The Nazis' rise to power: "Mein Kampf"

In December 1924 Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison where he was held after a failed coup d'etat - The Beer Hall Putsch. The Nazi party, which he leads, has almost ceased to exist. Many of those Germans who believed in Hitler have lost faith in him, because he tried to take power with violence. Hitler, who has had time to think in prison, has realised that the Nazi party will not be able to come into power using violence. Now he must change his strategy.

One of those who will assist Hitler financially on the Nazis' path to power is named Kurt Lüedecke. Hitler tells him about his new plan. "Instead of seizing power with violence, we have to play the game. We must get into parliament, where the other parties are.” “In parliament, we will be political opponents to the Catholics and Communists. We will vote down their proposals.” “Certainly, it takes longer to out-vote them than to shoot them, but the results will be legal.” “Keeping within the law is slow, but sooner or later we will get the majority. And then we will get Germany!" And it does go slowly for Hitler.

In many areas of Germany, he is forbidden to make public speeches because of his prison sentence. And by the mid-1920s, Germany has begun to recover after the war. The economy is much better, and people's anger over losing the war is not as great as it was earlier. Hitler still says that it’s the Communists’ and Jews’ fault that the war was lost and that conditions are so bad in Germany. But this no longer appeals so much to the German people.

Hitler has difficulty getting people to join the Nazi party. Also, it has split. There are Nazi leaders in northern Germany who want to control the party. They have different views from Hitler about how a Nazi party should be. Hitler wants it to be a party for all whom he believes are German - a nationalist party.

The northern German Nazi leaders think Hitler's idea is crazy. He is not even German; he is born in Austria. They want the Nazi Party to be a party for workers: a labor party. But this, they do have in common: both Hitler and the other Nazi leaders want to crush the Communists, and throw the Jews out of Germany! But Hitler is skillful at persuasion and charm, and people listen to him.

And at the Nazi party conference in Bamberg, 1926, he almost succeeds in unifying the party. He also wins the support of one of the most important northern German leaders - Joseph Goebbels. Hitler is now the clear leader of the Nazi Party, and he is greeted by the participants at the conference with an extended right hand while shouting: Heil Hitler! The Nazi party is now growing under Hitler’s leadership. He re-organizes the party and makes sure he gets more and more control.

In northern Germany, he lets Joseph Goebbels lead the party. Like Hitler, Goebbels is a good speaker, skilled at charming and convincing people. He also hates Jews. More and more people attend party meetings. In 1928, there's a national election in Germany.

Now the Nazi Party and Hitler hope to get into power for real! But Germany has recovered after the war and the economy is good. The voters are not interested in Hitler and the hatred spread by him and the party. The Nazi Party only gets 2.6 percent of the votes. Hitler has worked hard to become leader of the Nazi party and is deeply disappointed.

But he is not ready to give up the fight to rule Germany.