Western Civilization II / Unit 16 WC2 1514 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Why the Nazis Grew: Depression and Disenchantment With Weak Liberalism
Captions available
The idea
The Nazis were a fringe, two point six percent in nineteen twenty-eight. The Depression gave them mass appeal, but the message was not Jews: pride, unity, order, prosperity, and a solution to the Weimar Republic's inefficiency. Germans' experience of democracy, the anchor says, had been disastrous.
In practice
Disenchantment with liberalism as weak and ineffective.
Where people slip
Not unions: the Nazis banned them in nineteen thirty-three.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it