, 2021