Ian R. McNertney

The Weimar Surrender to Nazism: How Radical Populism Seizes Power in Democracies

Abstract:

The democratic coup accomplished by the Nazi Party within the Weimar Republic marked the end of that democratic system in Germany and the beginning of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich, but its ascension could not have occurred without the presence of myriad social and political factors which made the Nazis appealing. This senior project examines how the Nazi regime was made possible through first exploring the ecology of xenophobia and post-war resentment which germinated a voting public that sought a far-right, extra-democratic solution to Germany’s various societal grievances, invented or legitimate. The National Socialists were able to convert this desire for radical conservative action into sweeping electoral victories, and by 1933, had become one of the most powerful parties on the German political map. Finally, feeling either in a position of power sufficient to control the Nazis or anticipating tangible benefits to throwing their lot in with them, powerful figures in the German right surrendered their power to the Nazi leadership. With an eye towards echoes of the Weimar past in contemporary world politics, this senior project will examine the tangled web of cultural context that explains how the Third Reich came to be.

Thesis Advisor: B. Miller