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1933-1945
A wide range of factors, such as humiliation of defeat, economic
depression, poverty, and a pervasive feeling of discontent
aided Hitler in his climb to power. After the unsuccessful Putsch
(uprising against the Bavarian Government) in 1923, Hitler was
imprisoned in Landsberg Fortress. While imprisoned Hitler dictated
his book “Mein Kampf” which became the cornerstone of
Nazism espousing Hitler's irrational ideology and the manipulation
of power without moral constraint as the basis of strategy.
Master propagandist Josef Goebbels tried to attract the sympathetic
attention of the German public. The usual tactic was to
have Hitler promise all things to all people provided that they in
turn would pledge to him their complete faith and obedience.
Once in power, coercion was used to elicit the appearance of
unanimous endorsement. Public works and military rearmament
helped overcome the depression. It took the Nazis only about two
years to consolidate their system politically. The combined terrorism
of the storm troops and the police forces, including the
Gestapo, stifled potential opposition. By 1935, Nazi affiliated organizations
controlled all German cultural, professional, and economic
fields, assuring strict compliance with the party line.
With the passage of the Nurnberg Laws in 1935, the more ominous
aspects of Nazi anti-Semitism came to light. Jews were
deprived of their citizenship and forbidden to marry non-Jews. This
was followed by confiscation of property and the required wearing
of the Star of David for identification purposes, eventually culminating
in the mass deportation to concentration and death camps.
By 1936, unemployment was virtually eliminated and economic
production was up to 1929 levels. All sources of information
were under the control of Josef Goebbels, while all police
power was in the hands of Heinrich Himmler. Himmler’s Gestapo
would silence Germans who were not convinced by Goebbel’s
propaganda machine. Usually the implied threat was enough.
The majority of Germans did not suffer any ill effects at first and
national pride stirred once again.
Hitler's audacity in foreign affairs met with success due to the
trend of appeasement by the western powers. First, Germany
withdrew from the League of Nations and the World Disarmament
Council. In 1935, the Saar voted to return to Germany and Hitler
renounced the reviled 1921 peace treaty and related pacts. In
1936, German forces reoccupied the Rhineland. In 1938, Austria
was annexed and at the Munich Conference, which excluded
Czechoslovakia, Great Britain and France agreed that the Sudetenland
was to become German territory. In 1939, Slovakia
became an independent Nazi Puppet State and the “Protectorate”
of Bohemia and Moravia was established. Next came the
German-Soviet non-aggression pact, which secretly divided up
Poland between the two totalitarian powers. Great Britain and
France finally declared war when Poland was invaded. The years
of 1939-1942 were a period of impressive victories for Germany's
well-trained and equipped forces. However, when Hitler
expanded his war beyond Western Europe by invading Africa and
Russia and declaring war on the U.S.A., it started the chain of
events, which would culminate in the total and final German
defeat on May 8, 1945, VE Day, ending the European theater of
the Second World War and The Third Reich.
MINT MARKS
A – Berlin
B – Vienna, 1938-1944
D – Munich
E – Muldenhutten
F – Stuttgart
G – Karlsruhe
J – Hamburg

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