Adolf Hitler's Political Views - Laying Blame On The November Criminals

Laying Blame On The November Criminals

A key element of Hitler's popular appeal was his charismatic ability to convey wounded national pride caused by the Treaty of Versailles, imposed on a defeated Germany by the Allies. Germany had lost territory to France, Poland, Belgium and Denmark along with admitting sole responsibility for the war, giving up her colonies, agreeing to severe military restrictions and assuming a staggering reparations bill. Since most Germans did not believe that the German Empire had started the war (and did not clearly understand until later they had been defeated) they bitterly resented the terms. Two years after coming to office in 1933, Hitler blatantly defied the terms of the treaty when he announced that Germany would adopt military conscription and would no longer adhere to the restrictions on the size of the Reichswehr as set out in Versailles. The party's early attempts to garner votes by blaming these humiliations unilaterally on "international Jewry" were not successful with the electorate, but the party's propaganda wing learned quickly and began a more subtle propaganda combining anti-semitism with a spirited attack on the failures of the "Weimar system" and the parties supporting it, calling them the November Criminals.

See also Nazi Party, anti-semitism