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Hitler was released from jail after the Munich Putsch in December 1924. He committed the Nazis to democratic politics – taking part in elections – and began to reorganise the party, strengthening his authority as leader and beginning to build a national party structure. However, the period up to 1929 is known as the Nazi Party’s ‘lean years’ because two apparently contradictory things were happening to it:

• it was growing in size – its membership increased from 27,000 in 1925 to 130,000 in 1929
• but it struggled to win seats in the Reichstag:

Development of the Nazi Party

Party reorganisation

The decision to pursue power through democratic methods meant the party needed a national structure to attract members, develop polices and campaign. Hitler put this in place during 1925 and 1926.

New structure of the Nazi Party:

Propaganda

Mein Kampf

While in jail Hitler wrote a book called Mein Kampf (My Struggle), which was an autobiography-cum-manifesto, laying out his political beliefs and ambitions. Many of the ideas contained in the books directly informed Nazi policy after 1933 under the Third Reich, including:

• The belief that the Jews were an inferior race to the German Aryans, and also represented a threat to the German state.
• The need to destroy the parliamentary system of government and replace it with that of a single, strong dictator.
• Germany’s requirement for Lebensraum, or living space, to house its growing population. This required Germany to expand to the East into Poland and Russia.

Developing techniques

Josef Goebbels – the Berlin Gauleiter at this time – was clever because he experimented with new techniques and methods to share the Nazis’ message. Posters started to show Hitler as a strong leader, speeches were arranged in public places and rallies were held to capture people’s enthusiasm.

The Bamberg Conference, 1926

Hitler called a special Nazi Party conference on 14 February 1926 at Bamberg in southern Germany in response to tension between the northern and southern sections of the party. During his time in jail disagreements had grown between the two sections:

• the northern section, led by a man named Gregor Strasser, was keen to emphasise the socialist elements of the 25-Point Programme to attract support from the workers
• the southern section more interested in the nationalist and racist policies in order to attract support from the middle classes and farmers

The results of the conference were:

• Hitler insisted that policies which could be painted as communist, such as taking land from rich noblemen, would not be pursued.
• However, the conference did reaffirm the 25-Point Programme, with its socialist ideas, as the party’s policy platform.
• In addition, Hitler established the Fuhrerprinzip, or ‘Leader Principle’, the idea that the party’s leader was in absolute control and all members must follow his directions. No dissent from this was expected or tolerated.

Reasons for limited support for the Nazi Party, 1924–1928

• Gustav Stresemann’s economic policies had helped Germany a lot. After 1923, the introduction of a new currency and the Dawes Plan had helped to turn Weimar’s economy around and Germans began to feel more prosperous.
• As a result of this, Germany was also more politically stable. Germans voted for moderate parties who supported the Republic, rather than more extreme parties like the Nazis who wanted to abolish it.
• At a time of stability, scaremongering and playing on people’s fears was less likely to work. The Nazis’ messages about the dangers posed by Jews and the need to abolish democracy largely fell on deaf ears.
• Hitler was jailed and then banned from speaking in public until 1927 after the Munich Putsch. This prevented the party from campaigning effectively.
• The Nazi Party was under constant pressure from the Weimar authorities following the Munich Putsch. Several times it was banned nationally or in certain parts of Germany.

Nevertheless, the party was developing effective propaganda techniques under its Berlin Gauleiter, Joseph Goebbels, which would enable it to capitalise on the economic disaster that was to strike Germany from 1929 onwards.