In the March elections of 1933 the Nazis only won 44% of the votes: the majority of Germans had rejected Hitler and his Party. Within a few years following the takeover of power, however, Hitler had become the central figure of Germany's national redemption and revival who could depend upon a huge wellspring of genuine enthusiasm and popular acclaim. What Ian Kershaw calls 'the Hitler Myth' was a central feature of Nazi propaganda which helped to consolidate and sustain the regime. Seduction through the highly innovative propaganda empire of Goebbels is only one side of the coin that explains the high level of support for the regime. Seduction is dependent on desire; Nazism's success and support must also be explained though the willing acquiescence of vast swathes of the population. In large measure the state and society were symbiotic.

Speaker- Rhys

Producers- Sam and Toby

Music- Sam

Nazism is synonymous with terror and repression. The brutality of the regime was one of its defining legacies; yet, has too much emphasis been placed on the role of terror in subduing 'ordinary Germans'? The terror-police complex was undoubtedly a highly significant and frightening aspect of the regime for those who were its targets. Most Germans, however, were not political or racial targets of the regime, and their relationship with the terror network reflected this. Since the 1980s historians have played more attention to the social history of the Third Reich which has transformed our understanding of the complex, and often alarming, relationships between the regime and its citizens. Power in Nazi Germany did not always travel in one direction.

Speaker-Rhys

Producers- Sam and Toby

Music-Sam

PART 2

The nature of leadership is essential if one wishes to understand power and its structures within a dictatorship. The nature of Hitler's leadership has drawn unparalleled attention from historians since 1945, and shows no signs of abating even 80 years after his suicide in the Führerbunker. There have been a number of significant contributions to the historiography of Hitler's leadership during this time, but perhaps the most compelling and revealing is Ian Kershaw's Working Towards the Führer thesis. In this episode, I attempt to present the case for Kershaw's thesis by detailing the origins, nature and impact of Hitler's unique form of personalised rule in Nazi Germany.

Speaker-Rhys

Producers-Sam and Toby

Music-Sam