3. Who voted for the Nazis?

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about what kind of people voted for the Nazis, focusing in particular on: (i) the huge jump in popularity of the Nazi party between 1928 (2.8% of the vote) and July 1932 (37.3%); (ii) the attempt by the Nazi party to gain support from a range of different groups in society, rather than concentrating on just one, and focusing in policies that would unify Germans to their cause, e.g. German nationalism, repudiation of the hated Treaty of Versailles; (iii) the success of the Nazis in attracting the votes of first-time voters and previous non-voters; (iv) the collapse of the political centre, whose votes often went to the Nazi party, but the resilience of the Centre Party and the KPD, who had a very strong appeal among particular factions – Catholics and Communists, respectively; (v) the success of the Nazis in Protestant areas and in rural areas in the north of Germany; (vi) their difficulties in urban centres and other industrialised areas, and among Catholics in the west and south; (vii) the growth in the female vote between 1928-32; (viii) the support for the Nazi part among pensions and the elderly, and the reasons for this support; (ix) the reasons that the Nazi party proved more popular with Protestants than Catholics, who tended to stick with 'their' parties, the Centre Party and the Bavarian Workers' Party (BVP); (x) the reasons that the Nazi party struggled in more highly urbanised areas, the types of worker that did and did not vote for the Nazis, and the reasons they were not more successful in picking up votes from the unemployed; (xi) the attractiveness of the Nazi party to the old middle class, and then (after 1930) to the new middle class; (xii) the attractiveness of the Nazi party to the German nobility and aristocracy, and the importance of this support in their push for power; and (xiii) the extent to which the Nazis appealed to every sector in the Germany society.

Course

In this course, Dr Lisa Pine (London South Bank University) explores several aspects of Nazi Germany. In the first module, we think about the rise of Nazism from the foundation of the DAP (later the NSDAP) in 1919 to Hitler's appointment as Chancellor in 1933. After that, we think about the impact of the Great Depression specifically on the rise of the Nazi Party, before turning in the third module to the question of what kind of people voted (and did not vote) for the Nazis. In the fourth module, we think about the importance of the propaganda and the 'Hitler myth' to the stability of the Nazi regime, before turning in the fifth module to consider the role of coercion and terror, focusing in particular on the role of Nazi secret police, the Gestapo, and the extensive concentration camp network that lasted between 1933-44. Finally, in the sixth module, we think about the experience of women in Nazi Germany.

Lecturer

Dr Lisa Pine is an Associate Professor in History. She is a graduate of the London School of Economics, where she obtained her first degree in Government and History and her MSc in International History with Distinction. She received her doctorate from the University of London in 1996.

She has taught extensively in modern and contemporary history and politics. She is a leading international expert on issues relating to the history of Nazi Germany. Dr Pine has written on a diverse range of topics including the family, women and education in the Third Reich and aspects of Holocaust history and memory. She has contributed to local, national and international media, as well as numerous international conferences and symposia.

Her research expertise is centred upon the history of Nazi Germany, 1933-1945. She is a social historian of the Third Reich, with a strong interest in the mechanisms of this dictatorial regime and its impact upon German society.

She is a widely published international expert in this field. Her main publications include: Life and Times in Nazi Germany (2016); Education in Nazi Germany (2010); Hitler's "National Community": Society and Culture in Nazi Germany (2007 and 2017); and Nazi Family Policy, 1933-1945 (1997).