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abhatia · Joined: 26 Jan 2011 Posts: 37

What was the most important ‘miss-calculation’ made by politicians in the waning years of the Republic?

oliviabecker · Joined: 03 Jan 2011 Posts: 23

I think the most obvious mistake and the one that the author is pointing out is how much von Papen and President Hindenburg underestimated Hitler. They saw him as someone that could be a puppet leader, someone who was inspirational, popular and could be controlled. This obviously was a great underestimate, because once Hitler became appointed Chancellor (P.S what's the difference between Chancellor and president?) he took that power and ran with it. I think he was much smarter than either the already established authority or the Communist party thought he was. I wish the reading continued after Hitler became Chancellor because I'm wondering if he used this underestimation to his advantage.

In regards to this reading, I also thought it interesting how there were such clear party lines drawn as the Republic went on. Either you were are on the far left, supporting the Communists or the far right, supporting the NSDAP. In between was the Social Democratic Party but they were quickly becoming less and less popular. This really reminds me of today, with our conflicts regarding "bipartisianship" and it seems like every day more and more battle lines are drawn in between the two.

edangelo · Joined: 15 Nov 2010 Posts: 41

I completely agree with Olivia, I think the most prominent miscalculation was the general underestimation of what Hitler and the Nazi party were capable of. Hugenberg, for example, was thinking only in terms of his own political gain, and assumed the NSDAP wasn’t something to worry about or take seriously. When he made an alliance with Hitler he “judged the Nazi movement as lower-class and envisioned the new Germany ruled by a conservative elite”(p223). Other politicians had similar thinking. Von Papen, and the communists never thought the Nazis could gain enough of a following to get any real power. It reminded me of today the people who run for president not under the democratic or republican party. People see them as only a threat to take votes away from one of the two major parties, but never to win. Throughout the reading it was clear that the Nazis were really good at saying the right things too appeal to nearly everyone. They stayed neutral enough while still drawing in lots of different groups. Clearly other politicians didn’t realize what a universal and inspirational appeal the party had, or they would have taken them much more seriously.

Also I Olivia I agree, I found it really interesting how the more moderate political views seemed to disappear during this time. I think these extreme views really aided Nazis success.

lialaaaiaaia · Joined: 31 Mar 2011 Posts: 4

Just to build off Olivia and Emily's post, not only was Hitler grossly underestimated, but Hugenburg furthermore tried to use Hitler to further his own gains. They became allies because Hugenburg freely recognized Hitler's talents... that he was 'an exceptionally popular speaker' and 'an organizer of unaccustomed talent' etc. But as Hugenburg fell, Hitler found ways to further propel himself and the Nazis forward. So, I guess what I'm saying is though certainly there were times where Hitler's potential was overlooked, another miss-calculation was the instances where people did identify just how powerful he was, and made alliances with Hitler to try to manipulate him for personal gains... rather than identifying his strengths and weaknesses, and making their own game-plan.

yamsham · Joined: 31 Mar 2011 Posts: 26

have to say the worst decision they made (probably already mentioned) was how they did not take hitler seriously at all. they figured they could controll him probably cause he was shorter than them or something and they had no idea how much influence he had and they rerally did not take his ability to rile up a crown to seriously either. i9 con't help but figure tha the politicians back then were lazy, that or they had no real people skills. taking hitler into their politics gave them the missing link tyhey needed to boost the public's liking of teh republic. if he were for the repabluic the weinmar era would have lasted ages. but alas he had his own plan in mind

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