Why Hitler Came into Power

In his book Why Hitler Came into Power, Theodore Abel examines the political and social forces in Germany in the late 1920s and into the 1930s that enabled Adolf Hitler not only to become Chancellor of Germany but also how Hitler's National Socialist principles could become so embodied in the German national consciousness. The book was written in 1938 at the height of Hitler's power by a man who had observed the rise to power of Hitler and who had undertaken a scientific study of the Nazi phenomenon by interviewing National Socialists through the pretense of an essay contest by which rank-and-file members of the Nazi party could offer insights into their personal lives and their beliefs. The study Abel produced was not given much attention when it was published in 1938 for several reasons, including questions about his methodological approach, questions about the reliability of his sample, and because his conclusions simply did not mesh with the prevailing wisdom on the subject. The book has recently been republished and provides an insight into the Nazi era through the words and attitudes of those who made Hitler their leader and who followed him ultimately to destruction.

The prevailing wisdom that Abel violated held that National Socialism was a revolt of the lower middle class and was a movement supported by elements of the "undereducated, economically marginal Kleinbnrgertum (petty bourgeoisie) desperately afraid of proletarianization during a period of acute economi

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ure of those tho answered his advertisement and who wrote essays for the contest is very interesting, and indeed this demographic data may be one of the most important elements of his results. It should also be noted that while he received 48 essays from women, he omitted them because of their relatively small number. The National Socialists he includes in his study are thus all male, which might also skew the results as far as understanding the national consciousness and the psychology of those of both sexes who followed Hitler. Among the demographic dimensions described by Abel are age, occupation, class affiliation (primarily lower middle class and skilled and unskilled workers), education, employment, membership in various associations, place of residence, marital status, wartime service, and so forth. Abel takes the modal values of this data and arrives at a picture of the average type of follower of the Hitler movement: He is male, in his early thirties, a town resident of lower middle-class origins, without high school education; married and Protestant; participated in the World War, but not in the military activities during the revolution of 1918 or later outbreaks; had no political affiliations before joining the Na

Category: History - W